tao

tao won a fields medal and presented a paper on it on Sept 26, 2006:

http://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/preprints/Slides/austms.pdf

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• fields
• medal

[itstheChampion88]

Oh wait I forgot that Grothendieck is still alive, so I would have to go with Grothendieck as the best living mathematician.

As for the best living mathematician born after the year 1970 I'm not sure.

Man I wish things would go back to the old days when people were considered mathematical geniuses for their contributions, and not for IQ or prodigy.

[itstheChampion88]

@ICanPlayWithU Well I don't even know how he won a Fields Medal, I mean basically all of Tao's contributions are irrelevant.

If I were to choose the best living mathematician I guess I would choose Jean-Pierre Serre.

It's a shame that Jean-Pierre Serre is ignored because he was not a prodigy.

Which living mathematician is better than Jean-Pierre Serre?

[ICanPlayWithU]

@itstheChampion88 I think Tao might be very famous now but no one would know him later...until and unless he makes some really good contributions in mathematics.

His good IQ might impress people for now, but its temporary.

Great Scientists are remembered for their contributions, not for being child prodigy or having high IQ.

[itstheChampion88]

@zadeh79 Interesting study...no link between IQ and creativity now? That makes sense.

An interesting experiment to perform would be comparing the IQ scores of people who follow traditional IQ test rules with the IQ scores of the same people who are allowed to use pencil, paper, and have more time available

Regardless, being an excellent mathematician has to do with making revolutionary contributions, not with having a high IQ

[zadeh79]

@itstheChampion88 The latest study in the Journal of Secondary Gifted Education does not support the (IQ 120) threshold theory. This study is notable because many tests were administered, to a diverse and broad sample of participants. The authors conclude the link between IQ and creativity is negligible. It is only on certain tests, that are more dependent on Gc, or crystallized intelligence (what conventional tests measure), in which the 120 rule applies.

[itstheChampion88]

I've asked Tao's fans repeatedly which one of Tao's contributions is significant or revolutionary and they haven't given me anything. All they talk about is prodigy and IQ (which is irrelevant to mathematics).

If we imagine that Tao's contributions never existed then mathematics would be virtually the same with no notable difference. The Green-Tao theorem is not a big deal since multiple proofs of Szemerédi's theorem had already existed.

They basically renamed Szemerédi's theorem to Green-Tao

[itstheChampion88]

If we look at modern day mathematicians based on significance I could not rank Tao high

If we imagine that Jean-Pierre Serre, Ngô Bảo Châu, Grigori Perelman, Vladimir Voevodsky, or many other modern day mathematicians had never existed we can see that mathematics would look notably different.

If we imagine that Tao's contributions never existed mathematics is the same with no notable difference....

None of Tao's contributions are significant.

So what's the big deal with Tao?

[itstheChampion88]

@Helkost Ed Witten doesn't have nearly as much exposure as say Michio Kaku.

I think Ed Witten is more significant than Tao personally.

The way that I measure the significance of a mathematician is by imagining how mathematics would look if that mathematician's contributions never existed. So Witten is more significant than Tao by far.

If Tao never existed at all then mathematics would be nearly the same. Basically all of Tao's contributions would've been re-discovered without Tao existing

[Helkost]

@itstheChampion88 They may be celebrated but many actually search for press exposure. Good mathematicians usually are not interested in it, and therefore don't get any. But on the otehr side, what about Ed Witten, how do you consider him? For what I hear although being a physicist he's considered one of today's best mathematicians. And he received at least some media coverage too, so how does this apply to your equation? btw sorry for my english.

[itstheChampion88]

@Helkost All the other mathematicians that make lots of significant revolutionary contributions are completely ignored today

Instead child prodigies and super high IQ geniuses are celebrated