Chinese-born maths genius leaves Harvard to help China become a powerhouse on subject
- Yau Shing-Tung, the first Chinese winner of the prestigious Fields Medal, will be chair professor in mathematics at Tsinghua University
- 73-year-old aims to ‘take over the torch’ passed down by late teacher and modern geometry pioneer Chern Shiing-shen
“This is a major decision in his life,” said a colleague of Yau’s from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
Although Yau, 73, had spent a lot of time teaching for free in China in recent years, the new move means “he’s ready to leave five decades of life in the US behind, and devote all his time and energy to promoting the development of maths in China,” said the colleague, who did not wish to be named.
Yau, who was with Harvard University since 1987 and retired as the William Caspar Graustein professor of mathematics, joins Tsinghua as a chair professor in mathematics.
Born in China’s southern Guangdong province in 1949, Yau was raised in neighbouring Hong Kong and studied maths at the Chinese University in the 1960s before earning his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Chern.
“Mathematics is the only truth that stands the test of time. It will bridge different scientific disciplines and lead our way forward,” Yau said at the installation ceremony on Wednesday.
Since Yau’s first return visit to mainland China in 1979, he has trained students and helped establish research centres across the country, including the Morningside Center of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Yau Mathematical Sciences Centre at Tsinghua University, which was named after him.
Thanks to his efforts, the global ranking of Tsinghua’s maths department had leapt from below 100 to around 20th place within a decade, Yau’s Chinese Academy colleague said.
Since 1998, Yau and Hong Kong entrepreneur Ronnie Chan Chi-chung have jointly sponsored the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians. The event, one of the largest and most influential for the country’s maths community, is hosted every three years on a rotating basis by universities and institutions in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Yau has also organised college student maths contests in an effort to fundamentally change how young people understand and learn the subject, as much of related education in the country has tended to be exam-oriented.
He is currently helping to set up the Tsinghua co-sponsored Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, at the Huairou science city in the northern suburbs of the capital.
