John Tate

John Torrence Tate, Jr. (March 13, 1925 – October 16, 2019) was an American mathematician, distinguished for many fundamental contributions in algebraic number theory, arithmetic geometry and related areas in algebraic geometry. He was awarded the Abel Prize in 2010.

John Tate, 1993

Quotes

• Since I was a teenager I had an interest in number theory. Fortunately, I came across a good number theory book by L. E. Dickson, so I knew a little number theory. Also I had been reading Bell’s histories of people like Gauss. I liked number theory. It’s natural, in a way, because many wonderful problems and theorems in number theory can be explained to any interested high-school student. Number theory is easier to get into in that sense. But of course it depends on one’s intuition and taste also.
  • as quoted by Martin Raussen and Christian Skau: (March 2011)"Interview with Abel Laureate John Tate". Notices of the AMS 58 (3): 444–452. (quote from p. 445)

• It doesn't matter how long it takes, if the end result is a good theorem.
  • Steve Nadis (1 November 2013). A History in Sum. Harvard University Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-674-72655-0. 

Quotes about John Tate

• A “good theorem,” as Tate puts it, lasts forever. Once proved, it will always stay proved, and other mathematicians are free to use it and build on it as they please, sometimes to great effect.
  • Steve Nadis (1 November 2013). A History in Sum. Harvard University Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-674-72655-0.