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What are the most famous examples of PhD advisors in mathematics, younger than their student?
(if possible put the date of birth and/or the difference in age).

Sebastien Palcoux
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    Does Whitfield Diffie count? He was more than a year older than his advisor Martin Hellman. (Un)fortunately he never finished his degree. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitfield_Diffie – ThiKu Mar 19 '15 at 08:49
  • @ThiKu: But he still has a doctorate, though. – Asaf Karagila Mar 19 '15 at 08:53
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetlana_Katok appears to be older than her advisor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Zagier. I didn't go through all of Zagier's students, but there could be more examples among the early ones. –  Mar 19 '15 at 08:59
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    This doesn't seem like a research level math question, and is therefore not on-topic for MO. I would vote to close but I can't. – Camilo Sarmiento Mar 19 '15 at 12:01
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    I think this phenomenon is fairly common. For example, I am younger than one of my PhD students, and my advisor is younger than at least one of his PhD students. It often happens that a person pursues the PhD later in life, after other accomplishments, and in such a case they can easily find themselves with a younger advisor. But I would rather that we should be discussing mathematician's theorems on MO, rather than their ages. – Joel David Hamkins Mar 20 '15 at 13:43
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    Let me add that in the cases with which I am familiar, the advisor/student relation was not fundamentally affected by the difference in age; it was just like normal. – Joel David Hamkins Mar 20 '15 at 13:50
  • @JoelDavidHamkins: Advisors early in life seems more uncommon than students later in life. Anyway, this post is a recreation between two theorems. – Sebastien Palcoux Mar 20 '15 at 14:01
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    I believe that the late-student phenomenon could be less unusual in the U.S. than in Europe. – Joel David Hamkins Mar 20 '15 at 14:11
  • Also, it seems to me to be probably true that one is more likely to find a young professor serving as a Ph.D. supervisor in the U.S. than in Europe. (But I recognise, @SébastienPalcoux, that you are not currently in Europe.) – Joel David Hamkins Mar 20 '15 at 22:08
  • @JoelDavidHamkins: I believe you're right, the research establishment in France (and perhaps in all the E.U.), seems more rigid than in the U.S. or in India. I hope this will change. – Sebastien Palcoux Mar 21 '15 at 03:52

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The only example I know is Charlie Fefferman and his first student.

Advisor: Fefferman, born April 18, 1949. Year of PhD 1969.
Student: Antonio Córdoba Barba, born January 12, 1949. Year of PhD 1974.

Difference in age: 3 months and change.

Trivia: that is the only example I know also where both father and son studied under the same PhD advisor.

Willie Wong
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  • Though I wouldn't be surprised at more examples considering http://mathoverflow.net/questions/3591/mathematicians-who-were-late-learners-list http://mathoverflow.net/questions/7120/too-old-for-advanced-mathematics and http://mathoverflow.net/questions/43341/technical-phd-after-33 – Willie Wong Mar 19 '15 at 08:55
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    John Fogarty was older than his adviser David Mumford. – Lubin Mar 19 '15 at 12:35
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    Anders Björner simultaneously had both father and son as students: Henrik and Kimmo Eriksson. – Richard Stanley Mar 19 '15 at 13:10