The Intellectual Journey of Hua Loo-Keng from China to the Institute for Advanced Study: His Correspondence with Hermann Weyl
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Transnational Mathematics and Movements: Shiing- Shen Chern, Hua Luogeng, and the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study from World War II to the Cold War1
Chinese Annals of History of Science and Technology 3 (2), 118–165 (2019) doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1461.2019.02118 Transnational Mathematics and Movements: Shiing- shen Chern, Hua Luogeng, and the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study from World War II to the Cold War1 Zuoyue Wang 王作跃,2 Guo Jinhai 郭金海3 (California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 91768, US; Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China) Abstract: This paper reconstructs, based on American and Chinese primary sources, the visits of Chinese mathematicians Shiing-shen Chern 陈省身 (Chen Xingshen) and Hua Luogeng 华罗庚 (Loo-Keng Hua)4 to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in the United States in the 1940s, especially their interactions with Oswald Veblen and Hermann Weyl, two leading mathematicians at the IAS. It argues that Chern’s and Hua’s motivations and choices in regard to their transnational movements between China and the US were more nuanced and multifaceted than what is presented in existing accounts, and that socio-political factors combined with professional-personal ones to shape their decisions. The paper further uses their experiences to demonstrate the importance of transnational scientific interactions for the development of science in China, the US, and elsewhere in the twentieth century. Keywords: Shiing-shen Chern, Chen Xingshen, Hua Luogeng, Loo-Keng Hua, Institute for 1 This article was copy-edited by Charlie Zaharoff. 2 Research interests: History of science and technology in the United States, China, and transnational contexts in the twentieth century. He is currently writing a book on the history of American-educated Chinese scientists and China-US scientific relations. -
The History of the Abel Prize and the Honorary Abel Prize the History of the Abel Prize
The History of the Abel Prize and the Honorary Abel Prize The History of the Abel Prize Arild Stubhaug On the bicentennial of Niels Henrik Abel’s birth in 2002, the Norwegian Govern- ment decided to establish a memorial fund of NOK 200 million. The chief purpose of the fund was to lay the financial groundwork for an annual international prize of NOK 6 million to one or more mathematicians for outstanding scientific work. The prize was awarded for the first time in 2003. That is the history in brief of the Abel Prize as we know it today. Behind this government decision to commemorate and honor the country’s great mathematician, however, lies a more than hundred year old wish and a short and intense period of activity. Volumes of Abel’s collected works were published in 1839 and 1881. The first was edited by Bernt Michael Holmboe (Abel’s teacher), the second by Sophus Lie and Ludvig Sylow. Both editions were paid for with public funds and published to honor the famous scientist. The first time that there was a discussion in a broader context about honoring Niels Henrik Abel’s memory, was at the meeting of Scan- dinavian natural scientists in Norway’s capital in 1886. These meetings of natural scientists, which were held alternately in each of the Scandinavian capitals (with the exception of the very first meeting in 1839, which took place in Gothenburg, Swe- den), were the most important fora for Scandinavian natural scientists. The meeting in 1886 in Oslo (called Christiania at the time) was the 13th in the series. -
Toward a New Science of Information
Data Science Journal, Volume 6, Supplement, 7 April 2007 TOWARD A NEW SCIENCE OF INFORMATION D Doucette1*, R Bichler 2, W Hofkirchner2, and C Raffl2 *1 The Science of Information Institute, 1737 Q Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009, USA Email: [email protected] 2 ICT&S Center, University of Salzburg - Center for Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies & Society, Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18, 5020 Salzburg, Austria Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ABSTRACT The concept of information has become a crucial topic in several emerging scientific disciplines, as well as in organizations, in companies and in everyday life. Hence it is legitimate to speak of the so-called information society; but a scientific understanding of the Information Age has not had time to develop. Following this evolution we face the need of a new transdisciplinary understanding of information, encompassing many academic disciplines and new fields of interest. Therefore a Science of Information is required. The goal of this paper is to discuss the aims, the scope, and the tools of a Science of Information. Furthermore we describe the new Science of Information Institute (SOII), which will be established as an international and transdisciplinary organization that takes into consideration a larger perspective of information. Keywords: Information, Science of Information, Information Society, Transdisciplinarity, Science of Information Institute (SOII), Foundations of Information Science (FIS) 1 INTRODUCTION Information is emerging as a new and large prospective area of study. The notion of information has become a crucial topic in several emerging scientific disciplines such as Philosophy of Information, Quantum Information, Bioinformatics and Biosemiotics, Theory of Mind, Systems Theory, Internet Research, and many more. -
