Information for media

For most media inquiries (as well as for publicity material such as photos), please contact Holly Ober (hober@stratcomm.ucla.edu) from the UCLA office of media relations. For my contact details, see this page.

Due to many other duties, I am declining almost all interviews at this time (this includes newspaper, magazine, book, television, web site, or film interviews). However, you may still contact Stuart for alternative arrangements.

Various details about myself can be found in my curriculum vitae.

Below are some links from previous interviews and similar material. Note also that many of the articles below are copyrighted, and permission should be sought from the relevant author or journalist before reproducing or excerpting at length.

Selected interviews and statements

“Symphony of numbers for “Mozart of Math””, Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times, 22 September 2006
“Maths needs marketing, says Fields Medallist”, Sandra Lane, ABC PM, 26 September 2006
“Terry Tao compared with science greats”, Scott Bevan, ABC 7:30 report, 27 September 2006 (video)
“Journey to the Distant Fields of Prime”, Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 12 March 2007
"Cogito Interview: Terence Tao, Mathematician and Fields Medalist", Cogito, 11 May 2007
“Interview with three Fields Medalists”, Vincente Munoz and Ulf Persson, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, March 2007.
Mathematical Minds, Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, Vol. 36, No. 5 2009, p. 315-321.
"Hooked for life on math", Terence Tao, CNN, 23 April 2010.
Colbert Report interview, Nov 12, 2014.
“Terence Tao: the Mozart of Maths”, Stephanie Wood, the Australian, Mar 7, 2015.
CIRM interview, 2017
Numberphile interview, 2017
HLF Laureate portrait, 2018
Young Scientists Journal interview, 2020
Advance.org interview, 2022

2006 Fields Medal

International Mathematical Union press release
International Congress of Mathematicians interview
UCLA press release and video
Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute
International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics
Australian Mathematical Trust
Australian Mathematical Society Gazette supplement, August 2006 (contains several further interviews and links)

For other prizes and awards, see my my curriculum vitae.

Long arithmetic progressions in primes

“Proof promises progress in prime progressions”, Barry Cipra, Science, 21 May 2004, Vol. 304. no 5674, p. 1095
“61: Prime-Time News”, Keith Devlin, Discover, January 2005, Vol. 26, no. 1 (part of “The year in Science”)
Onsager lecture, 8 Dec 2008 (also in Youtube format )

For more technical details of this work, see this page. This work is joint with Ben Green.

Compressed sensing

“A camera’s worth a single pixel”, USA Today, 30 September, 2006
“Megapixel Images created with one pixel”, Laurie Sullivan, InformationWeek, 11 October, 2006
Onsager lecture, 9 Dec 2008 (also in Youtube format )

For more technical details of this work see, the L1-magic home page, the compressed sensing resources page at Rice, and my own page on the subject. The mathematical work is joint with Emmanuel Candes and Justin Romberg. I am not directly involved with the applications to photography, which are being pursued by Richard Baraniuk and Kevin Kelly.

Gaps between primes

See also the media section of the Polymath8 project.
Prime gap grows after decades-long lull, Erica Klarreich, Quanta, Dec 10, 2014.

Early education

“Terence Tao”, Ken Clements, Educational Studies in Mathematics, August 1984, Vol. 15, No. 3, 213-238
"My recollections", Terence Tao, 1985.
“Parental involvement in Gifted Education”, Billy Tao, Educational Studies in Mathematics, August 1986, Vol. 17, No. 3, 313-321
“Radical Acceleration in Australia: Terence Tao”, Miraca Gross, G/C/T, July/August 1986
“Insights from SMPY’s greatest former child prodigies: Drs. Terence (“Terry”) Tao and Lenhard (“Lenny”) Ng reflect on their talent development”, Michelle Muratori, Julian Stanley, Lenhard Ng, Jack Ng, Miraca Gross, Terence Tao, Billy Tao, Gifted Child Quarterly, Fall 2006, Vol. 50, No. 4, 307-324

Higher education

"General exam", Terence Tao, Princeton University, winter 1994.

Media accolades and profiles

“20 Young Scientists to Watch”, William Speed Weed, Discover, October 2000, Vol. 21, No. 10
“The Fifth Annual Brilliant 10”, Popular Science, September 2006
“Math’s architect of beauty”, Jordan Ellenberg, Seed Magazine, 22 September 2006
“The work of Terence Tao”, Jean Bourgain, Notices Amer. Math. Soc. March 2007, 399-401
"America's young innovators in the arts and sciences: 35 under 36", Smithsonian Magazine, September 2007
“20 best brains under 40”, Andrew Grant, Sarah Webb, Emily Anthes, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, Jullianne Pepitone, Elizabeth Svoboda, Discover, November 20 2008

Research and mathematical philosophy

“Are mathematicians past their prime at 35?”, Lila Guterman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1 December 2000
Clay Mathematical Institute interview (September 2003)
“Terence Tao: The “Mozart of Math””, UCLA, College of Letters and Science, November 2005
“Solving mathematical problems: A personal perspective”, Terence Tao, Oxford University Press, 2006. See in particular the first preface (written when I was 15) and the second (written when I was 30). See also my pages for the first edition and second edition of this book.
“Interview with Terence Tao, Fields Medalist at the ICM Madrid 2006”, Javier Cilleruelo, Adolfo Quirós, Ana Vargas, La Gaceta Digital, RSME, Vol. 9.3 (2006), 661-668
“What is good mathematics?”, Terence Tao, to appear, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.
“Interviews with three Fields medalists”, Vincente Muñoz and Ulf Persson, Notices Amer. Math. Soc. March 2007, 406-409