Australian wins the Fields Medal

For some reason, Alfred Nobel didn't endow a mathematics prize, but John Fields, secretary of the International Mathematical Union in 1931, did, and the Fields Medal is the math equivalent of the Nobel in that discipline. Four winners every four years get the medal, all under 40 years of age.

This year, an Adelaide man by the name of Professor Terence Tao, won one. He's 31, and was a professor at 24, at the University of California. Apparently he was something of a child prodigy, being tutored in university level maths at 12. Congratulations. I can only find comfort, though, knowing that mathematicians peak at 30, while philosophers peak at 70...