Shing-Tung Yau
A mathematician who proved the Calabi conjecture, shaping the geometry of hidden dimensions and influencing modern theoretical physics.
Born 1949 (age 77)·Chinese-American mathematician·Birthday: April 4·Baby Boomers
Biography
Shing-Tung Yau's mind operates in the rarefied air of abstract shapes and spaces that most cannot picture. Born in China just as the Communist Party took power, his early education was disrupted, but a fierce intellect propelled him to the University of California, Berkeley. There, and in the years that followed, he attacked some of geometry's most formidable problems. His monumental proof of the Calabi conjecture in the 1970s was not just a mathematical triumph; it provided the very geometrical framework that string theorists would later use to describe the universe's extra dimensions. This work earned him the Fields Medal, mathematics' highest honor. A dominant and sometimes controversial figure, Yau built empires of intellectual influence, founding mathematics institutes in Hong Kong, Beijing, and at Tsinghua University. His career has been a bridge between East and West, tirelessly working to elevate Chinese mathematics to world-leading status while maintaining a deep, foundational impact on how mathematicians and physicists understand the shape of reality itself.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Shing-Tung was born in 1949, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Shing-Tung Was Born
The biggest hits of 1949
#1 Movie
Samson and Delilah
Best Picture
All the King's Men
#1 TV Show
Texaco Star Theatre
Shing-Tung's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1949Born
NATO founded; Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Riders in the Sky" — Vaughn MonroeBest Picture: All the King's Men
1954Started school
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1962Became a teenager
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1965Could drive
US sends combat troops to Vietnam
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,600Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling StonesBest Picture: The Sound of Music
1967Could vote
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1970Turned 21
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1979Turned 30
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1989Turned 40
Berlin Wall falls; Tiananmen Square protests
Gas: $1.00/galHome: $79,100Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"Look Away" — ChicagoBest Picture: Driving Miss Daisy
1999Turned 50
Columbine shooting; Y2K panic builds
Gas: $1.17/galHome: $113,900Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Believe" — CherBest Picture: American Beauty
2009Turned 60
Michael Jackson dies; Bitcoin created
Gas: $2.35/galHome: $148,500Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Boom Boom Pow" — The Black Eyed PeasBest Picture: The Hurt Locker
2019Turned 70
First image of a black hole; Hong Kong protests
Gas: $2.60/galHome: $224,400Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Old Town Road" — Lil Nas XBest Picture: Parasite
2026Age 77 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Proved the Calabi conjecture in 1976, leading to the discovery of Calabi-Yau manifolds, which are central to string theory.
- Awarded the Fields Medal in 1982 for his contributions to partial differential equations and differential geometry.
- Proved the positive mass theorem in general relativity in collaboration with Richard Schoen.
- Founded and directs major mathematical research centers, including the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University.
Did You Know?
He famously solved the Calabi conjecture, a problem many thought might be false, by finding a counterexample to the counterexample.
He was a child prodigy in mathematics but failed his first college entrance exam due to illness.
He has been a mentor to a generation of leading geometers, including Gang Tian.
He served as a professor at Harvard University for decades before moving his base to China.
“"The foundation of mathematics is logic and reason. It is the only science that can prove something is true without any doubt."”
