Shiing-Shen Chern

Who is this?

Shiing-Shen Chern (; Chinese: 陳省身; pinyin: Chén Xǐngshēn; October 26, 1911 – December 3, 2004) was a Chinese-born American mathematician and poet. 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 Prize. 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 worked at the Institute for Advanced Study (1943–45), spent about a decade at the University of Chicago (1949-1960), and then moved to University of California, Berkeley, where he cofounded the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in 1982 and was the institute's founding director. Renowned coauthors with Chern include Jim Simons, an American mathematician and billionaire hedge fund manager. Chern's work, most notably the Chern–Gauss–Bonnet theorem, Chern–Simons theory, and Chern classes, are still highly influential in current research in mathematics, including geometry, topology, and knot theory, as well as many branches of physics, including string theory, condensed matter physics, general relativity, and quantum field theory.

Career

1. 1911
   Born
2. 1954
   Won Guggenheim Fellowship
3. 1975
   Won National Medal of Science
4. 1983
   Won Wolf Prize in Mathematics
5. 1989
   Member of American Philosophical Society
6. 1996
   Won Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit
7. 2002
   Won Lobachevsky Prize
8. 2004
   Passed away
9. Member of Royal Society
10. Member of French Academy of Sciences
11. Notable work: Chern class
12. Notable work: Chern–Weil theory
13. Notable work: Chern–Simons theory
14. Notable work: Chern–Simons form
15. Notable work: Chern–Weil homomorphism

Trivia

• •Place of birth: Jiaxing
• •Citizenship: People's Republic of China, United States
• •Known as: mathematician, university teacher
• •Spouse: Zheng Shining