P007872 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 2025-10-07 human Helen Cohn updated 2025-10-21 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P007872b.htm person Coates John Henry FRS AACR2 26 January 1945 9 May 2022 Place of Birth Possum Brush near Taree, New South Wales, Australia Place of Death Cambridge, United Kingdom Mathematician University Administrator John Coates was a mathematician who gained an international reputation for his study of elliptical curves. His research included Iwasawa theory, number theory and arithmetical algebraic geometry, of which he was considered a pioneer. In the new millennium he extended his interests to various non-commutative situations, working with eminent number theorists such as Kazuya Kato from Japan and Sujatha Ramdorai from India. Several of his papers, written with colleagues, were landmark contributions in their field. Early in his career Coates held positions at Harvard and Stanford Universities, U.S.A., and briefly was Professor at the Australian National University. In 1987 he became Sadleirian Chair of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, from which chair he retired in 2012. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, London, in 1985.

"John Coates made important contributions to the theory of numbers, in particular to the study of cyclotomic fields, elliptic curves and Iwasawa theory. In addition to his own important contributions, he was a stimulating influence on colleagues and students. Together with his pupil Andrew Wiles, he achieved the first major breakthrough towards a proof of the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjectures." [from Royal Society, London https://royalsociety.org/people/john-coates-11240/ 21/10/2025]

1969 1969 Education - PhD, University of Cambridge 1969 1972 Career position - Assistant Professor, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, .U.S.A. 1972 1975 Career position - Associate Professor, Stanford University, California, U.S.A. 1975 1977 Career position - Lecturer in pure mathematics and Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge 1977 1977 Career position - Professor, Australian National University 1978 1985 Career position - Professor, Université de Paris, Orsay, France 1985 1986 Career position - Professor and director of mathematics, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France 1985 2022 Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS) 1987 2012 Career position - Sadleirian Chair of Mathematics, University of Cambridge 1988 1990 Career position - President, London Mathematical Society 1991 1995 Career position - Vice-President, International Mathematical Union 1991 1997 Career position - Head, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge 1992 1994 Career position - Member of Council, Royal Society, London 1997 1997 Award - Senior Whitehead Prize for "his fundamental research in number theory and for his many contributions to mathematical life both in the UK and internationally", London Mathematical Society 2012 2012 Life event - Retired The University of Adelaide (1874 - 2026)

Professor of Mathematics 1977

 'Coates, John Henry', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Coates, John Henry Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Journal Article: Kurt Mahler, 26 July 1903 - 26 February 1988 Coates, John Henry and Van per Poorten, A. J. Kurt Mahler, 26 July 1903 - 26 February 1988 1994 Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 39 265-97 Journal Article: Kurt Mahler 1903-1988 Coates, J. H.; van der Poorten, A. J. Kurt Mahler 1903-1988 1993 Historical Records of Australian Science 9 4 369-385 Journal Article: John Henry Coates, FRS 1945 - 2022 Delbourgo, Daniel John Henry Coates, FRS 1945 - 2022 2022 Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society 49 3 115-7