Contact information - Terence Tao

Please do not mail or email me any unsolicited self-authored manuscripts (such as those relating to prime numbers, or to famous unsolved problems, such as the Clay Millennium Prize problems); due to lack of time and high volume of requests, I will not read or comment on any of them, and the manuscripts will be discarded without acknowledgment.  (For referee requests from journals, see below.  For submissions to journals for which I am an editor, see this page.)

The best way to contact me is via e-mail, though if I am traveling it may take up to a week for me to respond.   (If you are a representative of the media, please visit this page instead.)  However, due to time limitations I will have to decline or severely restrict many email requests, including many of the following:

  1. Invitations to give seminars, colloquia, lecture series, or attend conferences or programs: It is difficult for me to travel these days for work and family reasons, and due to high demand and the number of existing commitments.  I am currently declining essentially all further invitations to discretionary travel or speaking engagements, especially with regards to international travel, and particularly with regard to events in which substitute speakers for myself are available.  Apologies in advance.   
  2. Invitations to join an editorial board, advisory board, organizational, or scientific committee: Due to heavy workload, existing commitments, and high demand, I am currently declining all invitations of this nature (including any "honourary" or "zero-work" positions of this type). 
  3. Invitations to publish a monograph, book, lecture notes, etc: I do not have any uncommitted book plans at present.
  4. Invitations to contribute data to a project: You are welcome to freely utilise any unpublished material (e.g. short stories, lecture notes, computer code, or slides) on my web page or blog; published material, of course, is subject to copyright.  Source files for these works are usually available on request.  I will be however be unable to donate any significant amount of time to help with migrating data, creating totally new content, or taking on any sort of organisational role for such a project.  In particular, I will not be able to write a preface, introduction, or endorsement for any journal, book, or article, unless there is a direct personal connection between this publication and myself. For similar reasons, I will also be almost certainly unable to contribute to any project involving montages of contributions by N famous people, for some large integer N.  Also, any article that I have uploaded to the arXiv recently will usually be already submitted to an existing journal, and I will not be able to respond to solicitations of that article for any other journal.
  5. Invitations to collaborate: Unfortunately due to many existing projects I am not able to consider any further collaborations at this time.
  6. Submissions to a journal that I am editor of (AJM, Dynamics of PDE, Analysis & PDE, Forum of Mathematics): Please see this page.
  7. Unsolicited manuscripts (other than for submission to a journal): Due to lack of time and many requests, I cannot read or comment on any unsolicited self-authored manuscripts of any sort (such as those relating to prime numbers).  Such manuscripts will be discarded without acknowledgment. If your manuscript is already publication-quality, I suggest uploading it to the arXiv instead.  For advice as to what journal to send one's paper to, please see this page.  For advice on writing papers, please see this page.   
  8. Updates to one of my web pages: I am happy to accept corrections on these.  However, several of my web pages, such as my conference list and the local/global well posedness page are obsolete (being replaced by this wiki page and this wiki respectively) and will no longer be updated on this site.
  9. Requests for letters of recommendation: I am generally willing to write these (assuming of course that I am already sufficiently familiar with the applicant's work), but typically require at least a month's notice, and very specific information as to where the letters should be sent, in which format, and by what deadline.  A curriculum vitae and list of publications (or a link to a web page containing such information) will be very helpful.  If you have a choice between online application (such as mathjobs) and print application, I would prefer using an online system.  Generally speaking, I will not be able to write physical letters while traveling.
  10. Requests to referee a paper: I can still devote some time to refereeing papers, though if the paper is not of major significance and/or can be refereed by a large number of other people then I will be likely to decline the request or give only a quick opinion.  A full report will take between two to four months, depending on the length of the paper and on my own schedule.
  11. Requests for Java programming code: See this web page and this directory for my past experiments with Java, including the source code; you are free to use and modify it as you wish, as long as the provenance of the code is acknowledged somewhere.  I will unfortunately not have the time to help you with any specific Java task, and in particular will not assist with homework assignments.  Note also that I am not a professional programmer, and my code is not particularly polished.  Also, the code was written using Java 1.0, and may not necessarily be compatible with modern versions of Java.
