“After you left, I thought more about your questions...”
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Shiing-Shen Chern
Shiing-Shen Chern was a Chinese-born American mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to differential geometry and topology. He has been called the "father of modern differential geometry" and is widely regarded as a leader in geometry and one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, winning numerous awards and recognition including the Wolf Prize and the inaugural Shaw Pr…
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science · Chinese-American mathematician and poet · mathematician · university teacher · also Shiing-Shen Chern, S.S. Chern, Chern
Born 26 October 1911 · Died 3 December 2004 · Q328131
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2026· 2 entries
Moviefone: Taking the Long View: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern - Where to Watch
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2013· 1 entry
It was broadcast on US public television
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2011· 1 entry
ZALA films published a documentary titled Taking the Long View: the Life of Shiing-shen Chern (山長水遠)
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2010· 2 entries
George Csicsery featured him in the documentary short Taking the Long View: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern
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To recognize "an individual whose accomplishments warrant the highest level of recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of mathematics
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2007· 1 entry
Chern's disciple and IAS director Phillip Griffiths edited Inspired by S
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2004· 4 entries
Los Angeles Times: Shiing-shen Chern, 93; Broke New Ground in Differential Geometry
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Died 2004-12-03.
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Awarded Shaw Prize (2004).
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Awarded The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences (2004).
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2002· 2 entries
Awarded Lobachevsky Prize (2002).
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Convinced the Chinese government (the PRC) for the first time to host the International Congress of Mathematicians in Beijing
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1999· 1 entry
Chern moved from Berkeley back to Tianjin, China permanently until his death
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1996· 1 entry
Awarded Grand Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (1996).
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1985· 3 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the Nankai University (1985).
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Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1985).
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Career landmark: director (1985–1992).
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1983· 2 entries
Awarded Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1983).
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Awarded Leroy P. Steele Prize (1983).
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1982· 5 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of ETH Zürich (1982).
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Awarded Humboldt Prize (1982).
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While on sabbatical at the New York University Courant Institute, he visited Stony Brook to see his friends and former students CN Yang and Simons
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And was the institute's founding director
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Career landmark: director (1982–1984).
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1979· 2 entries
A Chern Symposium offered him an honorary song, the "Chern Song", in tribute:
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Although he still taught Special Topic classes until at least 1983
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1975· 2 entries
Won National Medal of Science (1975).
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Chen Ning Yang and Chern found out that their research in non-abelian gauge theory and Fiber bundle describe the same theoretical structure, which showed a surprising connection between physics and mathematics
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1970· 1 entry
Awarded Chauvenet Prize (1970).
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1969· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1969).
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1964· 1 entry
Chern was a vice president of American Mathematical Society (AMS)
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1960· 2 entries
I was tipped about the possibility of an academy membership
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Chern moved to the University of California, Berkeley
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1954· 2 entries
Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship (1954).
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Published his own treatment of the pseudogroup problem that is in effect the touchstone of Cartan's geometric theory
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1951· 1 entry
Shiing Shen Chern, Differential Manifolds, University of Chicago 1953
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1950· 1 entry
Was invited by the International Congress of Mathematicians in Cambridge, Massachusetts
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1949· 1 entry
Was invited by Weil to become professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago and accepted the position as chair of geometry
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1948· 2 entries
Chern was elected one of the first academicians of the Academia Sinica
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Accepted an invitation by Weyl and Veblen to return to Princeton as a professor
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1945· 1 entry
To help found the Institute of Mathematics of the Academia Sinica
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1943· 2 entries
“The years 1943–45 will undoubtedly be decisive in my career, and I have profited not only in the mathematical side. I am inclined to think that among the people who have stayed at the Institute, I was one who has profited the most, but the other people may think the same way.”
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His papers gained international recognition, and Oswald Veblen invited him to the IAS
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1939· 1 entry
Chern married Shih-Ning Cheng, and the couple had two children, Paul and May
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1937· 1 entry
Studied at Science Faculty of Paris (1936–1937).
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1936· 1 entry
Studied at University of Hamburg (1934–1936).
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1934· 2 entries
Studied at Tsinghua University (1930–1934).
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Chern received a scholarship to study in the United States at Princeton and Harvard, but at the time he wanted to study geometry and Europe was the center for the maths and sciences
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1932· 2 entries
Wilhelm Blaschke from the University of Hamburg visited Tsinghua and was impressed by Chern and his research
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Chern published his first research article in the Tsinghua University Journal
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1930· 1 entry
Studied at Nankai University (1926–1930).
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1926· 1 entry
After spending four years in Tianjin, Chern graduated from Fulun High School
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1911· 1 entry
Born 1911-10-26.
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