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John Coates completed his Ph. D. from Cambridge University in 1969.
He then held positions in several leading centres of mathematical research
around the world: Harvard, Stanford, Australian National University, University
of Paris and in 1985 he took up the positions of professor and director of
mathematics at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. In the same year he
was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
In 1986 John Coates returned to Cambridge as the Sadleirian Professor of
Pure Mathematics. From 1991 to 1997, he served as the Head of the Department of
Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Cambridge.
His main work has been in the area of Arithmetic of Elliptic curves and
Iwasawa theory. With his student Andrew Wiles, he established the first
theoretical results about the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer.
An outstanding researcher, he is also an inspiring teacher and expositor who
has trained numerous research students and mentored young mathematicians and
students from around the world. John Coates served as president of the
London Mathematical Society during 1988-90 and as vice-president of the
International Mathematical Union from 1991 to 1995.
He was awarded the Senior Whitehead Prize in 1997 by the London Mathematical
Society.
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