Prof. Shing-Tung Yau

Early Life & Education

Shing-Tung Yau was born in Shantou, China. After studying mathematics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he went to the University of California, Berkeley in 1969. At the age of 22, Yau was awarded his Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Shiing-Shen Chern. After a year as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and two years at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he went to Stanford University. Since 1987, he has been a Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. Since 2013, he has also held an appointment as Professor of Physics at Harvard.

Mathematical Contributions

Yau’s work is in geometry in the broadest sense. He was the first person to combine differential geometry and analysis, and used their interaction to solve longstanding problems in both subjects. Yau’s work opened up new directions, set foundations and changed people’s perspectives towards mathematics and their applications in physics and computer science.

For example, his proof of the positive energy theorem in general relativity demonstrated—sixty years after its discovery—that Einstein’s theory is consistent and stable. His proof of the Calabi conjecture gave solutions of multiple well-known open problems in algebraic geometry and also allowed physicists to show that string theory is a viable candidate for a unified theory of nature. Calabi–Yau manifolds are among the ‘standard toolkit’ for string theorists today.

Educational Leadership

Professor Yau also spends an enormous amount of energy to train young mathematicians at every level. For example, he has supervised over sixty-six Ph.D. students and has been deeply involved in reaching out to the general public about the role of mathematics in modern society.

Professor Yau has served as director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Morningside Center of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Center of Mathematical Sciences at Zhejiang University. In December 2009, Shing-Tung Yau was invited to serve as the inaugural director of the Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University. In 2011, Prof. Shing-Tung Yau became Principal Professor for the Math Project of the “Tsinghua University Training Program”, guiding its construction.

Prizes and Awards

Introduction to the Competition

" Cultivating and discovering talents should begin with high school students.

Guided by this belief, Shing-Tung Yau introduced international competition models to China and established the S.-T. Yau High School Science Award in 2008.

This competition differs significantly from traditional science competitions: first, it is available to global high school students; secondly, instead of answering standard examination questions, students are required to submit research reports.

Ten years ago, the S.-T. Yau High School Science Award only recognized student achievement in the field of mathematics. Over the years, awards in physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, and economic and financial modeling have been established to form a complete scientific award system. The S.-T. Yau High School Science Award is designed to promote the development of scientific research amongst youth and to encourage talented and enthusiastic teenagers to explore the mysteries of science.

There are more than 5800 teams from 1200 schools taking part in the competition. The competition areas include 28 provinces in China, as well as many overseas regions, such as North America and Singapore. After careful review from more than 200 scientists worldwide, a total of 306 students from 169 teams received awards. More than half of the award-winning high school students are recommended to world-famous universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Harvard University, MIT, Yale University, Princeton University, and so on.