Discrete Fourier analysis is a tool that is of great use in many 
              problems in additive number theory. However, it also has its limitations: 
              there are some problems for which it is (provably) too blunt a tool. 
              In recent years, strong evidence has emerged that there should be 
              a "higher-degree" Fourier analysis that can be used to 
              tackle a much wider range of problems that had previously appeared 
              to be out of reach. In particular, "quadratic" Fourier 
              analysis already exists in a form that is useful for applications. 
              I shall discuss this and several related themes in arithmetic combinatorics.
            
            Timothy Gowers was born in Marlborough, England in 1963. He attended 
            Trinity College School, Cambridge (1982-1989), where he received a 
            Ph.D. under Béla Bollobás. He was appointed lecturer 
            at University College, London in 1991 and Rouse Ball Professor of 
            Mathematics at Cambridge in 1998. He was awarded the Fields Medal 
            in 1998. Amongst his mathematical results are solutions to two problems 
            posed by Banach in the 1930's and a new proof of Szeméredi's 
            theorem which gives the first upper bounds that are small enough to 
            be easily stated.
            
            Speakers in the Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) have made outstanding 
              contributions to their field of mathematics. The DLS consists of 
              a series of three one-hour lectures.