Timothy Gowers facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir
Timothy Gowers
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Gowers at the Abel Prize ceremony in 2012
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| Born |
William Timothy Gowers
20 November 1963 |
| Education | King's College School, Cambridge Eton College |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge University College London |
| Thesis | Symmetric Structures in Banach Spaces (1990) |
| Doctoral advisor | Béla Bollobás |
| Doctoral students | David Conlon Ben Green Tom Sanders |
Sir William Timothy Gowers is a famous British mathematician. He was born on November 20, 1963. He is known for his important work in different areas of mathematics.
Sir Timothy Gowers holds a special position in Combinatorics at the Collège de France. He is also a research director at the University of Cambridge. In 1998, he received the Fields Medal, which is like the Nobel Prize for mathematics. He earned this award for his research that connected two big areas of math: functional analysis and combinatorics.
Contents
Becoming a Mathematician
Timothy Gowers attended King's College School, Cambridge, where he was a choirboy. Later, he went to Eton College. There, he learned mathematics from a great teacher named Norman Routledge.
Early Achievements
In 1981, Gowers showed his amazing math skills by winning a gold medal. He achieved a perfect score at the International Mathematical Olympiad. This is a competition for the best young mathematicians from around the world.
University Studies
He continued his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1990, he earned his PhD. His main research was about "Symmetric Structures in Banach Spaces." His supervisor, who guided his research, was Béla Bollobás.
His Work in Mathematics
After finishing his PhD, Gowers became a Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College. He also worked as a lecturer at University College London for a few years. In 1998, he became a professor at Cambridge. He also spent time as a visiting professor at Princeton University.
In 2020, he took on a new role at the Collège de France. This shows his continued dedication to mathematics.
Exploring Banach Spaces
Gowers first focused on an area of math called Banach spaces. He used clever tools from combinatorics to solve some long-standing problems. He even created a special Banach space that surprised many mathematicians.
With another mathematician, Bernard Maurey, he solved a problem about "unconditional basic sequences" in 1992. This was a big step forward in understanding these complex spaces.
Combinatorics and Number Theory
Later, Gowers started working more on combinatorics and combinatorial number theory. These fields deal with counting and arrangements of objects.
In 1997, he made an important discovery about the Szemerédi regularity lemma. This lemma is a powerful tool used to study large graphs.
In 1998, Gowers found new ways to understand Szemerédi's theorem. This theorem is about finding patterns in sets of numbers. His work led to new tools like the Gowers norm, which helps mathematicians study patterns in numbers. Other mathematicians, like Ben Green and Terence Tao, built on his ideas. This led to the famous Green–Tao theorem.
In 2003, he developed a similar tool for hypergraphs. These are like graphs but can connect more than two points at once. In 2005, he also introduced the idea of a quasirandom group.
More recently, Gowers has been working on Ramsey theory and the challenging P versus NP problem. He is also interested in using computers to solve math problems.
Sharing Math with Everyone
Timothy Gowers believes in making mathematics understandable for everyone. He has written books and worked on projects to share his love for math.
Books and Films
He wrote a book called Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction (2002). This book helps regular readers understand modern math research. He also helped with the 2005 film Proof.
He edited The Princeton Companion to Mathematics (2008). This big book explains how different parts of modern math developed. For this work, he won the 2011 Euler Book Prize.
Online Collaboration
Gowers wondered if mathematicians could work together online to solve problems. He started the Polymath Project on his blog. The first problem, Polymath1, was solved in just seven weeks!
In 2009, he helped create Tricki.org. This is like a Wikipedia for math problem-solving methods. Many mathematicians, including Terence Tao and Ben Green, have contributed to it.
Open Access for Research
In 2012, Gowers spoke out about how expensive academic journals were. He started a movement called "The Cost of Knowledge." Researchers pledged to stop supporting journals that charged too much. This movement helped start an "Academic Spring," encouraging more open access to research.
In 2016, he launched Discrete Analysis. This is a high-quality math journal that is free to access. It showed that good research could be shared without high costs.
Awards and Recognition
Timothy Gowers has received many awards for his contributions to mathematics:
- In 1994, he was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
- In 1996, he received the Prize of the European Mathematical Society.
- In 1998, he was awarded the prestigious Fields Medal.
- In 1999, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.
- In 2010, he became a member of the American Philosophical Society.
- In 2012, he was knighted by the British monarch for his services to mathematics. This means he is now called "Sir Timothy Gowers."
- He was also listed in Nature's 10 people who made a difference in 2012.
Personal Life
Timothy Gowers was born in Marlborough, England. His father, Patrick Gowers, was a composer. His great-grandfather, Sir Ernest Gowers, was famous for his guides on English language use. His great-great-grandfather, Sir William Gowers, was a well-known neurologist.
He has two sisters: Rebecca, a writer, and Katharine, a violinist. He has five children and enjoys playing jazz piano.
In 2012, Gowers used his mathematical skills to help make a personal health decision. He carefully weighed the risks and benefits of a medical procedure.
