Prof. He Xuhua Awarded the Chevalley Prize in Lie Theory

Prof. He Xuhua, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Mathematics of the Department of Mathematics and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMS), has received the 2022 AMS Chevalley Prize in Lie Theory from the American Mathematical Society. Professor He is the first Hong Kong scholar to receive this award that recognizes his contribution to the advance of ‘Lie theory’.

‘Lie theory’ (including Lie groups and Lie algebras) was proposed by Norwegian mathematician Marius Sophus Lie in the 19th century. It describes the fundamental laws of symmetry. Like algebra, analysis and geometry, ‘Lie theory’ is one of the pillars of modern mathematics. Professor He specializes in pure mathematics. His work in arithmetic geometry, algebraic groups and representation theory has made substantial advances in ‘Lie theory’, which has won him the award.

Professor He felt deeply honoured and said, ‘George Lusztig, a renowned mathematician and founder of this award, was my PhD advisor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has shaped my way of thinking about Lie theory. It is a fascinating theory that I am incredibly proud of contributing to through my research. I am so grateful for the support and encouragement from my colleagues and collaborators. I envisage a further leap to promote the development of mathematics to contribute to global sciences.’

Professor He was awarded the Morningside Gold Medal of Mathematics at the 2013 International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians, for his achievements in arithmetic algebraic geometry, algebraic groups and representation theory. He was also among the first cohort of Hong Kong recipients receiving Tencent’s Xplorer Prize in 2020 for his contributions to affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties.

The Chevalley Prize in Lie Theory by the American Mathematical Society was established in 2014 by mathematician George Lusztig to honour Claude Chevalley, a founding member of the Bourbaki Group for Mathematics. The 2022 prize will be presented in January at the 2022 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle in the US.