Recipient of mathematics’ highest honor, the Fields Medal, Prof. Terence Tao is producing some of the most compelling work in the field. Tao is is the very definition of a prodigy: a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at age 16, a Ph.D. at 20 and a full professor at 24 – the youngest in UCLA’s history. Tao’s internationally renowned proofs and theorems span many different fields in complex mathematics. He has been called one of the “great bridge-builders,” working with more than 30 different collaborators and organizing cooperative efforts online. His honors include a Crafoord Prize and a MacArthur Fellowship. He has earned one of the newest prizes in mathematics, the Breakthrough Prize, as well as a medal from the oldest scientific academy in the world, Britain’s Royal Society. His very presence at UCLA is a magnet for the best minds of the 21st century.