Terry Tao: “Trump CUT My Funding.” Here's how I am going to react.
Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
The Role and Limits of Prizes in Math
Keating asks about prizes and Tao discusses how awards aid careers and publicity but can misrepresent mathematical work and create unhealthy competition.
What happens when a government abruptly cuts off the lifeline of pure science?
Imagine canceling Albert Einstein just before he published [E = mc².
Terence Tao, the “Mozart of Mathematics,” was one of the unlucky researchers hit when the Trump administration suddenly terminated his federal research funding.
Today, I walk and talk with Tao at UCLA to understand how America’s greatest living mathematician found himself blindsided by a bureaucratic earthquake — and what it means for the future of discovery.
This is Part 1 of our deep dive into Tao’s work, his warnings about the collapse of U.S. research infrastructure, and why mathematics is the unseen root system supporting all of modern technology.
🕒 TIMESTAMPS
- 00:00 – *“Canceling Einstein”* — Tao’s funding cut
- 00:22 – Who is Terence Tao?
- 01:17 – Grants suspended without warning
- 01:27 – New hurdles for international scholars
- 01:38 – UCLA’s sudden funding freeze
- 03:00 – Was Tao targeted?
- 03:38 – Arbitrary rule-changing
- 04:01 – Trivial reasons for cancellations
- 04:18 – Policy without process
- 05:06 – Do we need new funding models?
- 05:27 – Why federal stability matters
- 05:52 – The limits of philanthropy
- 08:42 – Math as the root of modern tech
- 09:11 – Prizes and public perception
- 11:35 – The seven great unsolved problems
- 12:13 – The Navier–Stokes question
- 12:57 – The problem with prize-driven secrecy
- 13:37 – Collaboration over competition
If you care about ideas, discovery, and the future of knowledge itself — this conversation matters.
Part 2 drops soon. Subscribe so you don't miss it.
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