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Shiing-Shen Chern

Shiing-Shen Chern
陳省身
Shiing-Shen Chern.jpg
Shiing-Shen Chern, 1976
Born (1911-10-26)October 26, 1911
Jiaxing, Zhejiang, Qing Empire
Died December 3, 2004(2004-12-03) (aged 93)
Tianjin, People's Republic of China
Citizenship Republic of China and United States (multiple citizenship)
Nationality Chinese and American
Fields Mathematics
Institutions Tsinghua University
Institute for Advanced Study
University of Chicago
University of California, Berkeley
Nankai University
Center of Mathematical Sciences, Zhejiang University
Alma mater Nankai University
University of Hamburg
Doctoral advisor Wilhelm Blaschke
Doctoral students Louis Auslander
Thomas Banchoff
Manfredo do Carmo
Robert B. Gardner
Howard Garland
Harold Levine
Katsumi Nomizu
Alan Weinstein
Shing-Tung Yau
Known for Chern–Simons theory
Chern–Weil theory
Chern class
Notable awards
Shiing-Shen Chern
Traditional Chinese 陳省身
Simplified Chinese 陈省身

Shiing-Shen Chern (Chinese: 陳省身; pinyin: Chén Xǐngshēn, Mandarin: [tʂʰən.ɕiŋ.ʂən]; October 26, 1911 – December 3, 2004) was a Chinese-American mathematician. A professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, Shiing-Shen Chern is widely regarded as one of the leaders in differential geometry of the twentieth century and a highly influential mathematician, winning numerous awards and recognition including the Wolf Prize and the Shaw Prize.

Shiing-Shen Chern co-founded the world-renowned Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at Berkeley in 1982, and was the institute's founding director. In memory of Shiing-Shen Chern, the International Mathematical Union established the Chern Medal in 2010 to recognize "an individual whose accomplishments warrant the highest level of recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of mathematics".

Chern was born in Xiushui County (縣), Jiaxing, in Zhejiang province. The year after his birth, China changed its regime from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. He graduated from Xiushui Middle School (秀水中學) and subsequently moved to Tianjin in 1922 to accompany his father. In 1926, after spending four years in Tianjin, Chern graduated from Fulun High School ().

At age 15, Chern entered the Faculty of Sciences of the Nankai University in Tianjin, studied mathematics there, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1930. At Nankai, Chern's mentor was Li-Fu Chiang (), a Harvard-trained geometer. Also at Nankai, he was heavily influenced by the physicist RaoYuTai(饶毓泰). Rao is today considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern Chinese informatics.


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