Su Buqing, also spelled Su Buchin (; September 23, 1902 – March 17, 2003), was a Chinese

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, educator and poet. He was the founder of

differential geometry Differential geometry is a mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of differential calculus, integral calculus, linear algebra and multili ...

in China, and served as president of

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

and honorary chairman of the

Chinese Mathematical Society The Chinese Mathematical Society (CMS, ) is an academic organization for Chinese mathematicians, with the official websitwww.cms.org.cn It is a member of China Association of Science and Technology. History The Chinese Mathematical Society (CMS) ...

Biography

Su was born in

Pingyang County Pingyang County (, Wenzhounese:''ben yi'') is a county in the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou, located along the southern coast of Zhejiang province, China. There are two main cities with many surrounding villages in Pingyang. The two main settl ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

Province in 1902, with ancestry from

Quanzhou Quanzhou, postal map romanization, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metrop ...

. After attending

Zhejiang Wenzhou High School The Zhejiang Wenzhou High School (simplified Chinese: 浙江省温州中学; traditional Chinese: 浙江省溫州中學; pinyin: ''zhè jiāng shěng wēn zhōu zhōng xué'' ), known colloquially as Wenyizhong (WZHS), is a public senior high sch ...

, he graduated from

Tohoku Imperial University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated National ...

in Japan in 1927 and received his Ph.D. from the university in 1931. After returning to China, he first served as a professor and dean at

Zhejiang University Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the na ...

(he established the Chen-Su School with

Chen Jiangong Chen Jiangong (; 1893–1971), or Jian-gong Chen, was a Chinese mathematician. He was a pioneer of modern Chinese mathematics.Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

. He was honorary chairman of the

and elected to

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

and 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 Republ ...

in 1948 and 1955 respectively. Su Buqing and

Hua Luogeng Hua Luogeng or Hua Loo-Keng (; 12 November 1910 – 12 June 1985) was a Chinese mathematician and politician famous for his important contributions to number theory and for his role as the leader of mathematics research and education in the Peop ...

were the most influential figures in mathematical society of modern China. Praised commonly in mathematical field as the "first geometer in the orient", Su was engaged in research, teaching and education in

and

computational geometry Computational geometry is a branch of computer science devoted to the study of algorithms which can be stated in terms of geometry. Some purely geometrical problems arise out of the study of computational geometric algorithms, and such problems ar ...

. In his early years, he made excellent contributions to

affine differential geometry Affine differential geometry is a type of differential geometry which studies invariants of volume-preserving affine transformations. The name ''affine differential geometry'' follows from Klein's Erlangen program. The basic difference between aff ...

and

projective differential geometry In mathematics, projective differential geometry is the study of differential geometry, from the point of view of properties of mathematical objects such as functions, diffeomorphisms, and submanifolds, that are invariant under transformations of ...

. He obtained extraordinary achievements in general space differential geometry, conjugating net theory in higher-dimensional space and computer aided geometry design. Asteroid 297161 Subuchin, discovered by astronomers of the PMO NEO Survey Program in 2008, was named in his memory. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 8 November 2019 ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Buqing 1902 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Chinese mathematicians Chinese centenarians Educators from Wenzhou Mathematicians from Zhejiang Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Members of Academia Sinica Men centenarians National Taiwan University faculty People's Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang Politicians from Wenzhou Presidents of Fudan University Scientists from Wenzhou Tohoku University alumni Zhejiang University faculty Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference