Yau, Shing-Tong I 1233

government manipulation of evidence in the Japanese article by the eminent Chinese American mathemati­ internmentcases, offeredto bring a challenge to Yasui cian Shiing-Shen Chern. In 1966, Yau entered the and his fellow wartime defendants' convictions by Chinese University of Hong Kong to study mathemat­ means of a coram nobis petition. Yasui consented, ics but moved three years later to the University of and a legal team headed by Oregon attorney Peggy Californiaat Berkeley to pursue graduate studies under Nagae took up his case. Unlike in the case of Fred Chern. At Berkeley, besides working with Chern in Korematsu, however, Yasui's petition failed to bring differential geometry, Yau also studied differential about a reconsideration of the official malfeasance equations with other professors, believing that cross­ involved in his prosecution. In 1984, district judge fe1tilizationwas key to the future of mathematics. In­ Robert C. Belloni issued an order vacating Yasui's depth knowledge of both fields indeed proved to be conviction, in accordance with a motion by Justice crucial to his success as it helped lay the foundation Department officials anxious to dispose of the case, for Yau's research in integrating thetwo. Yau received but declined to either grant Yasui's coram nobis peti­ his PhD in 1971, after spending less than two years at tion or to make findings of fact regarding the record Berkeley. of official misconduct. Yasui and his lawyers appealed After graduation from Berkeley, Yau went to the the ruling, but he died in ovember 1986, thereby Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton where he mooting the case before the appeal could be decided. ventured into yet another new field, topology, and did Greg Robinson research on a number of importantmathematical prob­ lems. A year later, he moved to the State University of See also Hirabayashi v. United States (1943); Japa­ ew York, Stony Brook, to become an assistant pro­ nese American Citizens League (JACL); Korematsu fessor of mathematics. There he came to know some v. United States (1943); Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and of the well-known figures in differential geometry Yasui Coram Nobis Cases and learned much from them. Neverthelesshe decided Reference to leave Stony Brook after one year because he did not Yasui v. United States. 320 U.S. 115 (1943) want to be influenced too much by their established views. He wanted rather to develop his own ideas, so he moved next to Stanford University, which offered him a professorship in 1973. Yau, Shing-Tong (1949-) At Stanford Yau enjoyed a period of intense think­ ing and research on mathematical problems, especially Shing-Tung Yau is a leading mathematician in the on the relationship between differential geometry and world in the late-twentieth and early twenty-firstc entu­ differential equations. To Yau, Stanford offered an ries, especially in the area of differential geometry and environment of relative isolation that allowed him to partial differential equations, and, as a prominent Chi­ develop his own ideas. He was, however, able to find nese American scientist, has played an active role in stimulation from young mathematicians there, such as promoting U.S.-China scientificexchange and science Leon Simon and Richard Schoen, and keep in touch and education in mainland China, Hong Kong, and with his friends at Berkeley. Combining his expertise Taiwan. in both differential equations and differential geom­ Shing-tung Yau (Qiu Chengtong in pinyin) was etry, Yau in 1976 solved the famousCalabi conjecture, born in 1949 in Shantou, Guangdong, China, but grew a study that involved Chern classes. It was perhaps the up in Hong Kong where his father, Qiu Zhenying, was most influential and most important work of Yau's a college philosophy teacher. In the early J 960s, Yau mathematical career and gave rise to the so-called attended the renowned Pei Ching (Peizheng) Middle "Calabi-Yau spaces" that lie at the foundation of string School in Hong Kong and became intensely interested theory, the "theory of everything" that physicists are in plane geometry. His passion for mathematics was trying to devise. At the same time Yau proved the pos­ further reinforced when he read an autobiographical itive mass conjecture, which was a major conu·ibution 1234 I Yee Chiang

to both mathematics and Einstein's general theory of Yau was actively involved in U.S.-China political relativity in physics. He continued his phenomenal activism fora brief period in his Berkeley days in the mathematical creative work after he moved back to early 1970s when he and many other Chinese students Princeton to take up a professorship in mathematics at in the United States protested the American decision to the Institute forAdva nced Study in 1979. turn over the Diaoyutai islets near Taiwan to Japan. Honors poured in for Yau following his Calabi Since the 1980s, Yau has participated actively in work: In 1981 he won the Oswald Veblen prize of the Chinese mathematics, foundingthr ee institutions: the AmericanMat hematica) Society as well as the John J. Morningside Mathematics Center of the Chinese Carty Award forthe Advancement of Science fromthe Academy of Sciences in Beijing, the Center of Math­ U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The next year, ematical Science at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, 1982, brought Yau the highest honor for a mathe­ and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences of the matician: The Fields Medal, named after Canadian Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has trained a mathematician J. C. Fields and awarded by the number of Chinese students, promoted U.S.-China sci­ International Congress of Mathematicians every four entificex change, served as editor-in-chief of the Asian f years to as many as fourmathe maticians less than Journal o Mathematics, frequently visited mathemati­ 40 years of age. It has been regarded by many as the cal institutions on mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong equivalent of the obel Prize forMa thematics. The Kong, and, never shying from controversy, often citation reads: "Made contributions in differential spoken out on science and education policy in those equations, also to the Calabi conjecture in algebraic places. geometry, to the positive mass conjecture of general Zuoyue Wang relativity theory, and to real and complex Monge­ See also Chem, Shiing-Shen; Chinese Americans Ampere equations." In 1994 Yau won the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy "for his develop­ ment of non-linear techniques in differential geometry References leading to the solution of several outstanding prob­ Chen, Jinci. 1995. "Zhuanfang Qiu Chengtong jiaoshou" lems." Finally, in 1997, Yau was awarded the U.S. (An Interview with Prof. Shing-Tung Yau). Shuxue National Medal of Science, the highest honor from chuanbo (mathematical communication) 16, no. 1. the federal government presented by President Bill http://episte.math.ntu.edu.tw/atticles/nun/mm_l6_l_09/ Clinton. #top. Accessed July 2009. In 1984 Yau crossed the continent again by com­ Overbye, Dennis. 2006. "The Emperor of Math" (Scientist at Work: Shing-Tung Yau). New York Times, Octo­ ing to the University of California, San Diego, where ber 27. he became professor and chair of the mathematics Tian, Gang. 1994. "Qiu Chengtong" (Shing Tung Yau). In department. A year later, he was awarded the McAr­ Lu Jiaxi, ed., Zhongguo xiandai kexuejia zhuanji thur Grant, popularly known as the "genius award," (Biographies of Contemporary Chinese Scientists). from the MacArthur Foundation. When at San Diego Vol. 5. Beijing: Science Press, pp. 66-75. he also took up visiting positions at University of Yau, Shing Tung, ed. 1998. "S. S. Chem, As My Teacher." In S. S. Chem: A Great Geometer of the Twentieth Cen.­ Texas, Austin; Caltech; and SUNY Stony Brook. Expanded ed. Cambridge, MA: International During this period he collaborated with another math­ Press, pp. 27 1 -274. ematician, Karen Uhlenbeck, and made a major contri­ tu ry. bution to the study of the Yang-Mills fieldthe ory, named after the Chinese American physicist Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills. Then in I 987, Yau Yee Chiang ( 1903-1 977) moved yet again, this time to Harvard University as a professor in mathematics while also holding visiting When The Silent Traveller in New York was released appointments at the National Tsinghua University in in 1950, it won rave reviews. Readers in postwar Taiwan and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. America were fascinated with its refreshing sty le,