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On October 22, 2021 Phoenix Authors Annual Conference, mathematician Chengtong Yau was awarded the Golden Phoenix Medal. The award speech was: "We thank Yau Chengtong for adding a new blockbuster work to the biographical brand of Phoenix, so that the Phoenix spreads its wings and flies into the charming high-dimensional space, becoming more and more dazzling; we pay tribute to Yau Chengtong, and look forward to the future, Phoenix can have more opportunities to join hands with Mr. Yau to explore the world of wisdom and walk in the world of life." ”
Yau Chengtong is the first Chinese winner of the Fields Medal of the "Nobel Prize in Mathematics", and is the only mathematician in the world to win four awards, namely the Fields Medal, the Wolf Prize, the Crawford Prize, and the Marcel Grossman Prize, and his research results have profoundly affected the breadth and depth of human understanding of the universe. He cares about the motherland, cares for young people, and has been committed to cultivating elite students for decades, which has greatly promoted the development of Basic Science Education in China. He gave the deepest trust to Yilin and Phoenix, and handed over the painstaking work "My Geometric Life", which recalls the course of life, to the Translation Forest Society for publication, so that a great mathematician who studied mathematical theory and pursued the truth and beauty of life story returned to the world of his mother tongue. With the most tenacious perseverance and the purest spirit, he has constantly broadened the farthest frontiers of human wisdom.
Born in Shantou, Guangdong Province in 1949, Yau Chengtong moved to Hong Kong with his parents in the same year. He graduated from the Department of Mathematics, Chong Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1969. In 1971, he received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Chen. From 1974 to 1987, he was a professor of mathematics at Stanford University, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, and the University of California, San Diego. He has been a chair professor at Harvard University since 1987. He was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. In 1994, he became an academician of the Academia Sinica and a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Taiwan, and in the same year became the director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chinese, Hong Kong. In 2003, he became bowen chair professor at the University of Chinese, Hong Kong. He has been a professor in the Department of Physics at Harvard University since 2013.
Chengtong Yau is one of the most influential mathematicians in the contemporary world. From a chinese village boy to a world-renowned top mathematician, he has been leaning into the rushing river of mathematics all his life, seeking the truth and beauty of life. He is best known for inventing the mathematical structures of the Calabi-Ču spaces, which are the basis of string theory (the so-called "theory of everything").
In the eyes of Harvard scientists, Yau Chengtong is one of the most outstanding overseas Chinese who strive to promote world-class science in China. "The story of Chengtong Yau is a window into China's flourishing, a fusion of China's five-thousand-year tradition and postmodern science that could reshape the balance of science and technology in the world," the New York Times editorial said. ”
Three years ago, Yau chengtong published his autobiography "The Shape of a Life" in the United States, which was well received by American readers. He immediately wanted to translate the autobiography into Chinese, hoping to encourage young Chinese scholars with his life experience. He was impressed by the sincerity of Yilin Publishing House, and the two sides happily reached a cooperation and published "My Geometric Life: Yau Chengtong's Autobiography" in March this year. The book is considered by industry insiders to be one of the best biographies in recent years, and it is regarded by readers as a "divine work" and ranks at the top of the major book lists.
In this autobiography, readers will find that the scientist, hailed as the "Emperor of Mathematics," was not born exceptional. The book records the poverty of Yau Chengtong's early life and the stubbornness of his schooling - in the third grade, there were more than 40 students in the class, he ranked 36th; it also records the darkest moment of his life - at the age of 14, due to the sudden death of his father, the whole family was in the deepest part of the predicament: the family moved to the pigsty, and in order to facilitate schooling, he stayed at night at the desk of the primary school run by his father's students... Some people call Yau Chengtong a rare genius, but he said: "I don't like the term 'genius', I believe in the power of perseverance, repeated defeats, never discouraged." ”
"Chinese mathematics needs to be pushed," Mr. Yau said in his autobiography. Improving Mathematics in China has always been his aim, which comes from his father's teaching and the aim of his teacher Chen Shengshen.
On the last day of 2020, Tsinghua University released the "Yau Chengtong Mathematical Science Leadership Talent Training Program", announcing that it will recruit mathematical geniuses from junior high and high schools around the world. The training plan of "no need for college entrance examination, direct admission to Tsinghua" has aroused widespread discussion. The main advocate and executor of the plan is Yau Chengtong.
He said: "Mathematicians are not looking forward to ten thousand gold, nor are they hegemonic, after all, these will become ashes." What we seek is eternal truth, and what we love is theory and equations. It is more magnificent than poetry, for when the truth is naked, all hymns become small; it can enrich the country and strengthen the army because it is the source of all applied science; it can settle the country because it can plan the meridians of modern society. ”
Modern Express + ZAKER Nanjing reporter Jiang Sijia / Wen Gu Wei Ma Jingjing Shi Xianghui Liu Chang Gu Wen / photo