Shing-Tung Yau belongs to the mathematical record as a figure whose results outlasted the problems that prompted them.
The record lists Shing-Tung Yau as American mathematician from Hong Kong.
Shing-Tung Yau was born at Shantou in 1949. His recorded nationality is British Hong Kong. He studied at University of California, Berkeley and Pui Ching Middle School.
Twentieth-century mathematics became abstract and highly specialised, and its methods reached into physics, economics and computing.
His academic posts were held at Harvard University, Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley.
The recorded fields of work are differential geometry and mathematics.
Mathematics is the one discipline whose results, once proved, are never overturned.
Recognition followed: Fields medal (1982), Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry (1981), National Medal of Science (1997) and Humboldt Prize (1991).
That the work was done from British Hong Kong matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
Achievements
- Fields medal — 1982
- Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry — 1981
- National Medal of Science — 1997
- Humboldt Prize — 1991
- Wolf Prize in Mathematics — 2010
- Held posts at Harvard University, Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley
- Fields: differential geometry and mathematics
