Terry Tao: “Trump CUT My Funding.” Here's how I am going to react.
Dr Brian Keating
46,495 views
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.
🎯 What You’ll Learn
• How Tao’s grant was abruptly erased — previously approved funding suspended with no scientific justification.
• Why foreign researchers now face new barriers entering U.S. institutions.
• How arbitrary rule-changes and political whims are destabilizing American research.
• How small “trigger” words like inequality have led to grant cancellations.
• Why federal support is the only stable backbone for young scientists and long-horizon research.
• Why pure math is civilization’s hidden infrastructure, powering everything from fluid dynamics to quantum tech.
• How prizes like the [Fields Medal](https://www.google.com/search?q=Field...) shape research culture, for better and worse.
• What the famous [Navier–Stokes](https://www.google.com/search?q=Navie...) problem really asks — and why a solution might change physics.
• Why secrecy spikes when mathematicians get close to a breakthrough.
• How Tao sees collaboration, not competition, as the true engine of progress.
🕒 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.
Get My NEW Book: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN8DH6SX?...
Join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥
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My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA
The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un
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Neil Turok Neil Turok Believes Physics Is In Crisis (...
Frank Wilczek Nobel Prizewinner Frank Wilczek: Beautiful...
Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram Stephen Wolfram vs. Eric Weinstein: Mathem...
Sir Roger Penrose: Nobel Prize in Physics, Black Holes and Wo...
Sabine Hossenfelder: “I Don’t Care About Your Theory of Everyth...
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20 Comments
Terry Tao: “Trump CUT My Funding.” Here's how I am going to react.
Dr Brian Keating
46,495 views
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.
🎯 What You’ll Learn
• How Tao’s grant was abruptly erased — previously approved funding suspended with no scientific justification.
• Why foreign researchers now face new barriers entering U.S. institutions.
• How arbitrary rule-changes and political whims are destabilizing American research.
• How small “trigger” words like inequality have led to grant cancellations.
• Why federal support is the only stable backbone for young scientists and long-horizon research.
• Why pure math is civilization’s hidden infrastructure, powering everything from fluid dynamics to quantum tech.
• How prizes like the [Fields Medal](https://www.google.com/search?q=Field...) shape research culture, for better and worse.
• What the famous [Navier–Stokes](https://www.google.com/search?q=Navie...) problem really asks — and why a solution might change physics.
• Why secrecy spikes when mathematicians get close to a breakthrough.
• How Tao sees collaboration, not competition, as the true engine of progress.
🕒 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.
Get My NEW Book: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN8DH6SX?...
Join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours:
@drbriankeating
📚 Get a copy of my books:
Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu
My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA
The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un
📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺
Neil Turok Neil Turok Believes Physics Is In Crisis (...
Frank Wilczek Nobel Prizewinner Frank Wilczek: Beautiful...
Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram Stephen Wolfram vs. Eric Weinstein: Mathem...
Sir Roger Penrose: Nobel Prize in Physics, Black Holes and Wo...
Sabine Hossenfelder: “I Don’t Care About Your Theory of Everyth...
Avi Loeb: UFOs & UAPs: The Situation Has Changed! Av...
Follow me to ask questions of my guests:
🏄♂️ Twitter: Twitter: DrBrianKeating
🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeatin...
📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list
✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog
🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast
#universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating #terrencetao