Tainan, Taiwan, June 4th, 2010

Dr. Shing-Tung Yau, one of the 1982 winners of the Fields Medal and one of the most influential mathematicians in the world, has arrived at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan, on June 4th, to deliver a speech and share his experience of scientific research with hundreds of students.

Dr. Shing-Tung Yau, the first Chinese-American to receive the Fields Medal, is a mathematician and scientist with rich literary accomplishments. He loves reading Cao Xue-Qin’s Dream of the Red Chamber, Sima Qian’s Autobiography, Li Ling’s Letter in Reply to Su Wu, Tao Yuan-Ming’s Going Home and Goethe’s Faust, reciting classical poetry from Qin, Han and Six Dynasties and quoting famous remarks by Wen Tian-Xiang, Yuan Zhen, Han Yu and so on.

Dr. Shing-Tung Yau expressed, “My father’s death was the turning point of my life. After my father passed away, I was in resonance with the complexes of the books I was reading. I was also touched by the great tragedies of the times and the undefeated spirit. They have not only influenced my attitude toward life, but also intensified my interest in learning.”

“The careful and delicate writing style of Cao Xue-Qin has transformed characters and scenes from Dream of the Red Chamber meticulously. Imagining his surging emotions, I often think how wonderful it would be if mathematics had the same structure as literary creation. I believe it’s the uncontrolled feelings which will bring scholars into a new realm.”

Dr. Shing-Tung Yau said, “The determination to learn occurs in one moment. The cultivation of emotions is the most important part of learning. When I was young, I loved to play in Yuen Long Plain and the hills and seashore of Shatin with my friends. I even skipped school for about half a year. My only burden at that time was that my father demanded me to practice writing, recite classical poetry and read contemporary literature as well as Western publications. However, my favorite books were martial arts novels, including the works by Liang Yu-Sheng and Jin Yong.

“In addition to martial arts novels, I have also read Xue Rengui's Campaign to the East, The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dream of the Red Chamber and other forbidden books. The Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms quickly captured my interest, but when I read Dream of the Red Chamber, I couldn’t continue after finishing the first few chapters. It was not until my father passed away that I finished the book. Because of my father’s early death and my family decline, I could identify myself with the complexes in the book and appreciate the delicate writing style of Cao Xue-Qin in creating a great tragedy for the old society.”

“Before my father passed away, I’ve acquired much knowledge and read many outstanding literary works. However, his death has touched my feelings deeply. When I read Dream of the Red Chamber, Sima Qian’s Autobiography, Li Ling’s Letter in Reply to Su Wu and Tao Yuan-Ming’s Going Home and recited classical poetry from Qin, Han and Six Dynasties, they have moved my heart. In addition to Chinese literature, I’ve also read Western literature, such as Goethe’s Faust. The tragic play describes the misery of Dr. Faust. Comparing Faust to Dream of the Red Chamber, the former illustrates the pain of a genius and the latter illustrates the pain of a mortal, both to the extreme.”

Dr. Yau further explained, “When I was a graduate student, I had a thought. Since differential geometry is a study involving analysis and geometry, geometricians should first start with analysis to study geometry. At that time, the research of differential equations has become very promising. Although ordinary geometricians see differential equation as intimidating, I decided to integrate the two theories and to share the inner beauty of geometry and analysis. In my first year at University of California, Berkeley, I followed Prof. Charles B. Morrey in studying partial differential equations. I had no idea that he was one of the founders of this subject then. I’ve learned the basic skills of elliptic differential equations from him. It was not until my second year at University of California, Berkeley that I studied complex geometry with my mentor Prof. Shiing-Shen Chern.”

“After my graduation, I have cooperated with my students and friends, including Richard Schoen, Leon Simon, Shiu Yuen Cheng, Karen Uhlenbeck, Richard Hamilton, Clifford H. Taubes, Simon Donaldson and Peter Li, to make geometric analysis an important subject and solve many major problems. It was a wonderful experience. Every segment required the most delicate elaboration to construct the whole picture. It was the same way Cao Xue-Qin wrote his Dream of the Red Chamber.”

Dr. Yau also mentioned, “Simple and concise theorem gives us pleasure just like the brief but meaningful words from The Book of Songs and The Analects of Confucius do. Some theorems indulge in self-admiration, but some give rise to a series of breakthroughs, allowing us to have a deeper understanding of mathematics. Every mathematician has his or her own unique taste and perspective. I personally prefer the latter mathematics. When theorems are validated, we’ll feel that the entire process of struggle is meaningful. The purpose of fishing is to enjoy the competition with the fish rather than the harvest.”

“Looking at the history of mathematics, only theorems with depth will be preserved. For thousands of years, theorems have emerged in an endless stream, but only a few have made their names in the history, due to the lack of innovative and profound articles. I was excited when I enjoyed martial arts novels, but they were easily forgotten. I had different feelings when I read literary works with depth. Therefore, my friends and I skipped mathematics that was too abstract in our research and retained the true beauty of nature.”

Influenced by literature, Dr. Shing-Tung Yau believed that studying mathematics was like writing a novel where characters and plots needed to remain realistic. Cao Xue-Qin’s Dream of the Red Chamber is exciting and touching because this tragedy describes the corruption of a family, the inequality of the society and the helplessness of youth. Excellent mathematics should also touch on various phenomenons in nature to be passed down for generations.


Additional Information:

Dr. Shing-Tung Yau, born on April 4th, 1949, in Shantou, Guangdong Province, China, is a Chinese-American mathematician noted for his study and research on differential geometry.

He received his doctoral degree from University of California, Berkeley, in 1971. He is currently the Chair Professor of Harvard University, and he has taught at State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stanford University, Institute for Advanced Study and University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Yau is the Academician of Academic Sinica, Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Fellow of American Physical Society, Member of Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of New York Academy of Science and Fellow of American Mathematical Society.

He has received numerous awards including Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry in 1981, Fields Medal in 1982, Veblen Prize in 1981, Crafoord Prize in 1994, National Medal of Science in 1997 and Wolf Prize in 2010.

Dr. Yau has made major contributions on both physics and mathematics and also lasting impacts on the fields of Topology, Algebraic Geometry, Representation Theory and General Relativity.

His major contributions include several work on conjectures, such as Calabi conjecture, positive mass conjecture and existence of black holes, Smith conjecture, Hermitian Yang-Mills connection and stable vector bundles, Frankel conjecture and Mirror conjecture, as well as new methods and concepts of gradient estimates and Harnack inequalities, uniformization of complex manifolds, harmonic maps and rigidity, minimal submanifolds, and also open problems in geometry, covering harmonic functions with controlled growth, rank rigidity of nonpositively curved manifolds, Kähler–Einstein metrics and stability of manifolds and Mirror symmetry.