John H. Coates facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John H. Coates
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Coates in 2006
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John Henry Coates
26 January 1945 Possum Brush, New South Wales, Australia
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| Died | 9 May 2022 (aged 77) Cambridge, England
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| Spouse(s) | Julie Turner |
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| Fields | Mathematics |
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| Thesis | The Effective Solution of Some Diophantine Equations (1969) |
| Doctoral advisor | Alan Baker |
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John Henry Coates (born January 26, 1945 – died May 9, 2022) was an important mathematician from Australia. He was a top professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom for many years.
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Early Life and Learning
John Coates was born in Australia on January 26, 1945. He grew up in a place called Possum Brush in New South Wales. A road there, Coates Road, is named after his family's farm.
He went to the Australian National University on a scholarship. This means he got money to help him study. He earned a science degree there. After that, he moved to France to study more in Paris. Then he moved to England to continue his education.
His Career in Mathematics
John Coates did his advanced studies at the University of Cambridge in England. He earned his PhD in 1969. His research was about special types of numbers called p-adic numbers.
In 1969, he became a math professor at Harvard University in the United States. Later, in 1972, he moved to Stanford University.
In 1975, he came back to England. He became a teacher at Emmanuel College. There, he helped guide Andrew Wiles with his PhD studies. Together, they worked on a very difficult math problem called the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. This problem is about special curves in mathematics called elliptic curves.
Coates moved around a lot for his work! In 1977, he went back to Australia to teach at the Australian National University. The next year, he moved back to France. He became a professor at the University of Paris XI. In 1985, he returned to the École Normale Supérieure, this time as a professor and director of mathematics.
From 1986 until he passed away, John Coates worked at the University of Cambridge. He was even the head of the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics from 1991 to 1997.
His main areas of research were Iwasawa theory and number theory. These are advanced topics in mathematics that deal with the properties and relationships of numbers.
Awards and Special Recognitions
John Coates received many honors for his work.
In 1985, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. This is a very high honor for scientists. He was also the President of the London Mathematical Society from 1988 to 1990.
In 1997, the London Mathematical Society gave him the Senior Whitehead Prize. They gave him this award because of his important research in number theory. They also recognized his many contributions to math around the world.
When he was nominated for the Royal Society, they said he was special for his work on numbers. They also said he was a great influence on his students and other mathematicians. They noted that he and his student Andrew Wiles made a big step in solving the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjectures.
Personal Life
John Coates married Julie Turner in 1966. They had three sons together. He also enjoyed collecting Japanese pottery and porcelain. John Coates passed away on May 9, 2022.
