I took an analytic number theory course with one of the authors of one of papers, Kevin Ford, while a grad student at UIUC - he was hard on me as a student from

I took an analytic number theory course with one of the authors of one of papers, Kevin Ford, while a grad student at UIUC - he was hard on me as a student from what I remember. Tao's comment on prime number problems are spot on - the study of prime numbers is perhaps the most raw and magical of all the areas of mathematics. Intuition usually gives very simple "guesses" (most mathematicians have superb intuition) on basic properties, but proving them often proves to be elusive, which is why it taunts mathematicians.