Mathematician Shing-Tung Yau Recalls Painful Journey Proving Calabi Conjecture
Bastillepost · 1 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
Shing-Tung Yau, born in Guangdong in 1949, has recounted the arduous journey he undertook to prove the Calabi conjecture, a complex geometric concept proposed by Eugenio Calabi in 1954. The acclaimed mathematician, who completed his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley in just two years under mentor Shiing-Shen Chern, revealed that he once had to publicly retract an erroneous proof, describing it as a "very humiliating" experience . Yau ultimately succeeded in his endeavor, winning the prestigious Fields Medal in 1982 and becoming the first mathematician of Chinese descent to receive this honor, often called the Nobel Prize of Mathematics . He later founded the International Congress of Basic Science, with the 2024 edition opening in Beijing this week .
Key Points
- Yau spent three years attempting to disprove the Calabi conjecture, believing his counterexample would settle the matter .
- After discovering his counterexample was flawed, Yau had to withdraw his findings from hundreds of assembled colleagues .
- Chern, Yau's doctoral advisor, had praised his work as "the best work presented at the conference" before the retraction .
- Yau spent another three years constructing the mathematical framework needed to prove the conjecture correctly .
- He worked in isolation throughout this period because the mathematical community universally believed the conjecture was false .
Why It Matters
Yau's breakthrough gave rise to the field of "geometric analysis," which has become fundamental to string theory and modern theoretical physics . His International Congress of Basic Science, now in its second year, continues to bring together leading researchers worldwide to address fundamental questions in mathematics and science .
Yau's breakthrough gave rise to the field of "geometric analysis," which has become fundamental to string theory and modern theoretical physics . His International Congress of Basic Science, now in its second year, continues to bring together leading researchers worldwide to address fundamental questions in mathematics and science .