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Shiing-shen Chern statute unveiled at Nankai

Updated: 2009-10-13 15:02

Shiing-shen Chern's bronze statute at Nankai University.

Nankai University unveiled a bronze statue of its late professor Shiing-shen Chern, one of the leaders in differential geometry of the twentieth century, on Monday as part of its celebrations for the university's 90th anniversary.

The 102-cm upper body statue with a 121-cm pedestal was unveiled by Chern's daughter Chen Pu and Professor Zhang Weiping. Zhang is Professor Chern's former student and former director of Chern Institute of Mathematics.

Ningyuan Garden, Chern's former residence at Nankai, also opened to the public on the same day after a renovation. The garden has an inscription by famous Chinese painter Fan Zeng stating: "Former residence of Shiing-shen Chern".

A desk Chern used at Ningyuan Garden.

Chern was born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province and moved to Tianjin in 1922. He studied mathematics at Nankai University from 1926 and graduated there in 1930. In 1943 Chern went to the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at Princeton and moved to the University of California, Berkeley in 1960. The following year he became a citizen of the United States.

Chern said he spent the best time of his life at Nankai and in 1985 he founded the Chern Institute of Mathematics at Nankai University and acted as the director until 1992. He died in 2004 at the age of 93.

By Guo Changdong