On May 10th, 2016, Professor Tian Gang, Dean of the Peking University School of Math Science, visited Yenching Academy to give a lecture titled “Peking University and the Development of Mathematics” as part of the China Studies Lecture Series.
Professor Tian is a member of Chinese Academy of Science, Director of the Beijing International Math Research Center, and Higgins Professor at Princeton University. The lecture was divided into four parts, each with a different emphasis: “Classical Chinese Math Achievements,” “The Past of Math at Peking University (PKU),” “The Present of Math at PKU,” and “The Future of Math at PKU”.
Professor Tian first analyzed the development of math in Ancient China. Heobserved that ancient Chinese mathematicians were obsessed with only the real application of math, which was very different from ancient Greek mathematicians,who discussed many abstract concepts such as irrational numbers.
Professor Tian then traced the development of math at Peking University. Ever since the founding of the math department in the early days of the university, PKU has worked to establish a math-focused research center and to strengthen international cooperation. The School of Mathematics has now grown into a major school constituting five departments.
Professor Tian admitted that the current situation of mathematics research in China still needs improvement. “Our teaching team still cannot give the best opportunities to our brightest students and lead them to become the top of their fields,” he said. But the situation is improving every year: there are no national boundaries in mathematics, and China is learning quickly.
Professor Tian then introduced two important mathematical developments from the past decade, including the Poincare Conjecture and the Twin Prime Conjecture. Peking University has played an important research role in these two findings.
Peking University’s School of Mathematics doesn’t evaluate scholars simply based on their publication and citation rate, Professor Tian stressed. Therefore, scholars can focus primarily on their research. Responding to the point that many students who study mathematics as their undergraduate degree choose to change their major in graduate school, Professor Tian said, “As long as we still have outstanding students in the pure mathematics industry, I am happy. I understand mathematics research is very challenging and cannot create a lot of jobs. Students should have the right to pursue whatever they are interested in the most.”
Lastly, Professor Tian shared his insight into the future of math at PKU. He said that he remains optimistic about PKU’s future as a world leader in the field of mathematics research.
Written by Zhong Xue; Translated by Gary Xie
