Liao Shantao (; 4 January 1920 - 6 June 1997) was a Chinese mathematician.

Biography

Liao was born into a family of farming background on January 4, 1920, in

Hengshan County Hengshan County () is a county in the Province of Hunan, China and it is under the administration of Hengyang prefecture-level city. Located in the north of Hengyang and the east-central part of Hunan province, the county is bordered to the north ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

. His father was Liao Zihao () and his mother was Zeng Ping (). He attended Mingde Middle School and Changsha No. 1 High School in

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a popul ...

, capital of Hunan province. In 1938 he was accepted to

National Southwestern Associated University When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Universi ...

and graduated in 1941. After graduation, he taught at Mingde Middle School. He moved to Peking University in 1946 as an associate professor and then to Academia Sinica as a research assistant in 1948. He pursued advanced studies in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, earning his doctor's degree from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

in 1952. His doctoral dissertation was directed by

Shiing-Shen Chern Shiing-Shen Chern (; , ; October 28, 1911 – December 3, 2004) was a Chinese-American mathematician and poet. He made fundamental contributions to differential geometry and topology. He has been called the "father of modern differential geome ...

. He did post-doctoral research at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

from 1953 to 1955. Liao gave up the job that mathematician

Norman Steenrod Norman Earl Steenrod (April 22, 1910October 14, 1971) was an American mathematician most widely known for his contributions to the field of algebraic topology. Life He was born in Dayton, Ohio, and educated at Miami University and University of ...

had arranged for him in scientific research at Princeton University and returned to China in 1956 as a professor at Peking University. In 1986 he was elected a fellow of

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...

. In 1991 he was elected an academician of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...

Personal life

Liao married Wang Hongyi () in 1942, the couple had three sons.

Awards

* 1982 Second Class Prize of State Natural Science Award * 1988 First Class Prize of State Natural Science Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liao, Shantao 1920 births 1997 deaths Educators from Hunan Mathematicians from Hunan Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National Southwestern Associated University alumni Peking University faculty People from Hengyang TWAS fellows TWAS laureates University of Chicago alumni Chinese expatriates in the United States