the public for the first time at a conference in Cambridge. In August 1993, it was discovered that the proof contained a flaw in one area. Wiles tried and failed for over a year to repair his proof. According to Wiles, the crucial idea for circumventing—rather than closing—this area came to him on 19 September 1994, when he was on the verge of giving up. Together with his former student Richard Taylor, he published a second paper which circumvented the problem and thus completed the proof. Both papers were published in May 1995 in a dedicated issue of the Annals of Mathematics. Awards and honours Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem has stood up to the scrutiny of the world's other mathematical experts. Wiles was interviewed for an episode of the BBC documentary series Horizon about Fermat's Last Theorem. This was broadcast as an episode of the PBS science television series Nova with the title "The Proof". His work and life are also described in great detail in Simon Singh's popular book Fermat's Last Theorem. Wiles has been awarded a number of major prizes in mathematics and science: Junior Whitehead Prize of the London Mathematical Society (1988) Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1989 Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1994) Schock Prize (1995) Fermat Prize (1995) Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1995/6) Elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (1996) NAS Award in Mathematics from the National Academy of Sciences (1996) Royal Medal (1996) Ostrowski Prize (1996) Cole Prize (1997) MacArthur Fellowship (1997) Wolfskehl Prize (1997) – see Paul Wolfskehl Elected member of the American Philosophical Society (1997) A silver plaque from the International Mathematical Union (1998) recognising his achievements, in place of the Fields Medal, which is restricted to those under 40 (Wiles was 41 when he proved the theorem in 1994) King Faisal Prize (1998) Clay Research Award (1999) Premio Pitagora (Croton, 2004) Shaw Prize (2005) The asteroid 9999 Wiles was named after Wiles in 1999. Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2000) The building at the University of Oxford housing the Mathematical Institute is named after Wiles. Abel Prize (2016) Copley Medal (2017) Wiles's 1987 certificate of election to the Royal Society reads: References External links Profile from Oxford Profile from Princeton 1953 births Living people 20th-century English mathematicians 21st-century English mathematicians Abel Prize