UCLA mathematician Terence Tao talked prime numbers and more in a lively conversation with pundit Stephen Colbert on the “The Colbert Report” on Nov. 12.

Tao is the winner of the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. He is the James and Carol Collins Chair of mathematics at UCLA and the youngest person ever to be promoted to full professor at the age of 24. His other honors include the George Polya Prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (2010), the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation (2008), the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize (2006), the Clay Research Award from the Clay Mathematical Institute (2003), the Bocher Memorial Prize from the American Mathematical Society (2002) and the Salem Prize (2000).

Learn more about his work at Tao’s website and Terence Tao, ‘Mozart of Math.’ He is first UCLA math prof to win the Fields Medal.