Prizes and Awards Session
PRIZES AND AWARDS SESSION Wednesday, July 12, 2021 9:00 AM EDT 2021 SIAM Annual Meeting July 19 – 23, 2021 Held in Virtual Format 1 Table of Contents AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture ................................................................................................... 3 George B. Dantzig Prize ............................................................................................................................. 5 George Pólya Prize for Mathematical Exposition .................................................................................... 7 George Pólya Prize in Applied Combinatorics ......................................................................................... 8 I.E. Block Community Lecture .................................................................................................................. 9 John von Neumann Prize ......................................................................................................................... 11 Lagrange Prize in Continuous Optimization .......................................................................................... 13 Ralph E. Kleinman Prize .......................................................................................................................... 15 SIAM Prize for Distinguished Service to the Profession ....................................................................... 17 SIAM Student Paper Prizes .................................................................................................................... -
Blaschke, Osgood, Wiener, Hadamard and the Early Development Of
Blaschke, Osgood, Wiener, Hadamard and the Early Development of Modern Mathematics in China Chuanming Zong Abstract. In ancient times, China made great contributions to world civi- lization and in particular to mathematics. However, modern sciences includ- ing mathematics came to China rather too late. The first Chinese university was founded in 1895. The first mathematics department in China was for- mally opened at the university only in 1913. At the beginning of the twenti- eth century, some Chinese went to Europe, the United States of America and Japan for higher education in modern mathematics and returned to China as the pioneer generation. They created mathematics departments at the Chinese universities and sowed the seeds of modern mathematics in China. In 1930s, when a dozen of Chinese universities already had mathematics departments, several leading mathematicians from Europe and USA visited China, including Wilhelm Blaschke, George D. Birkhoff, William F. Osgood, Norbert Wiener and Jacques Hadamard. Their visits not only had profound impact on the mathematical development in China, but also became social events sometimes. This paper tells the history of their visits. 2020 Mathematics Subject Classification: 01A25, 01A60. 1. Introduction and Background In 1895, Peiyang University was founded in Tianjin as a result of the westernization movement. In 1898, Peking University was founded in Beijing. They are the earliest universities in China. On May 28, 1900, Britain, USA, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria invaded China to suppress the Boxer Rebellion1 which was an organized movement against foreign missionaries and their followers. On August 14, 1900, more than 20,000 soldiers of the allied force occupied the Chinese capital Beijing and the emperor’s family with some high ranking officials and servants escaped to Xi’an. -
The Human Use of Human Beings
THE HUMAN USE OF HUl\IAN BEINGS This is one of the fundamental documents of our time, a period characterized by the concepts of 'information' and 'communica tions'. Norbert Wiener, a child prodigy and a great mathematician, coined the term 'cybernetics' to characterize a very general science of 'control and communication in the animal and machine'. It brought together concepts from engineering, the study of the nervous system and statistical mechanics (e.g. entropy). From these he developed concepts that have become pervasive through science (especially biology and computing) and common parlance: 'in formation', 'message', 'feedback' and 'control'. He wrote, 'the thought of every age is reflected in its technique ... If the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries are the age of clocks, and the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries constitute the age of steam engines, the present time is the age of communication and control.' In this volume Norbert Wiener spells out his theories for the general reader and reflects on the social issues raised by the dramatically increasing role of science and technology in the new age - the age in which we are now deeply and problematically embroiled. His cautionary remarks are as relevant now as they were when the book first appeared in the 1950s. Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), Professor of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1919 onwards, wrote numerous books on mathematics and engineering. Having de veloped methods useful to the military during World War Two, he later refused to do such work during the Cold War, while proposing non-military models of cybernetics. -
