John Henry Coates was born at Possum Brush on January 26, 1945. His father taught French and his mother, Beryl was a member of the Lee family, known for their musicianship. Coates Road at Possum Brush is named after the family's farm.

In an interview in 2008, Professor Coates spoke of "vivid memories" of his childhood on the farm, of the unspoilt bush and wild animals. The wildlife was so "everyday", he said, "we just took it for granted."

Prof Coates also spoke of his father's mental health issues which saw his mother manage the farm by herself for a period of time. His mother died when John was seven and John lived for a time with his aunt, Melvie Chick at Cundletown.

John went to a small school early on, then when his elder brother went to Taree High, John was enrolled at Taree Public School for his final year of primary education.

Mathematics was not on John's radar at this stage. His mother had one or two maths books and in his second or third year at Taree High and had an "excellent (mathematics) teacher," Jack Gibson, but found physics of more interest.

At the end of high school he obtained a summer job at BHP in Newcastle, in the hope of gaining an internship to university. He wasn't chosen, but he had applied to the Australian National University in Canberra which was taking on undergraduates for the first time and he received an interview.

That trip to Canberra "changed my whole existence," John said. "It was a new world." ANU had excellent funding and at the time, Canberra was a very small city.

ANU offered two fields of study - arts and science - and John's interest in physics led him to take up science. It was in his first year of study he discovered mathematics, thanks to his teachers.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science from ANU, John's honours studies saw him and wife Julie, nee Turner, move to France to study at École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He then applied to Cambridge to complete his doctorate in maths number theory.

He was appointed a position as assistant professor of mathematics at Harvard University in the United States in 1969, then moved to Stanford University in 1972, where he was an associate professor before returning returning to England to take up a lectureship at the University of Cambridge in 1975.

In 1986 he took up the position of Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge University.

John and Julie Coates had three sons. John died on May 9, 2022. From 1986 until his death, Professor Coates worked in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics (DPMMS) of the University of Cambridge

READ MORE: Maths history University of St Andrews

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