Timothy Gowers is a mathematician whose application of analytic and combinatorial methods to the study of whole numbers has yielded several important discoveries in the field. He has also made valuable contributions to combinatorics and functional analysis by finding new connections between these two areas of mathematics.

Timothy is a keen communicator of mathematical research at all levels, and his 2002 book Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction has proved a bestseller amongst those with little prior mathematical knowledge. His personal blog, set up in 2007 and regularly updated, is widely read by those within the mathematics community.

Awarded the Fields Medal at the age of 34, Timothy also received a knighthood in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday Honours List. In 2013, he was one of 17 international scholars and thinkers given an honorary degree to commemorate the University of St Andrews’ 600th anniversary.