  12. Requests for help with a math problem: I am happy to answer (or attempt to answer) questions related to one of my papers, books, or classes (but please be as specific as possible, especially regarding your own thoughts on the question; in particular, I will be unable to answer questions of the form "Can you give me a hint on Question X? I can't even get started.").  I also welcome corrections and errata of any form. I unfortunately do not have the time to assist with any other mathematical queries.  In particular I will be unable to read or comment on unsolicited manuscripts, to "troubleshoot" difficulties in a research project, speculate on one's conjectures, engage in sustained discussion on any mathematical topic, or to answer homework problems or other course-related questions not arising from one of my own classes.  For general advice on how to solve mathematical problems, please visit this page.  For general mathematical queries, you can try Math Overflow (for graduate-level or research-level questions), The Art of Problem Solving (for high school or undergraduate-level questions), the Mathematics Stack Exchange (aimed mostly at graduate and undergraduate level questions), or the /r/math subreddit (particularly for "softer" math questions).  Note that these sites may have specific policies about asking homework questions.
  13. Requests for preprints or papers: Please see my preprints page or search the arXiv.  In almost all cases, the arXiv version, which will be linked to from my preprints page, is essentially the final and most updated version.  Source files are generally available on request (and can also usually be obtained directly from the arXiv).
  14. Requests for books / questions about books: See my book page for all available sample chapters, errata, and other material related to my various books, as well as updates on the publication status and availability of these books.  I will not be able to respond to solicitations for full-length versions of the books.
  15. Requests to exchange links: I do not participate in link exchanges between web pages.  If your link is mathematical in nature, I would suggest visiting the Math Atlas.
  16. Requests for an appointment: I currently have only a very limited amount of time available for appointments.  I will give priority to UCLA faculty (including visiting faculty), staff, and students (particularly my own graduate students or students in my classes).  For media-related appointments, please visit this page. Other appointment requests (such as those requesting help on math problems, career issues, educational issues, unsolicited business proposals, advocacy, or presentations of research) will probably be declined due to lack of time.  Please consult my travel schedule below to find out what days I will actually be at UCLA, and email me at least a week in advance of the desired appointment times.
  17. Requests for career advice: Please see this page.  Due to lack of time and many requests, I will be unable to provide personalised career advice, but you are welcome to post comments on the above-referenced page (or its subpages).
  18. Requests for prefaces, autographs, inspirational words, or endorsements for a book, article, or other product: I will be declining almost all of these requests, especially when I do not have a direct personal connection to the topic of the text and to the target audience.
  19. Requests for new blog articles: Sorry, but I do not take requests for specific topics to write about for my blog, nor do I accept unsolicited requests to write guest articles for the blog or to otherwise offer links or content to place on the blog.
  20. Requests for interviews: Please see this page.  In general, I will be declining almost all interviews (including those for school projects).
  21. Queries on gifted education: Please see this page.  Again, due to lack of time and many requests, I cannot provide personalised advice on these issues.
  22. Applications for a position at the UCLA mathematics department: Please visit the http://www.math.ucla.edu/faculty-positions or the graduate admissions page as appropriate.  You are welcome to inform me of your application but I will usually not be involved in the admission process.  In particular I cannot handle admission materials directly, or give any specific advice on what steps to take to increase your chance of admission.  Note that I do not accept students for graduate study with me until they are already at UCLA and have passed their qualifying exams.  (I also plan to only take on approximately one graduate student a year.) See also my page on career advice.
  23. Applications for a summer research position, internship, mentorship, CSST, or REU: Unfortunately I do not have the time available to supervise such positions. 
  24. Offers of an honorary degree, or honorary membership in an organisation: This is very flattering, but I do not accept honorary degrees. I also do not accept honorary memberships in organisations which I do not have a prior affiliation with.  

Future travel and speaking plans:

Due to a high workload and large volume of requests, I am currently declining almost all future invitations to travel.


