Wang Yuan (; 29 April 1930 – 14 May 2021) was a Chinese mathematician and writer known for his contributions to the
Goldbach conjecture
Goldbach's conjecture is one of the oldest and best-known unsolved problems in number theory and all of mathematics. It states that every even natural number greater than 2 is the sum of two prime numbers.
The conjecture has been shown to ho ...
. He was a president of the
Chinese Mathematical Society and head of the Institute of Mathematics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...
.
Life
Wang was born in
Lanxi, Zhejiang
Lanxi, alternately known as Lanchi and Lanki, is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Jinhua in west-central Zhejiang Province, east-central China.
The city executive, legislature and judiciary
The ju ...
, China. His father was a magistrate in the local government. Because of the Japanese invasion (the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
), Wang's family had to move away from Zhejiang Province, and finally arrived at the southeast city
Kunming
Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...
in Yunnan in 1938. 1942, Wang's father rose to the position of Chief Secretary of the
Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei.
Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...
. 1946 after the Japanese surrender, his family moved to the capital city,
Nanjing
Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400.
Situated in the Yang ...
. 1946–1949, Wang's father was the Acting Director of the institute. In 1949, Wang separated with his father, who went to
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
.
Wang entered Yingshi University (later merged into National Chekiang University, now
Zhejiang University
Zhejiang University (ZJU) is a public university, public research university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and D ...
) in
Hangzhou
Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...
, and graduated from the Department of Mathematics in 1952.
He then earned a position in the Institute of Mathematics,
Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei.
Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...
.
Hua Luogeng
Hua Luogeng or Hua Loo-Keng (; 12 November 1910 – 12 June 1985) was a Chinese mathematician and politician famous for his important contributions to number theory and for his role as the leader of mathematics research and education in the Peop ...
was his academic adviser and one of his closest collaborators.
In 1966, Wang's career was interrupted by the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
. He was unable to work for more than five years, until 1972. During this time, Wang was harassed and put through interrogation.
In 1978, Wang was back to his professorship, in the Institute of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1980, he was elected to be a member of Chinese Academy of Science. 1988–1992, he was the president of the
Chinese Mathematical Society. Wang also worked in the United States for a period of time. He visited the Institute of Advanced Studies and taught at the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
.
Wang advised
Shou-Wu Zhang when he studied at the Chinese Academy of Sciences for his master's degree from 1983 to 1986.
Wang is the father of Chinese American computer scientist
James Z. Wang
James Ze Wang (; born 1972) is a Chinese-American computer scientist. He is a distinguished professor of the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, College of Information Sciences and Technology at Pennsylvania State Universi ...
.
Research
Number theory
Wang's research focused on the area of
number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...
, especially in the
Goldbach conjecture
Goldbach's conjecture is one of the oldest and best-known unsolved problems in number theory and all of mathematics. It states that every even natural number greater than 2 is the sum of two prime numbers.
The conjecture has been shown to ho ...
, through
sieve theory
Sieve theory is a set of general techniques in number theory, designed to count, or more realistically to estimate the size of, sifted sets of integers. The prototypical example of a sifted set is the set of prime numbers up to some prescribed limi ...
and the
Hardy-Littlewood circle method
A twin prime is a prime number that is either 2 less or 2 more than another prime number—for example, either member of the twin prime pair or In other words, a twin prime is a prime that has a prime gap of two. Sometimes the term ''twin prime'' ...
. He obtained a series of important results in the field of number theory.
Numerical integration and statistics
With
Hua Luogeng
Hua Luogeng or Hua Loo-Keng (; 12 November 1910 – 12 June 1985) was a Chinese mathematician and politician famous for his important contributions to number theory and for his role as the leader of mathematics research and education in the Peop ...
(华罗庚, alternatively Hua Loo-Keng), he developed high-dimensional
combinatorial design
Combinatorial design theory is the part of combinatorial mathematics that deals with the existence, construction and properties of systems of finite sets whose arrangements satisfy generalized concepts of ''balance'' and/or ''symmetry''. These co ...
s for
numerical integration
In analysis, numerical integration comprises a broad family of algorithms for calculating the numerical value of a definite integral.
The term numerical quadrature (often abbreviated to quadrature) is more or less a synonym for "numerical integr ...
on the
unit cube
A unit cube, more formally a cube of side 1, is a cube whose sides are 1 unit long.. See in particulap. 671. The volume of a 3-dimensional unit cube is 1 cubic unit, and its total surface area is 6 square units..
Unit hypercube
The term '' ...
. Their work came to the attention of the statistician
Kai-Tai Fang, who realized that their results could be used in the
design of experiments
The design of experiments (DOE), also known as experiment design or experimental design, is the design of any task that aims to describe and explain the variation of information under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the variation. ...
. In particular, their results could be used to investigate
interaction, for example, in
factorial experiment
In statistics, a factorial experiment (also known as full factorial experiment) investigates how multiple factors influence a specific outcome, called the response variable. Each factor is tested at distinct values, or levels, and the Experiment ...
s and
response surface methodology
In statistics, response surface methodology (RSM) explores the relationships between several explanatory variables and one or more response variables. RSM is an empirical model which employs the use of mathematical and statistical techniques to r ...
. Collaborating with Fang led to ''uniform designs'', which have been used also in
computer simulation
Computer simulation is the running of a mathematical model on a computer, the model being designed to represent the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be determin ...
s.
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Books
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Citations
References
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External links
Wang Yuan biographyBrief Introduction of CMS (Center of Mathematical Sciences)Yuan Wang's Home Page, Goldbach Conjecturewith photos
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from the website of Chinese Academy of Science
Wng Yuan's story, from Sina.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Yuan
1930 births
2021 deaths
20th-century Chinese mathematicians
21st-century Chinese mathematicians
Mathematicians from Zhejiang
Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Number theorists
Scientists from Jinhua
Victims of the Cultural Revolution
Zhejiang University alumni
People from Lanxi, Zhejiang
Presidents of the Chinese Mathematical Society