1953 1952 1955 1954 1957 1956 1959 1958 1961
I. Edward Block retired as The Richard C. DiPrima Prize Managing Director of was established in December SIAM in September 1994, 1985 to commemorate the and he was replaced by former SIAM president. James Crowley, who was named as SIAM’s The JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR Executive Director. In January 2001, the society INDUSTRIAL AND APPLIED appointed a representative in By the fall MATHEMATICS was renamed Washington, DC to act on of 1954, the SIAM JOURNAL ON APPLIED The Society for Industrial and In May 1969, the behalf of its members. SIAM had MATHEMATICS in January 1966. SIAM released the Applied Mathematics (SIAM) was society released its The SIAM Journal on The society released 500 members and sections had The society co-sponsored first volume in its incorporated as a non-profit first volume in the Optimization made its debut its Mathematics in been formed in New York City, San the first Gatlinburg Around 1978, SIAM initiated SIAM co-sponsored the First In July 1989, the society MONOGRAPHS ON organization under the laws of the book series, SIAM- in February 1991. Industry report in 1996. Francisco and Washington, DC. symposium on numerical its focused-conference International Congress on moved into its new offices DISCRETE MATHEMATICS State of Delaware on April 30, 1952. AMS Proceedings. SIAM held a record-setting, On December 28, 1954, SIAM held linear algebra in April 1961. program to concentrate on In July 1980, SIAM moved its international celebration to mark Industrial and Applied at 3600 Science Center, in In December 1996, a AND APPLICATIONS, and In 1959, the society published the SIAM published the first volume its first national meeting. -
CELEBRATIO MATHEMATICA Saunders Mac Lane (2013) Msp 1
PROOFS - PAGE NUMBERS ARE TEMPORARY 1 1 1 /2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 CELEBRATIO 9 10 11 MATHEMATICA 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Saunders Mac Lane 19 20 1 20 /2 21 22 23 24 25 26 JOHN G. THOMPSON 27 28 THE MAC LANE LECTURE 29 30 2013 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 1 39 /2 40 41 msp 42 1 43 44 45 http://celebratio.org/ 46 47 48 49 50 51 1 CELEBRATIO MATHEMATICA Saunders Mac Lane (2013) msp 1 THE MAC LANE LECTURE JOHN G. THOMPSON First published: 2 December 2005 Shortly after the death of Saunders Mac Lane in April, Krishna [Alladi] asked me if I would be willing to speak publicly about Saunders. I agreed to do so, but asked for time to think about and to prepare my remarks. In the meantime, Saunders’s autobiography[2005] has appeared, and it has been helpful to me. I expect that everyone here is aware of the book and the movie “A beautiful mind” which explore the life of John Nash. You will know that for many years, Nash was insane with schizophrenia. For most of us, and certainly for me, insanity is frightening and far from beautiful. I submit that Saunders had a genuinely beautiful mind. Except for an elite few of us, Mac Lane’s life and work do not have the drama and punch of Nash’s odyssey. I see my note today as a recorder, neither a hagiographer nor a debunker. Mac Lane’s mental world had great lucidity and covered much territory. -
Life and Work of Egbert Brieskorn (1936-2013)
Life and work of Egbert Brieskorn (1936 – 2013)1 Gert-Martin Greuel, Walter Purkert Brieskorn 2007 Egbert Brieskorn died on July 11, 2013, a few days after his 77th birthday. He was an impressive personality who left a lasting impression on anyone who knew him, be it in or out of mathematics. Brieskorn was a great mathematician, but his interests, knowledge, and activities went far beyond mathematics. In the following article, which is strongly influenced by the authors’ many years of personal ties with Brieskorn, we try to give a deeper insight into the life and work of Brieskorn. In doing so, we highlight both his personal commitment to peace and the environment as well as his long–standing exploration of the life and work of Felix Hausdorff and the publication of Hausdorff ’s Collected Works. The focus of the article, however, is on the presentation of his remarkable and influential mathematical work. The first author (GMG) has spent significant parts of his scientific career as a arXiv:1711.09600v1 [math.AG] 27 Nov 2017 graduate and doctoral student with Brieskorn in Göttingen and later as his assistant in Bonn. He describes in the first two parts, partly from the memory of personal cooperation, aspects of Brieskorn’s life and of his political and social commitment. In addition, in the section on Brieskorn’s mathematical work, he explains in detail 1Translation of the German article ”Leben und Werk von Egbert Brieskorn (1936 – 2013)”, Jahresber. Dtsch. Math.–Ver. 118, No. 3, 143-178 (2016). 1 the main scientific results of his publications. -
Adobe Acrobat PDF Document
