Andrew Wiles facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir Andrew Wiles
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Wiles in 2005
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Andrew John Wiles
11 April 1953 Cambridge, England
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| Nationality | British |
| Education | King's College School, Cambridge The Leys School |
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| Known for | Proving the Taniyama–Shimura conjecture for semistable elliptic curves, thereby proving Fermat's Last Theorem Proving the main conjecture of Iwasawa theory |
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| Fields | Mathematics |
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| Thesis | Reciprocity Laws and the Conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer (1979) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Coates |
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Sir Andrew John Wiles (born 11 April 1953) is a famous English mathematician. He is a professor at the University of Oxford. He is most known for solving a very old and difficult math problem called Fermat's Last Theorem. For this amazing achievement, he received many awards, including the Abel Prize in 2016. He was also made a Knight by the Queen in 2000.
Wiles was born in Cambridge, England. When he was a child, he lived in Nigeria. He became very interested in mathematics, especially Fermat's Last Theorem. After studying at University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, he became a professor at Princeton University. In 1986, he decided to try and solve Fermat's Last Theorem. He worked on it secretly for many years. In 1993, he announced he had a proof, but a small mistake was found. With help from his student Richard Taylor, he fixed the mistake in 1994. The full proof was published in 1995.
Wiles's work created new ways for mathematicians to solve problems. His former students later used his ideas to prove other important math theories. Wiles believes his work not only solved one big problem but also helped push the entire field of mathematics forward.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Andrew Wiles was born in Cambridge, England, on April 11, 1953. His father, Maurice Frank Wiles, was a professor of religion.
When he was very young, Wiles lived in Nigeria with his parents. At first, he didn't want to go to school. But he later said he always enjoyed solving math problems.
Wiles went to King's College School, Cambridge and The Leys School, Cambridge. When he was 10 years old, he found a book about Fermat's Last Theorem in his local library. He was fascinated by this math problem because it was easy to understand but no one had solved it. He decided he would be the first to prove it. He soon realized it was too hard for him at that age. But the dream came back to him when he was 33.
Starting His Math Career
In 1974, Wiles finished his first degree in mathematics at Merton College, Oxford. He then started his advanced studies in 1975. His main focus was on elliptic curves, which are special shapes in mathematics.
In 1980, Wiles earned his PhD from Clare College, Cambridge. After spending some time at a research center in New Jersey, he became a professor of mathematics at Princeton University in 1981.
In 1989, Wiles became a member of the Royal Society. This is a very old and respected group of scientists.
Proving Fermat's Last Theorem
From 1988 to 1990, Wiles worked at the University of Oxford. Then he went back to Princeton.
In 1986, mathematicians realized that Fermat's Last Theorem could be solved if another big math idea, called the "modularity theorem," was proven. Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive whole numbers a, b, and c can solve the equation an + bn = cn if n is a whole number greater than 2.
The modularity theorem was about elliptic curves. These are special curves that can be seen as solutions for a donut-shaped surface. If Fermat's Last Theorem were false, a very strange elliptic curve would exist. So, proving the modularity theorem for these curves would show that such a strange curve could not exist, meaning Fermat's Last Theorem must be true.
Most mathematicians thought this problem was too hard to solve. But Wiles, who had been fascinated by Fermat's Last Theorem since childhood, decided to try. He worked on it for over six years in secret. He only told his wife about his work.
Wiles's proof used a method called "proof by contradiction." He started by imagining that Fermat's Last Theorem was wrong. Then, he showed that this would lead to a contradiction with the modularity theorem. This meant his first idea (that Fermat's Last Theorem was wrong) had to be false. So, Fermat's Last Theorem had to be true!
In June 1993, Wiles shared his proof at a conference. He gave three lectures without saying what he was really working on. At the very end of his third lecture, he quietly announced that he had proven a big part of the modularity theorem. Then, he added that this meant Fermat's Last Theorem was true.
However, in August 1993, a small mistake was found in his proof. Wiles tried to fix it for over a year. He said the key idea to fix it came to him on September 19, 1994, just when he was about to give up. With help from his former student Richard Taylor, Wiles published a second paper that fixed the mistake. Both papers were published in May 1995. This completed the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.
Later Career and Impact
In 2011, Wiles returned to the University of Oxford as a professor. In 2018, he became the first "Regius Professor of Mathematics" at Oxford.
Wiles's work has been very important for other mathematicians. In 1999, three of his former students, including Richard Taylor, used Wiles's ideas to prove the full modularity theorem. Many of Wiles's students have become successful mathematicians themselves.
When he received the Abel Prize in 2016, Wiles explained the bigger impact of his work. He said that the methods he used to solve Fermat's Last Theorem opened up new ways to approach a huge set of ideas in mathematics called the Langlands program. This program tries to connect different areas of mathematics.
Awards and Honours
Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem was carefully checked by other math experts and found to be correct. His story was even featured in a TV show called Nova and a popular book titled Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh.
Wiles has received many awards for his work:
- Whitehead Prize (1988)
- Rolf Schock Prize (1995)
- Ostrowski Prize (1995)
- Fermat Prize (1995)
- Wolf Prize (1995/6)
- Royal Medal (1996)
- NAS Award in Mathematics (1996)
- Cole Prize (1997)
- MacArthur Fellowship (1997)
- Wolfskehl Prize (1997)
- A special silver plaque from the International Mathematical Union (1998), because he was too old for the Fields Medal
- King Faisal Prize (1998)
- Clay Research Award (1999)
- He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2000)
- Shaw Prize (2005)
- Abel Prize (2016)
- Copley Medal (2017)
- De Morgan Medal (2019)
In 1999, an asteroid was named after him: 9999 Wiles. In 2016, the building at the University of Oxford where the math department is located was named the "Andrew Wiles Building."
See Also
In Spanish: Andrew Wiles para niños
