206 I Chern, Shiing-Shen References Chern was hired as a professor of mathematics at Marquez, Letisia. 2010. "Obituary: Lucie Cheng, 70, fonner Qinghua University, which moved from Beijing first director of UCLA Asian American Studies Center." to Changsha and then to Kunming in southern China UCLA Newsroom (February 8). to escape the advancing Japanese army. At Kunming, "UCLA Asian American Studies Center Pays Tribute to Qinghuajoined Beijing University and Nan.kaito form Lucie Cheng, Pioneering Transpacific Scholar." 2010. UCLA Asian American Studies Center (Feb,uary 5). the Southwest Associated University (SAU) for the Woo, Elaine. 2010. "Lucie Cheng Dies at 70; Sociologist rest of the war years. There, in 1939, Chern manied 'Revolutionized' Asian American Studies." Los Zheng Shining, who had studied biology and who Angeles Times (February 16). was the daughter of another mathematics professor Zheng Zhifan at Qinghua. Wartime isolation cut off much of Chern's contact with the outside world, but he was able to continue his research by studying Chern, Shiing-Shen ( 191 1-2004) Cartan's papers and working on problems they had discussed in Paris. His own publications in this period Shiing-Shen Chern was one of the most prominent not only established him as a leading mathematician in mathematicians in the world in the twentieth century, China but also attracted international attention. In a pioneer especially in the field of differential geom­ 1943, Chernreceived an invitation to visit the famed etry, and an influential leader of the Chinese American Institute for Advanced Study in Princeto n in the scientificcommunity. He made major contributions to United States. the development of mathematics and science in China The two years Chern spent in Princeton (1943- and the United States as well as strengthening the sci­ 1945) represented the most productive in his life. entificrelations between the two countries before his Building on his profoundunderstanding of mathemati­ death in 2004. cal problems and on discussions with other leading Shiing-Shen Chern was born in Jiaxing, a scenic mathematicians, Chem made two of the most original town in Zhejiang provincein southern China, on Octo­ and influential contributions to modem mathematics. ber 26, 1911, which fell amid a republican revolution First, he discovered an "intrinsic proof' of the general­ that overthrew the thousands-year-old imperial system. ized Gauss-Bonnet theorem. The classical theorem Chem's father, Chen Baozhen, was a classically trained gives a formula that governs the relationship of geo­ Confucian scholar who later became a civil servant. metric properties of a closed, two-dimensional Rie­ Chem learned Chinese and mathematic s at home until mannian manifold (a region on a curved surface). 1920 when he enrolled in a middle school. Two years Chem' s work not only provided a proof of the theorem later, he went with his fatherto Tianjin in northern China that was superior to earlier proofs, it also opened the and became interested in mathematics as a student in the possibility to generalize the theorem to higher dimen­ Fulun Middle School there. In 1926, Chem enrolled at sions. It was a monumental achievement and Chem the new Nankai University in Tianjin. A course with later viewed it as his best piece of work. Then, capital­ Jiang Lifu, a Harvard-trained mathematician, got Chem izi ng on insights from this work, Chern developed interested in geometry. Upon graduation from Nankai what became known as the "Chern characteristic in 1930, Chem first went to Qinghua (Tsinghua) Univer­ classes," powerful analytical tools to classify so­ sity in Beijing, where he received a master's degree in called fiber bundles, a fundamental object of study in 1934, and then to the University of Hamburg, differential geometry. Mathematically simple and Germany, where he finished his PhD dissertation on elegant, Chern's two discoveries together marked a the applications of the great French mathematician Elie turning point in the development of modern differen­ Cartan's theories in differential geometry. Chem spent tial geometry. a fruitful year with Cartan himself in Paris before At the end of World War II in 1945, Chern returning to China on July 10, J 937, just days after the returned to China to be acting director of the new Japanese invaded China. Institute of Mathematics of the Academia Sinica, Cheung, King-Kok I 207 sponsored by the ationalist government, at first in Ever since the reestablishment of U.S.-China relations Shanghai and then in anjing. In late 1948, however, in the early 1970s, Chern had been active in promoting the ationalists began to lose control of mainland scientific exchanges between the two countries. China to the Communists in a civil war and the Insti­ Because of his and Yau's efforts, Beijing was made tute of Mathematics faced an uncertain future. Once host to the 2002 International Congress of Mathemati­ again Princeton came to Chern ' s rescue. J. Robert cians. In 2000, when his wife of more than 60 years Oppenheimer, the physicist who had spearheaded the died, Chem moved to a residence built forhim in the making of the atomic bomb during World War II and ankai Institute where he continued to be active in who was now director of the Princeton institute, mathematical teaching and research. Chern died on invited Chern to return and he accepted. Chernbrought December 3, 2004, in his Nankai home in Tianjin. along his wife, son Bolong, and daughter Pu (who later Zuoyue Wang became a physicist and married the well-known See also Yau, Shing-Tong Chinese American physicist Paul Ching Wu Chu) when departingfor the United States on December 31, 1948. References Chern's coming to the United States in 1949 fos­ Chang, Kenneth. 2004. "Shiing-Shen Chern,93, Innovator tered a renaissance of differential geometry in the in Geometry, Dies." December 7, country. After a half-year stay at Princeton, he took 2004. up a professorship in mathematics at the University of Jackson, Allyn. 1998. "InterviewNew York with TimShiines,g Shen Chem." Chicago and helped make it into a new center of math­ 45 (August): 860-865. ematics in the world. During this period Chern also Yau,No S. ticesT., ed. of 19 the98. Ame S. S.rican Mathematical Society had a chance to work with the Chinese American Expanded ed. Cambridge, MA: physicist Chen ing Yang, one of his formerstudents International Press. Chern:A Great Geometer of the at Kunmin g, wit--------h whom---- he---- would later share the Twentieth Century. Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. In 1960, after a decade at Chicago, Chern moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he Cheung, King-Kok ( 1954-) trained dozens of doctoral students, including the Chinese American mathematician Shing Tung Yau King-Kok Cheung is a literary critic specializing in who would later win the coveted Fields Medal, and Asian American literature and a professorof English mentored numerous postdocs. Chern was naturalized at the University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA). as a U.S. citizen and elected a member of the U.S. Her areas of expertise include Asian American litera­ National Academy of Sciences in 1961. He received ture, comparative American ethnic literatures, compa­ the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1975 and the rative heroic traditions, and renaissance British prestigious Wolf Prize in mathematics in 1983. Chem literature. She is also the associate editor of Signs: contin ued to be productive even after retiring from Journal of Women in Culture and Society and coeditor Berkeley in 1979. In 1981, he helped found and of The Heath Anthology of American Literature. became the firstdir ector of the National Science Foun­ Cheung has received numerous awards, including fe l­ dation-sponsored Mathematical Sciences Research lowships from the AmericanCouncil of Learned Soci­ Institute (MSRI) at Berkeley, a position he held eties, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Center until 1984. for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at "Retiring" once again in 1984 from the MSRI, Stan ford Uni versity, and the Chinese American Litera­ Chern shifted his effort to a new endeavor: the found­ ture Research Center at Beijing Foreign Studies Uni­ ing and operation of the Mathematical Institute at Nan­ versity. She has received a Fulbright Lecturi ng and kai University, his alma mater in Tianjin, China, and Research Award, and two Fulbright Senior Specialist the development of mathematics in China in general. Awards. .