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH of HUGH EVERETT, III. Eugene Shikhovtsev ul. Dzerjinskogo 11-16, Kostroma, 156005, Russia [email protected] ©2003 Eugene B. Shikhovtsev and Kenneth W. Ford. All rights reserved. Sources used for this biographical sketch include papers of Hugh Everett, III stored in the Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics; Graduate Alumni Files in Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University; personal correspondence of the author; and information found on the Internet. The author is deeply indebted to Kenneth Ford for great assistance in polishing (often rewriting!) the English and for valuable editorial remarks and additions. If you want to get an interesting perspective do not think of Hugh as a traditional 20th century physicist but more of a Renaissance man with interests and skills in many different areas. He was smart and lots of things interested him and he brought the same general conceptual methodology to solve them. The subject matter was not so important as the solution ideas. Donald Reisler [1] Someone once noted that Hugh Everett should have been declared a “national resource,” and given all the time and resources he needed to develop new theories. Joseph George Caldwell [1a] This material may be freely used for personal or educational purposes provided acknowledgement is given to Eugene B. Shikhovtsev, author ([email protected]), and Kenneth W. Ford, editor ([email protected]). To request permission for other uses, contact the author or editor. CONTENTS 1 Family and Childhood Einstein letter (1943) Catholic University of America in Washington (1950-1953). Chemical engineering. Princeton University (1953-1956). -
The Legacy of Norbert Wiener: a Centennial Symposium
http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/pspum/060 Selected Titles in This Series 60 David Jerison, I. M. Singer, and Daniel W. Stroock, Editors, The legacy of Norbert Wiener: A centennial symposium (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, October 1994) 59 William Arveson, Thomas Branson, and Irving Segal, Editors, Quantization, nonlinear partial differential equations, and operator algebra (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, June 1994) 58 Bill Jacob and Alex Rosenberg, Editors, K-theory and algebraic geometry: Connections with quadratic forms and division algebras (University of California, Santa Barbara, July 1992) 57 Michael C. Cranston and Mark A. Pinsky, Editors, Stochastic analysis (Cornell University, Ithaca, July 1993) 56 William J. Haboush and Brian J. Parshall, Editors, Algebraic groups and their generalizations (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, July 1991) 55 Uwe Jannsen, Steven L. Kleiman, and Jean-Pierre Serre, Editors, Motives (University of Washington, Seattle, July/August 1991) 54 Robert Greene and S. T. Yau, Editors, Differential geometry (University of California, Los Angeles, July 1990) 53 James A. Carlson, C. Herbert Clemens, and David R. Morrison, Editors, Complex geometry and Lie theory (Sundance, Utah, May 1989) 52 Eric Bedford, John P. D'Angelo, Robert E. Greene, and Steven G. Krantz, Editors, Several complex variables and complex geometry (University of California, Santa Cruz, July 1989) 51 William B. Arveson and Ronald G. Douglas, Editors, Operator theory/operator algebras and applications (University of New Hampshire, July 1988) 50 James Glimm, John Impagliazzo, and Isadore Singer, Editors, The legacy of John von Neumann (Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, May/June 1988) 49 Robert C. Gunning and Leon Ehrenpreis, Editors, Theta functions - Bowdoin 1987 (Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, July 1987) 48 R. -
ABSTRACTS View Metadata, Citation and Similar Papers at Core.Ac.Uk Brought to You by CORE Edited by David E
Historia Mathematica 26 (1999), 181–198 Article ID hmat.1999.2240, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on ABSTRACTS View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE Edited by David E. Zitarelli provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector The purpose of this department is to give sufficient information about the subject matter of each publication to enable users to decide whether to read it. It is our intention to cover all books, articles, and other materials in the field. Books for abstracting and eventual review should be sent to this department. Materials should be sent to Prof. David E. Zitarelli, Department of Mathematics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, U.S.A. (E-mail: [email protected]) Readers are invited to send reprints, autoabstracts, corrections, additions, and notices of publications that have been overlooked. Be sure to include complete bibliographic information, as well as translit- eration and translation for non-European languages. We need volunteers willing to cover one or more journals for this department. In order to facilitate reference and indexing, entries are given abstract numbers which appear at the end following the symbol #. A triple numbering system is used: the first number indicates the volume, the second the issue number, and the third the sequential number within that issue. For example, the abstracts for Volume 20, Number 1, are numbered: 20.1.1, 20.1.2, 20.1.3, etc. For reviews and abstracts published in Volumes1 through 13 there are an author index in Volume13, Number 4, and a subject index in Volume 14, Number 1.