Past trips:

  • 1997 July 13-18 (MSRI)
  • 1997 August 2-10 (Baltimore)
  • 1997 August 11-17 (Princeton)
  • 1997 Aug 19-Dec 10 (Berkeley)
  • 1997 Dec 21-1998 Jan 1 (Vacation)
  • 1998 Mar 26-28 (Austin)
  • 1998 Mar 29-31 (Madison)
  • 1998 Apr 1-3 (San Diego)
  • 1998 July 6-13 (Edinburgh)
  • 1998 July 14-23 (Madrid)
  • 1998 July 24-Aug 9 (Paris)
  • 1998 Aug 10-14 (Kiel)
  • 1998 Aug 15-27 (Berlin)
  • 1998 Sep 14-21 (Chicago)
  • 1998 Dec 3-6 (Berkeley)
  • 1998 Dec 19-1999 Jan 4 (Princeton)
  • 1999 Jan 6-Jan 12 (Madison)
  • 1999 Apr 1-4 (Iowa)
  • 1999 Apr 10-11 (Las Vegas)
  • 1999 Jun 18-July 1 (Vacation)
  • 1999 July 1-Dec 24 (UNSW)
  • 1999 July 11-16 (Melbourne)
  • 1999 July 17-23 (ANU)
  • 1999 Nov 6-12 (ANU)
  • 1999 Dec 24-2000 Jan 2 (Vacation)
  • 2000 Feb 12-13 (Stanford)
  • 2000 Feb 21-22 (Caltech)
  • 2000 Mar 24-Apr 2 (Berkeley)
  • 2000 Apr 14-16 (Michigan)
  • 2000 Apr 28-30 (San Diego)
  • 2000 May 23-28 (Paris)
  • 2000 Jun 15-21 (Caltech)
  • 2000 Jun 22-Jul 1 (France)
  • 2000 Jul 2-6 (El Escorial)
  • 2000 Jul 20 (ANU)
  • 2000 Jul - Dec (UNSW)
  • 2000 Sep 9-24 (Sendai)
  • 2000 Sep 24 - Oct 2 (Canberra)
  • 2000 Oct 3-4 (Melbourne)
  • 2000 Dec 6-13 (Stanford)
  • 2000 Dec 14-20 (Berkeley)
  • 2001 Mar 30-31 (Kansas)
  • 2001 Apr 5-6 (Missouri)
  • 2001 Apr 8-14 (Boston)
  • 2001 Apr 15-19 (Madison)
  • 2001 Apr 20-22 (Minnesota)
  • 2001 Apr 23-May 20 (Princeton)
  • 2001 May 10-11 (U. Mass. Amherst)
  • 2001 May 20-26 (Oberwolfach)
  • 2001 May 27-Jun 3 (ETH)
  • 2001 Jun 4-10 (Goteborg)
  • 2001 Jun 11-24 (Milan)
  • 2001 Jul 12-13 (Washington DC)
  • 2001 Jul 14-22 (Caltech/UCLA)
  • 2001 Aug 17-22 (Adelaide)
  • 2001 Sep 7-22 (UCLA)
  • 2001 Jun 25-Dec 6 (ANU)
  • 2005 Jan 29-30 (Princeton)
  • 2005 Mar 15 (Caltech)
  • 2005 Mar 31 – Apr 2 (Northwestern)
  • 2005 Apr 16-17 (Santa Barbara)
  • 2005 June 13-17 (New Mexico)
  • 2005 June 20-July 15 (San Diego)
  • 2005 July 18-21 (Sendai)
  • 2005 Aug 6-9 (Boston - vacation)
  • 2005 August 22-26 (Cambridge)
  • 2005 Aug 27-Sep 9 (Bristol)
  • 2005 September 14-21 (Sydney - vacation)
  • 2005 October 1-31 (IAS - visit)
  • 2005 Oct 5 (Princeton)
  • 2005 Oct 6-8 (U. Maryland - colloquium)
  • 2005 Oct 12-14 (MIT)
  • 2005 Oct 20 (Cornell - seminar)
  • 2005 Oct 24 (Princeton – seminar)
  • 2005 Oct 28-29 (Courant)
  • 2005 Nov 7-22 (Berkeley)
  • 2005 Nov 19 (Princeton – JAMS)
  • 2005 Dec 7-2006 Feb 6 (Australia – US immigration)
  • 2006 Mar 2 (USC – colloquium)
  • 2006 Mar 14 (UC Santa Cruz – colloquium)
  • 2006 Mar 24-26 (Memphis)
