Oh Yong-Geun is a mathematician and distinguished professor at the

Pohang University of Science and Technology Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) is a private research university in Pohang, South Korea. History POSTECH was established in 1986 in Pohang, Korea by POSCO, a steel company. POSTECH hosted POSCO's Research Institute of Sc ...

and founding director of the IBS Center for Geometry and Physics located on that campus. His fields of study have been on

symplectic topology Symplectic geometry is a branch of differential geometry and differential topology that studies symplectic manifolds; that is, differentiable manifolds equipped with a closed, nondegenerate 2-form. Symplectic geometry has its origins in the ...

Floer homology In mathematics, Floer homology is a tool for studying symplectic geometry and low-dimensional topology. Floer homology is a novel invariant that arises as an infinite-dimensional analogue of finite-dimensional Morse homology. Andreas Floer i ...

Hamiltonian mechanics Hamiltonian mechanics emerged in 1833 as a reformulation of Lagrangian mechanics. Introduced by Sir William Rowan Hamilton, Hamiltonian mechanics replaces (generalized) velocities \dot q^i used in Lagrangian mechanics with (generalized) ''momen ...

, and

mirror symmetry In mathematics, reflection symmetry, line symmetry, mirror symmetry, or mirror-image symmetry is symmetry with respect to a reflection. That is, a figure which does not change upon undergoing a reflection has reflectional symmetry. In 2D t ...

He was in the inaugural class of fellows of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings ...

and has been a member of Institute for Advanced Study, Korean Mathematical Society, and National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea and is on the editorial boards of ''Journal of Gokova Geometry and Topology'' and ''Journal of Mathematics of Kyoto University''.

Education

Oh went to

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the thr ...

and received a B.A in Math in 1983. He then went to

U.C. Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

, where he majored in Mathematics and his Ph.D. was conferred in 1988. His dissertation research was supervised by Professor

Alan Weinstein Alan David Weinstein (17 June, 1943, New York City) is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, working in the field of differential geometry, and especially in Poisson geometry. Education and career Weinstein o ...

. With the completion of his PhD, he then focused on developing and enhancing the

theory in

symplectic geometry Symplectic geometry is a branch of differential geometry and differential topology that studies symplectic manifolds; that is, differentiable manifolds equipped with a closed, nondegenerate 2-form. Symplectic geometry has its origins in the ...

and its application within that field.

Career

His career started during his Ph.D. program, where he worked as a teaching assistant and then research assistant in the Department of Math at U.C. Berkeley. After graduation, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the

Mathematical Sciences Research Institute The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath), formerly the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), is an independent nonprofit mathematical research institution on the University of California campus in Berkeley, Califo ...

, located in Berkeley. He then moved to New York to work as a Courant Instructor at the

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU), and is among the most prestigious mathematics schools and mathematical sciences research cente ...

for a year. Going to the Department of Mathematics in the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, he started as an assistant professor in 1991, associate professor in 1997, and full professor in 2001. During his sabbatical, he was a visiting professor at Stanford University for the academic year 2004–2005. While teaching at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he also was a member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

in Princeton, a research member at the

Isaac Newton Institute The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an international research institute for mathematics and its many applications at the University of Cambridge. It is named after one of the university's most illustrious figures, the mathema ...

in the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, visiting professor at the

Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences The is a research institute attached to Kyoto University, hosting researchers in the mathematical sciences from all over Japan. RIMS was founded in April 1963. List of directors * Masuo Fukuhara (1963.5.1 – 1969.3.31) * Kōsaku Yosida (1969. ...

in Kyoto University, and a professor at the

Korea Institute for Advanced Study The Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) is an advanced research institute in South Korea. It is located on a campus in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. KIAS was founded in 1996, aiming to become a world leading research institute where internati ...

. He became a distinguished professor at the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in 2010 and the founding director of the

Institute for Basic Science The Institute for Basic Science (IBS; ) is a Korean government-funded research institute that conducts basic science research and relevant pure basic research. IBS was established in November 2011 by the Lee Myung-bak administration as a re ...

Center for Geometry and Physics in 2012, which is located on the POSTECH campus.

Memberships

* 2014: Member of Korean Academy of Science and Technology * 2013: Inaugural Class of Fellows,

* 1991-1992: Institute for Advanced Study * Korean Mathematical Society * National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea

Editorial boards

* 2007–current: ''Journal of Gokova Geometry and Topology'' * 2009–current: ''Journal of Mathematics of Kyoto University''

Awards

* 2022:

Ho-Am Prize in Science The Ho-Am Prize in Science was established in 1990 by Kun-Hee Lee, the Chairman of Samsung, to honour the late Chairman, Lee Byung-chul, the founder of the company. The Ho-Am Prize in Science (previously the Ho-Am Prize in Science & Technology) ...

* 2019: Korea Science Award * 2012:

Kyung-Ahm Prize The Kyung-Ahm Prize is a series of awards presented annually from the Kyung-Ahm Education & Cultural Foundation. Founded in 2005 with a 100 billion KRW endowment by Geum-Jo Song, the award originally had four categories and in addition to the aw ...

* 2002: Vilas Associate Award,

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

* 2001: Young Scientist Award, Korean Academy of Science and Technology * 1988: Bernard Friedman memorial prize in Applied Mathematics

Selected publications

* * *

References

External links

Center for Geometry and Physics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh, Yong-Geun Institute for Advanced Study people Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Academic staff of Pohang University of Science and Technology Seoul National University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni 21st-century South Korean mathematicians Institute for Basic Science 1961 births Living people Recipients of the Ho-Am Prize in Science 20th-century South Korean mathematicians South Korean scientists