Shiing-Shen Chern

Shiing-Shen Chern
陳省身
Shiing-Shen Chern in 1976
Born(1911-10-28)October 28, 1911
Jiaxing, Zhejiang, Chinese Empire
DiedDecember 3, 2004(2004-12-03) (aged 93)
Tianjin, China
NationalityChinese and American
CitizenshipChina and United States
Alma materNankai University
University of Hamburg
Known forChern class
Chern–Gauss–Bonnet theorem
Chern–Simons theory
Chern–Simons form
Chern–Weil theory
Chern–Weil homomorphism
Chern's conjecture
Chern's conjecture (differential geometry)
Chern–Bott formula
Chern–Lashof theory
Children2
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsTsinghua University
Institute for Advanced Study
University of Chicago
University of California, Berkeley
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
Nankai University
ThesisEine Invariantentheorie der Dreigewebe aus r-dimensionalen Mannigfaltigkeiten im
Doctoral advisorWilhelm Blaschke
Doctoral studentsLouis Auslander
Thomas Banchoff
Manfredo do Carmo
Robert B. Gardner
Howard Garland
Harold Levine
Katsumi Nomizu
William F. Pohl
Alexandre Augusto Martins Rodrigues
Bernard Shiffman
Liao Shantao
Sidney M. Webster
Alan Weinstein
Joseph Wolf
Shing-Tung Yau
Shiu-Yuen Cheng
Peter Wai-Kwong Li
Other notable studentsJames Simons
Chen Ning Yang
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese陳省身
Simplified Chinese陈省身
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinChén Xǐngshēn
Bopomofoㄔㄣˊ ㄒㄧㄥˇ ㄕㄣ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhChern Shiing-Shen
Wade–GilesCh'en Hsing-shen

Shiing-Shen Chern (/ɜːrn/; Chinese: 陳省身, Mandarin: [tʂʰə̌n.ɕìŋ.ʂə́n]; October 28, 1911 – December 3, 2004) was a Chinese American mathematician and poet. He made fundamental contributions to differential geometry and topology. He has been called the "father of modern differential geometry" and is widely regarded as a leader in geometry and one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, winning numerous awards and recognition including the Wolf Prize and the inaugural Shaw Prize.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In memory of Shiing-Shen Chern, the International Mathematical Union established the Chern Medal in 2010 to recognize "an individual whose accomplishments warrant the highest level of recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of mathematics."[8]

Chern worked at the Institute for Advanced Study (1943–45), spent about a decade at the University of Chicago (1949-1960), and then moved to University of California, Berkeley, where he cofounded the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in 1982 and was the institute's founding director.[9][10] Renowned coauthors with Chern include Jim Simons, an American mathematician and billionaire hedge fund manager.[11] Chern's work, most notably the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, Chern–Simons theory, and Chern classes, are still highly influential in current research in mathematics, including geometry, topology, and knot theory, as well as many branches of physics, including string theory, condensed matter physics, general relativity, and quantum field theory.[12]

  1. ^ a b Nigel Hitchin (2014). "Shiing-Shen Chern 28 October 1911 — 3 December 2004". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 60: 75–85. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2014.0018.
  2. ^ "Chern biography". www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  3. ^ "Renowned mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern, who revitalized the study of geometry, has died at 93 in Tianjin, China". www.berkeley.edu. December 6, 2004. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  4. ^ Chang, Kenneth (December 7, 2004). "Shiing-Shen Chern, 93, Innovator in New Geometry, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  5. ^ "Interview with Shiing Shen Chern" (PDF).
  6. ^ Simon, Udo; Tjaden, Ekkehard-H.; Wefelscheid, Heinrich (2011). "Shiing-Shen Chern's Centenary". Results in Mathematics. 60 (1–4): 13–51. doi:10.1007/s00025-011-0196-8. S2CID 122548419.
  7. ^ "Taking the Long View: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern". zalafilms.com. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  8. ^ the_technician. "International Mathematical Union (IMU): Details". www.mathunion.org. Archived from the original on August 25, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  9. ^ "Shiing-shen Chern (1911-2004)". www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  10. ^ MSRI. "MSRI". www.msri.org. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  11. ^ Lazarow, Alex. "What Jim Simons – One Of The World's Most Successful Investors – Can Teach Us About Fintech". Forbes. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  12. ^ "Shiing-Shen Chern". Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved May 8, 2019.