Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1980

Twenty-Second Congregation Professor Shing-Tung Yau, PhD Professor Shing-Tung Yau, Life Member of the Insti tute for Advanced Study in Princeton, is a world- renowned mathematician. For thousands of years, man has lived in a kaleidoscopic universe and behind this kaleidoscopic change there lies a system, and whoever is able to find the underlying mathematical principles w ill have in his grasp the key to the secret of the universe. Barely past the age of thirty, Professor Yau has published over forty papers in the fields of differential geometry, non-linear partial differential equation, theory of functions of several complex variables and theoretical physics, arousing intense interest amongst mathematicians all over the world. The two outstanding achievements of Professor Yau's lie in his solution of Calabi's conjecture by the use of non-linear differential equation with its application in the field of algebraic geometry and his proof of the positive mass conjecture in general relativity. Thus he opens up a realm of mathematical thought fu ll of promise, showing himself to be amathematical genius of the first water. Professor Yau was born in 1949 and educated at the Pui Ching Middle School and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His precocious mathemati­ cal talent enabled him, after winning the Diploma from Chung Chi College in less than three years ， to proceed to the United States for further studies. Two years later he won his doctorate from the University of California (Berkeley). At the age of 26 ， he was appointed visiting professor at the University of California (Los Angeles). Two years later in 1978, he became fu ll professor at Stanford University. In the same year he was invited to ba a “One Hour Speaker" at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Helsinki, a rare distinction for the fraternity of mathematicians. In 1979 he was elected "California Scientist of the Year" and is the youngest scientist ever to have received this distinguished title . If youth is an asset for success in mathematical research then the youthfulness of Professor Yau constitutes an inestimable asset for the world, which w ill await with eagerness his further success in revealing the secrets of the universe. After an absence of eleven years, his visit to this University is amatter for warm welcome and to mark our affection and esteem, I now ask you, Mr. Chan cellor, to award Professor Shing-Tung Yau the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa. 5