Chengtong Yau: Real recognition should be given to female mathematicians

Author | Han raised an eyebrow

"Many times, there is not enough respect for the achievements of female mathematicians in society, resulting in a lack of self-confidence. I hope that through this competition, female students will increase their self-confidence and let them know that they are actually amazing and have the ability to change the development of mathematics, just like the great mathematician Nott. On October 30, Qiu Chengtong, a famous mathematician and dean of The Qiuzhen College of Tsinghua University, pointed out at the opening ceremony of the "First Yau Chengtong Girls' Mathematics Competition for Girls' Secondary School Students" held in Beijing.

On October 31, the competition held an award ceremony. Yang Mengqi from Chengdu No. 7 Middle School (Linyin Campus) won the gold medal. In addition, 3 Silver Winners, 6 Bronze Winners and 15 Winners were selected.

In her speech, Yau recalled that the first great female mathematician she met was Karen Ullenbeck, the first female recipient of the Abel Prize, the highest award in mathematics. To Qiu Chengtong's surprise, Ulunbeck was not fully respected for her really good aspects, mathematical achievements, but was respected because of her gender, which is not a very fair thing.

"I see a lot of female mathematicians, and they're really capable." Mr. Yau said he had taught undergraduates at Harvard university and had the same situation: There were several female students who had good grades and were the best students in their class, but they thought they couldn't do it.

For example, there was a girl named Bryan Kra, who was the best student in the class, and she thought she couldn't do it, she was quitting, she wasn't studying math. Qiu Chengtong said to her, your math is very good, there is no problem. It took him a lot of effort to persuade him, and Bryan Kra finally continued to study mathematics. Today, Bryan Kra is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and a former chair of the Department of Mathematics at Northwestern University.

"I have a lot of friends who are female mathematicians whose achievements are enough to influence the history of mathematics. I would expect the math community to have a fair evaluation of them. This is also the original intention of Qiu Chengtong to set up the "Qiu Chengtong Girls' Mathematics Competition for Girls' High School Students".

Yau Chengtong said that since the establishment of the Center for Mathematical Sciences at Tsinghua University, no mathematician has looked the other way because he is a woman. Respect for their academic achievements, "this is the real recognition of female mathematicians."

Olympic champion and table tennis Grand Slam winner Deng Yaping attended the award ceremony to cheer all the girls up. Deng Yaping said that in general, everyone may think that girls learn more liberal arts, science and engineering slightly less, but today we girls should have confidence, in fact, people themselves do not have too many gender differences, success depends on whether there is confidence and determination to do things well, girls can learn mathematics well. Just like so far, Chinese female athletes have performed better than men, including the number of medals in the Olympic Games.

Wang Dianjun, president of tsinghua university's affiliated high school, was a professor in Tsinghua's department of mathematics. Learning math, he says, makes it possible to adapt to different careers. Mathematics is a tool for all disciplines, and learning mathematics is good for inspiring wisdom and cultivating higher-order thinking. I hope that students will learn "good" mathematics, learn mathematical ideas, and experience mathematical thinking and mathematical spirit. In fact, mathematics is not difficult, but very interesting. "The achievement of a competition cannot explain the whole problem, as long as you continue to work hard and pursue, you will one day be able to achieve the due results in mathematics."

Due to the epidemic situation, Yang Mengqi published her award feelings through video. She said that in her heart, mathematics is a sacred and wonderful temple, and the ever-changing and colorful things in the universe are fundamentally the expression of mathematics, and mathematics is also a tool that can make people live a better life.

Initiated and chaired by Chengtong Yau, the "Mathematics Competition for Girls and Girls' Secondary School Students" aims to train female mathematicians and encourage more girls to devote themselves to the study of mathematics.

The prize was named the "Noether Prize" in honor of the great female mathematician Amy Knott. Noether was a Jewish-German mathematician who made outstanding contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. She established the algebraic theory of rings, fields, and domains, laid the foundation for the establishment of abstract algebra, and promoted abstract algebra to become an independent branch of mathematics, and is the well-deserved "mother of abstract algebra". In physics, her proof of Noctic theory reveals the close relationship between symmetry and conservation laws.

The "Yau Chengtong Girls' Mathematics Competition for Girls' Secondary School Students" is sponsored by the Yau Chengtong Mathematical Science Center of Tsinghua University, hosted by the Affiliated Middle School of Tsinghua University, supported by The Truth Seeking College of Tsinghua University, and funded by the "Same Mathematics Talent Training Fund" of the Tsinghua University Education Foundation.