Yum-Tong Siu (; born May 6, 1943 in Guangzhou,

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 ...

) is the William Elwood Byerly Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. Siu is a prominent figure in the study of functions of several complex variables. His research interests involve the intersection of complex variables,

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 ...

, and

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

. He has resolved various conjectures by applying estimates of the complex Neumann problem and the theory of

multiplier ideal In commutative algebra, the multiplier ideal associated to a sheaf of ideals Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with ...

sheaves to algebraic geometry.

Education and career

Siu obtained his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Hong Kong in 1963, his M.A. from the University of Minnesota, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1966. Siu completed his doctoral dissertation, titled "Coherent Noether-Lasker decomposition of subsheaves and sheaf cohomology", under the supervision of Robert C. Gunning. Before joining Harvard, he taught at Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, Yale, and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. In 1982 he joined

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as a Professor, of Mathematics. He previously served as the Chairman of the Harvard Math Department. In 2006, Siu published a proof of the finite generation of the

pluricanonical ring In mathematics, the pluricanonical ring of an algebraic variety ''V'' (which is non-singular), or of a complex manifold, is the graded ring :R(V,K)=R(V,K_V) \, of sections of powers of the canonical bundle ''K''. Its ''n''th graded component (for ...

Awards, honors and professional memberships

In 1993, Siu received the

Stefan Bergman Prize The Stefan Bergman Prize is a mathematics award, funded by the estate of the widow of mathematician Stefan Bergman and supported by the American Mathematical Society. The award is granted for mathematical research in: "1) the theory of the kernel f ...

of the American Mathematical Society. He has holds honorary doctorates from the University of Hong Kong, University of Bochum, Germany, and University of Macau. He is a Corresponding Member of the Goettingen Academy of Sciences (elected 1993); a Foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (elected 2004); and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (elected 1998), the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(elected 2002), and

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 ...

, Taiwan (elected 2004). He has been an invited speaker at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

in Helsinki (1978), Warsaw (1983) and Beijing (2002). Currently, Siu is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the

Clay Mathematics Institute The Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) is a private, non-profit foundation (nonprofit), foundation dedicated to increasing and disseminating mathematics, mathematical knowledge. Formerly based in Peterborough, New Hampshire, the corporate address i ...

(since 2003); the Advisory Committee for the Shaw Prize In Mathematical Sciences (since 2010); the Advisory Committee for the

Millennium Prize Problems The Millennium Prize Problems are seven well-known complex mathematical problems selected by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. The Clay Institute has pledged a US$1 million prize for the first correct solution to each problem. According t ...

under the sponsorship of the Clay Mathematics Institute; the Scientific Advisory Board for the

Institute for Mathematics Sciences An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes c ...

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

(since 2009) and the Institute of Advanced Studies,

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various inte ...

, Singapore (since 2006).

Notes

External links

* * In 2003 and 2004, the Asian Journal of Mathematics dedicated several issues to Siu: *
Vol. 7 #4
*
Vol. 8 #1 and 2

english.cas.cn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siu, Yum-Tong 1943 births Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of St. John's College, University of Hong Kong Differential geometers University of Minnesota alumni Princeton University alumni Purdue University faculty University of Notre Dame faculty Yale University faculty Stanford University Department of Mathematics faculty Harvard University faculty Chinese emigrants to the United States People from Guangzhou Educators from Guangdong Mathematicians from Guangdong

Education and career

Awards, honors and professional memberships

See also

Notes

External links