Wiles, Andrew (1953-…), is a British mathematician renowned for proving a mathematical statement called Fermat’s Last Theorem. The famous theorem was first put forth by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1637. Wiles’s complete proof of the theorem was published in 1995.
The ancient Greeks knew that there are many whole-number solutions of the equation x ^2 + y ^2 = z ^2 (for example, 3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2). In 1637, Fermat wrote in the margin of a book that there is no whole-number solution of x ^ n + y ^ n = z ^ n if n is greater than 2. Several famous mathematicians proved special cases of the theorem. These mathematicians include Leonhard Euler of Switzerland, Sophie Germain of France, and Ernst Kummer of Germany. But mathematicians had long tried to prove the general fact without success. Wiles’s complete proof—which is extremely technical—was the result of nearly eight years of intense, secret study.
Andrew John Wiles was born on April 11, 1953, in Cambridge, England. In 1980, he earned a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Wiles became a professor of mathematics at Princeton University in 1982. He is also a Royal Society research professor at Oxford University. As a mathematician, Wiles specializes in number theory. Number theory is the study of the _integers—_that is, whole numbers and their negatives (see Number theory ). Wiles has been interested in Fermat’s Last Theorem since he read about it at age 10. But he did not seriously work on its proof until he had the necessary mathematical training. Wiles won numerous awards for his work. In 2000, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, becoming Sir Andrew Wiles.
See also Fermat, Pierre de .