  • 2006 Mar 30-Apr 9 (Montreal)
  • 2006 Apr 22-25 (Banff)
  • 2006 June 1-28 (Paris)
  • 2006 June 6 (ENS)
  • 2006 June 7-14 (Paris)
  • 2006 June 15-16 (Grenoble – colloquium)
  • 2006 July 1-23 (UCLA – Clay Liftoff project)
  • 2006 July 24-Aug 4 (San Diego)
  • 2006 Aug 20-28 (Madrid)
  • 2006 Sep 22-29 (Sydney)
  • 2006 Nov 11 (Princeton – JAMS)
  • 2006 Nov 17-18 (Boston)
  • 2006 Dec 16-22 (Kumbakonam)
  • 2007 Jan 22-26 (Canberra)
  • 2007 Feb 15 (San Diego)
  • 2007 Mar 18-19 (UCLA)
  • 2007 Apr 2-6 (MIT)
  • 2007 Apr 11-14 (Leiden)
  • 2007 Apr 26 (UCLA)
  • 2007 June 11-14 (San Diego)
  • 2007 July 9-15 (London)
  • 2007 Aug 6-9 (Portland)
  • 2007 Sep 1 (San Diego)
  • 2007 Oct 9-13 (Leiden)
  • 2007 Oct 14-Nov 2 (IAS)
  • 2007 Oct 20-22 (Providence)
  • 2007 Nov 9 (San Diego)
  • 2007 Dec 1-7 (U. Washington)
  • 2008 Jan 5-8 (San Diego)
  • 2008 Jan 12-13 (San Diego)
  • 2008 Feb 3-7 (Katoomba)
  • 2008 Feb 11-15 (IPAM)
  • 2008 Mar 14-19 (DIMACS)
  • 2008 Mar 30 (Washington DC)
  • 2008 Apr 4-9 (Toronto)
  • 2008 Apr 17 (UCLA - combinatorics seminar)
  • 2008 Apr 26 (Los Angeles)
  • 2008 May 3-7 (Washington DC)
  • 2008 May 24-26 (San Jose - personal)
  • 2008 June 9-13 (Ohio - equidistribution workshop)
  • 2008 June 23-27 (Edinburgh)
  • 2008 July 8-9 (San Diego - research visit)
  • 2008 July 13-19 (Oberwolfach)
  • 2008 Aug 21-Sep 21 (MSRI)
  • 2008 Nov 3-7 (MSRI)
  • 2008 Nov 14 (IPAM - SAB)
  • 2008 Nov 15 (Irvine - JAMS)
  • 2008 Nov 17-21 (Penn State)
  • 2008 Dec 3-6 (Seville)
  • 2008 Dec 7-9 (Trondheim)
  • 2008 Dec 18-21 (vacation)
  • 2009 Feb 9-13 (IPAM - eigenfunctions workshop)
  • 2009 Feb 17, 19 (USC - Whiteman lecture)
  • 2009 Mar 18-19 (Leiden)
  • 2009 Mar 20-27 (Haifa)
  • 2009 Apr 25-26 (DC - NAS)
  • 2009 May 4-9 (Princeton)
  • 2009 June 22-26 (IHP)
  • 2009 July 17-20 (Bremen
  • 2009 July 26-Aug 2 (Canazei - research)
  • 2009 Aug 23 - Oct 2 (Australia)
  • 2009 Oct 10 (Boston - AAAS)
  • 2009 Nov 9-12 (Oregon)
  • 2009 Nov 13-14 (IPAM - SAB)
  • 2009 Nov 23-25 (Sapporo)
  • 2009 Dec 1-4 (IPAM
  • 2009 Dec 11-23 (Korea)
  • 2009 Dec 19-21 (Beijing)
  • 2010 Feb 1-4 (UCLA)
  • 2010 Mar 6-10 (Riyadh)
  • 2010 Mar 16-18 (Michigan)
  • 2010 Mar 22-26 (Minnesota)
  • 2010 June 13-15 (Austin
  • 2010 July 12-16 (Pittsburgh
  • 2010 July 24-Aug 1 (vacation)
  • 2010 Aug 1-7 (Budapest)
  • 2010 Sep 16 (MSRI)
  • 2010 Oct 4-7 (Stanford
  • 2010 Oct 9 (UCLA)
  • 2010 Nov 2-6 (IPAM)
  • 2010 Nov 13-14 (SCAPDE)
  • 2010 Dec 13-17 (AIM workshop)
  • 2010 Dec 29-Jan 3 (vacation)






