Fernando Quadros Gouvêa is a Brazilian number theorist and

historian of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the History of mathematical notation, mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples ...

who won the

Lester R. Ford Award ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics. It was established by Benjamin Finkel in 1894 and is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America. It is an expositor ...

of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

(MAA) in 1995 for his exposition of

Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is a proof by British mathematician Sir Andrew Wiles of a special case of the modularity theorem for elliptic curves. Together with Ribet's theorem, it provides a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. Both ...

. He also won the Beckenbach Book Prize of the MAA in 2007 for his book with William P. Berlinghoff, ''Math through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others'' (Oxton House, 2002; 2nd ed., 2014). He is the Carter Professor of Mathematics at

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. A college town, the city is home to Colby College, a New England Small College Athletic Conference, NESCAC college, and Thomas College. As ...

. Gouvêa grew up in São Paulo, the son of a lawyer and banker, and was educated there in an English-language primary school and then at the Colégio Bandeirantes de São Paulo. He earned a bachelor's degree from the

University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...

, and then a master's degree in 1981 under the supervision of César Polcino Milies. He moved to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1983 for continuing graduate study in number theory, and completed his doctorate there in 1987; his dissertation, titled ''Arithmetic of'' -''adic Modular Forms'', was supervised by

Barry Mazur Barry Charles Mazur (; born December 19, 1937) is an American mathematician and the Gerhard Gade University Professor at Harvard University. His contributions to mathematics include his contributions to Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in ...

. He became a faculty member at the University of São Paulo, took a visiting position at Queen's University in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

in 1990, and was brought to Colby College by

Keith Devlin Keith James Devlin (born 16 March 1947) is a British mathematician and popular science writer. Since 1987 he has lived in the United States. He has dual British-American citizenship.

, who had recently been hired as department chair there. He is the editor of the ''

Carus Mathematical Monographs The ''Carus Mathematical Monographs'' is a monograph series published by the Mathematical Association of America.Drake, Miriam A. (2003). ''Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Lib-Pub.'' CRC Press, Books in this series are intended t ...

'' book series, and of ''MAA Reviews'', an online book review service published by the MAA.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouvea, Fernando Q. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Brazilian mathematicians University of São Paulo alumni Harvard University alumni Academic staff of the University of São Paulo Colby College faculty Number theorists Historians of mathematics