You-Dong Liang () is a mathematician and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, best known for his contributions in

geometric modeling __NOTOC__ Geometric modeling is a branch of applied mathematics and computational geometry that studies methods and algorithms for the mathematical description of shapes. The shapes studied in geometric modeling are mostly two- or three-dimensi ...

and the Liang-Barsky algorithm.

Education and teaching

You-Dong Liang was born on July 19, 1935, in

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

, Fujian Province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Liang pursued his graduate degree in Fudan University, where he worked under the supervision of Professor

Su Buqing Su Buqing, also spelled Su Buchin (; September 23, 1902 – March 17, 2003), was a Chinese mathematician, educator and poet. He was the founder of differential geometry in China, and served as president of Fudan University and honorary chairman ...

and specialized in geometric theory. After graduating in 1960, he joined the mathematics teaching faculty at Zhejiang University, where he actively promoted the development of geometric design and graphics. From 1984–1990, he was the chairman of the mathematics department, and on several occasions, was a visiting scholar and visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley, University of Utah, and University of Berlin. Liang helped form the Computational Geometry Collaborative Group in China. As the leader of this group, Liang supported the collaboration of scholars in

geometric design Geometrical design (GD) is a branch of computational geometry. It deals with the construction and representation of free-form curves, surfaces, or volumes and is closely related to geometric modeling. Core problems are curve and surface modelling ...

and computational graphics. Liang was awarded the “Chinese Geometric Design and Calculation Contribution Award” in 2009.

Contributions, papers, and awards

Liang has worked on computer-aided geometric design and computer graphics research. In 1984, Liang developed the

Liang–Barsky algorithm In computer graphics, the Liang–Barsky algorithm (named after You-Dong Liang and Brian A. Barsky) is a line clipping algorithm. The Liang–Barsky algorithm uses the parametric equation of a line and inequalities describing the range of the cl ...

, which has applications in computer graphics. Liang made further improvements on this algorithm in 1992.Liang, YD, and Barsky, B., "A New Concept and Method for Line Clipping", ACM Transactions on Graphics, 3 (1): 1–22, January 1984. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Liang proposed a series of theories and methodologies in

geometric continuity In mathematical analysis, the smoothness of a function is a property measured by the number of continuous derivatives it has over some domain, called ''differentiability class''. At the very minimum, a function could be considered smooth if i ...

. In 1991, Liang supervised the completion of "Generated Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling Research" and was awarded the Chinese National Science Third Prize. During these years, Liang received other honors, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences Award and the “European Graphics Conference” Best Paper Award. Liang has published more than 50 papers, including "A New Concept and Method for Line Clipping", "Some Theorems on Geometrical Objects", "Curve and Surface Geometry Continuity", and "An Analysis and Algorithm for Polygon Clipping."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liang, You-Dong Mathematicians from Fujian Geometers 1935 births Living people University of Utah faculty People from Fuzhou Educators from Fujian 20th-century Chinese science writers Writers from Fuzhou