  • 2011 Jan 10 - Feb 19 (Cambridge - Newton Institute program)
  • 2011 Jan 19 (Birmingham) 
  • 2011 Feb 1-7 (Haifa) 
  • 2011 Feb 11 (Edinburgh)
  • 2011 Feb 21-Mar 18 (Northwestern; see also this workshop
  • 2011 May 7 (Newark) 
  • 2011 May 16-May 20 (Princeton - Stein conference)
  • 2011 June 27-July 1 (U. Wales) 
  • 2011 Sep 22-24 (Oslo)
  • 2011 Oct 12-14 (IPAM - DOD2011)
  • 2011 Nov 4-5 (IPAM)


  • 2012 Feb 23-25 (Mumbai)
  • 2012 Mar 11-12 (Northwestern)
  • 2012 Apr 17-20 (Michigan)
  • 2012 Apr 23-May 12 (Northwestern
  • 2012 May 2 (Princeton)
  • 2012 May 4-6 (Northwestern)
  • 2012 May 9 (MIT) 
  • 2012 May 13-16 (Lund)
  • 2012 May 17-19 (Cambridge)
  • 2012 May 20-24 (Oslo
  • 2012 Jun 1-2 (Washington DC)
  • 2012 Jun 4-6 (Yale)
  • 2012 Jul 28 (Ohio State)
  • 2012 Aug 12-25 (Vacation)
  • 2012 Sep 27-30 (Oslo)
  • 2012 Oct 6-13 (Oberwolfach)
  • 2012 Nov 2-3 (IPAM)
  • 2012 Nov 7-9 (Philadelphia)
  • 2012 Nov 29-Dec 1 (Minnesota)

  • 2013 Jan 7-8 (San Diego)
  • 2013 Jan 19-20 (San Diego)
  • 2013 Feb 11-15 (Princeton)
  • 2013 Feb 20-24 (New York)
  • 2013 Mar 16-18 (MSRI)
  • 2013 Jun 17-21 (UCLA)
  • 2013 Jul 1-5 (Budapest)
  • 2013 Aug 6-8 (New York, MoMath lecture)
  • 2013 Aug 10-17 (Australia) - vacation
  • 2013 Aug 18-Sep 1 (New Zealand)
  • 2013 Oct 6-8 (Caltech)
  • 2013 Nov 1-2 (IPAM)
  • 2013 Nov 8-9 (MSRI)
  • 2013 Dec 1-3 (Simons)

  • 2014 Feb 3-7 (MSRI)
  • 2014 Feb 24-27 (New York)
  • 2014 Mar 10-Jun 13 (IPAM)
  • 2014 Jul 1-6 (Segovia)
  • 2014 Jul 6-13 (IHES)
  • 2014 Jul 13-19 (Bonn)
  • 2014 Jul 19-Aug 1 (Vacation)
  • 2014 Sep 7-12 (Lehigh university)
  • 2014 Sep 21-26 (Oxford)
  • 2014 Sep 29-Oct 3 (Minnesota - IMA)
  • 2014 Oct 19-20 (Baltimore)
  • 2014 Oct 22-23 (Stockholm)
  • 2014 Nov 7-8 (IPAM)
  • 2014 Nov 9-10 (Silicon Valley)
  • 2014 Nov 11-14 (Yale)
  • 2014 Nov 12 (NYC)
  • 2014 Nov 17-21 (AIM)
  • 2014 Dec 1 (London)
  • 2014 Dec 26-Jan 2 (Vacation)        

  • 2015 Feb 16-17 (San Jose)
  • 2015 March 14-23 (Jerusalem)
  • 2015 Apr 9-11 (Los Angeles)
  • 2015 Jun 1-6 (Paris)
  • 2015 Jun 7-9 (FIM, Zurich)
  • 2015 Jun 10-12 (Norway)
  • 2015 Jul 13-17 (Oxford)
  • 2015 Jul 19-25 (Banff)
  • 2015 Jul 29 (New York)
  • 2015 Aug 15-26 (Vacation)
  • 2015 Sep 28-Oct 1 (Adelaide)
  • 2015 Nov 27-28 (Silicon Valley)
  • 2016 Jan 16-22 (Tel Aviv)
  • 2016 Jan 25-29 (Princeton)
  • 2016 May 18-19 (Wisconsin)
  • 2016 May 21-24 (IAS)
  • 2016 Aug 2 (NYC)
  • 2016 Aug 8-23 (Vacation)
  • 2016 Oct 15-16 (UCLA, SCAPDE)
  • 2016 Dec 15 (Lake Arrowhead)
  • 2018 Jan 9-21 (Chile)
  • 2018 Feb 17-18 (New York)
  • 2018 Mar 19-Jun 15 (IPAM)
  • 2018 Jun 2-4 (Bristol)
  • 2018 Jun 20-21 (New York)
  • 2018 Jun 22-24 (Milano)
  • 2018 Jun 25-30 (Cortona)
  • 2018 July 2-8 (Budapest)
  • 2018 Jul 10-20 (Vacation)
  • 2018 Aug 19-24 (Banff) 
  • 2018 Sep 24-28 (Oxford) 
  • 2018 Nov 7 (San Diego)
  • 2018 Dec 9-15 (AIM)
  • 2019 Jan 19 (Baltimore)
  • 2019 Feb 22-24 (Caltech) 
  • 2019 Mar 22 (Dublin)
  • 2019 Apr 1-3 (Brown)
  • 2019 Apr 26 (NYC)
  • 2019 May 14-16 (Madison) 
  • 2019 May 31 (IAS)
  • 2019 Jul 1 (New York)
  • 2019 Jul 6-7 (Paris)
  • 2019 Sep 12 (Washington DC)
  • 2019 Sep 16 (USC)
  • 2019 Oct 19-20 (Berkeley)
  • 2020 Jan 18 (Denver)
  • 2020 Jan 22-23 (Irvine)
  • 2020 Feb 10-14 (Basel)
  • 2020 Feb 19-20 (Simons Institute)
  • 2020 Mar 14-15 (U. Virginia)
  • 2020 Mar 16-17 (Austin)
  • 2020 Oct 1 (Calgary, remote)
  • 2020 Oct 16 (Dublin, remote)
  • 2021 Jan 26 (Sofia) - remote
  • 2021 Apr 8 (Stanford) - remote
  • 2021 Apr 9 (Beirut) - remote
  • 2021 Apr 12-23 (MSRI) - remote
  • 2021 June 29-30 (Los Angeles)
  • 2021 July 1-14 (Bonn)
  • 2021 Sep 9 (Montreal) - remote
  • 2021 Sep 20-24 (RISM)
  • 2021 Sep 27-30 (Sydney) - remote
  • 2021 Oct 30 (Penn state)
  • 2021 Nov 24 (Budapest) - remote