Teaching the young adds up to development for renowned mathematician

Shing-Tung Yau attends the 12th S.-T. Yau College Student Mathematics Contest in Beijing, May 30, 2021. (Photo provided to Xinhua)

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Confucius' instruction to "be tireless in teaching" is the motto of Shing-Tung Yau, a renowned China-born American mathematician.

The 72-year-old has been tireless in mathematics teaching. Since 2010, he has initiated awards and competitions to select college and middle school talent, and has led research projects in Chinese universities, cultivating thousands of mathematicians.

More than 1,500 students from 315 universities around the world participated in the just-concluded 12th S.-T. Yau College Student Mathematics Contest in Beijing, up 40 percent on the previous year and a new record.

The contest has attracted tens of thousands of students from around the world over the past 12 years, and Yau is gratified that half of the 700 award-winners have entered world-class universities such as Tsinghua, Harvard and Yale for further study or research.

"I believe that if a country does not have a strong foundation in mathematics, it will not have sound science and technology development," Yau said in an interview at the award ceremony on Sunday. "What we need to do is to train more top mathematicians."

Earlier this year, Tsinghua University launched the Yau Leading Math Talent Program. It soon caused controversy as Yau planned to recruit outstanding students from senior or even junior high schools all over the world directly to cultivate young prodigies in mathematics and related fields.

Some people doubted if it would be successful. But Yau insisted, "It is important for young students to be taught by great mathematicians.

"We need to educate them to aspire to be world-class scholars from an early age."

Shing-Tung Yau addresses the award ceremony of the 12th S.-T. Yau College Student Mathematics Contest in Beijing, May 30, 2021. (Photo provided to Xinhua)

Born in south China's Guangdong Province, Yau is one of the world's most influential mathematicians. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1971 and held appointments at a number of institutions, including Stanford University and the University of California before becoming a professor at Harvard University in 1987.

He has made significant contributions to differential geometry. In 1976, he proved the Positive Mass Conjecture in the Calabi Conjecture and Einstein's equation, and provided solutions through important integration of differential geometry and differential equations, which had far-reaching consequences. In 1982, at the age of 33, he became the first Chinese American to win a Fields Medal, regarded as the Nobel Prize in mathematics.

"Teaching and learning are connected," Yau said. His first student is now a leading mathematician and an important research partner.

"Young people are open-minded and willing to take directions you have never seen before. Their teachers should encourage them and help make their thoughts more mature," Yau said.

"I have been observing China's mathematics for a long time since the reform and opening up in 1979. I think China has the possibility to become a powerful country in mathematics."

Apart from talent training, he suggests more effort in setting up world-class research institutes over the next 10 years.

"China's mathematics will develop better with world-class scholars and students," said Yau.