Horng-Tzer Yau
Taiwanese-American mathematician
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Horng-Tzer Yau (Chinese: 姚鴻澤; pinyin: Yáo Hóngzé; born June 29, 1959) is a Taiwanese-American mathematician who is the Merton Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University.
Princeton University (PhD)
MacArthur Fellowship (2000)
Morningside Medal (2001)
Horng-Tzer Yau | |
|---|---|
| 姚鴻澤 | |
Yau at Oberwolfach, 2011 | |
| Born | June 29, 1959 Taiwan |
| Alma mater | National Taiwan University (BS) Princeton University (PhD) |
| Awards | Henri Poincaré Prize (2000) MacArthur Fellowship (2000) Morningside Medal (2001) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematical physics |
| Institutions | New York University Stanford University Harvard University |
| Thesis | Stability of Coulomb Systems (1987) |
| Doctoral advisor | Elliott H. Lieb |
Early life and education
Yau was born in 1959 in Taiwan, where he began studying advanced calculus and college algebra in high school.[1] He graduated from National Taiwan University with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in 1981. As an undergraduate, he studied differential geometry, real analysis, and complex analysis.[2] After graduation, he served two years of military service in the Republic of China Armed Forces from 1981 to 1983.[3]
In 1987, Yau earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University. His doctoral dissertation, completed under mathematical physicist Elliott Lieb, was titled, "Stability of Coulomb Systems".[4] After receiving his doctorate, Yao completed postdoctoral research at the Institute for Advanced Study under David Brydges from 1987 to 1988.[2]
Academic career
In 1988, Yau joined the mathematics faculty at New York University. He became a full professor at its Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 1994. He then moved to Stanford University in 2003, and then to Harvard University in 2005. He was also a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, in 2003, and was a distinguished visiting professor there in 2013–14.[5]
According to William C. Kirby, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, "Professor Yau is a leader in the fields of mathematical physics, ... who has introduced important tools and concepts to study probability, stochastic processes, nonequilibrium statistical physics, and quantum dynamics."[6]
Yau is a 2000 MacArthur Fellow.
Honors
- Simons Investigator Award[7]
- Sloan Foundation Fellowship
- Packard Foundation Fellowship, 1991
- International Congress of Mathematicians, 1998[8]
- Henri Poincaré Prize, 2000
- MacArthur Fellowship, 2000[9]
- Morningside Gold Medal of Mathematics, 2001[10]
- Academician of the Academia Sinica, 2002[11]
- Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences[12]
- Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, 2012[13]
- Simons Investigator, 2012[14]
- Editor-in-Chief of Communications in Mathematical Physics
- Eisenbud Prize for Mathematics & Physics, 2017[15]
- Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research of the AMS, 2026[16]