UCLA’s Terence Tao, often called “the Mozart of Math,” has built a career expanding pure theoretical mathematics, laying the groundwork for future scientific discovery by probing the fundamentals of equations and their solutions. This scaffolding is akin to the mathematical theory that Albert Einstein relied on to prove relativity — work cemented decades earlier by another mathematician. In the same way, Tao’s research has the potential to yield solutions with far-reaching applications across fields.
As the James and Carol Collins Professor of Mathematics in the UCLA College, Tao has already demonstrated this impact. Through the UCLA Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, he has led collaborations linking mathematics to engineering and medicine. One such project produced algorithms now widely used to make MRI scans up to 10 times faster. His findings could also have implications for cryptographic protocols for security.
“I do scientific research. I vote, I sign a petition, but I don’t consider myself an activist,” Tao told NBC News. “But after the July suspension of $584 million in federal grants at UCLA … I feel forced to speak out against what I view as indiscriminate cuts to science.”
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Two of Tao’s National Science Foundation grants were suspended this summer, including one supporting the institute. (Both have since been reinstated by a court ruling.) But Tao says the disruption forced him to divert part of his salary to sustain graduate students, and he worries that young scientists are already looking abroad for more stable opportunities. Without consistent support, he cautioned, the nation risks losing the very pipeline of talent that drives discovery.
