Shing-Tung Yau

Steven J. Nadis

A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong transnational effort to uncover the geometric shape--the Calabi-Yau manifold--that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe. Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world's most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal-winning proof of the Calabi conjecture, his return to China, and his pioneering work in geometric analysis. This new branch of geometry, which Yau built up with his friends and colleagues, has paved the way for solutions to several important and previously intransigent problems. With complicated ideas explained for a broad audience, this book offers readers not only insights into the life of an eminent mathematician, but also an accessible way to understand advanced and highly abstract concepts in mathematics and theoretical physics.

The Shape of a Life

Argues that geometry is fundamental to string theory--which posits that we live in a 10-dimensional existence--as well as the very nature of the universe, and explains where mathematics will take string theory next.

String Theory and the Geometry of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions

The Shape of Inner Space

R. C. Penner

This text contains highlights from two conferences on mathematical physics: Interface Between Mathematics and Physics, held in 1992 at the Academy Sinica, in Taiwan; and Topics in Geometry and Physics.

Perspectives in Mathematical Physics

Robert Everist Greene

The second of three parts comprising Volume 54, the proceedings of the Summer Research Institute on Differential Geometry, held at the University of California, Los Angeles, July 1990 (ISBN for the set is 0-8218-1493-1). Among the subjects of Part 2 are gauge theory, symplectic geometry, complex ge

Differential Geometry: Geometry in Mathematical Physics and Related Topics

Cumrun Vafa

Winter School on Mirror Symmetry (1999 Harvard University)

The 16 articles presented here are based on lectures given at the Winter School on Mirror Symmetry held at Harvard University in January 1999. They represent recent progress and new directions in the field. Specific topics include Floer homology and mirror symmetry, special Lagrange fibrations, special Lagrangian submanifolds, and local mirror symmetry at higher genus. Other topics include homological mirror symmetry with higher products, categorical mirror symmetry in the elliptic curve, Lagrangian torus fibration of quintic hypersurfaces, mirror symmetry and T-duality, and mirror symmetry and actions of Braid groups on derived categories. This work lacks a subject index. c. Book News Inc.

Proceedings of the Winter School on Mirror Symmetry, January 1999, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Winter School on Mirror Symmetry, Vector Bundles and Lagrangian Submanifolds

John Coates

Elliptic Curves, Modular Forms, & Fermat's Last Theorem

Steve Nadis

A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong transnational effort to uncover the geometric shape—the Calabi-Yau manifold—that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe. “An unexpectedly intimate look into a highly accomplished man, his colleagues and friends, the development of a new field of geometric analysis, and a glimpse into a truly uncommon mind.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe “Engaging, eminently readable . . . For those with a taste for elegant and largely jargon-free explanations of mathematics, The Shape of a Life promises hours of rewarding reading.”—Judith Goodstein, American Scientist Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world’s most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal–winning proof of the Calabi conjecture, his return to China, and his pioneering work in geometric analysis. This new branch of geometry, which Yau built up with his friends and colleagues, has paved the way for solutions to several important and previously intransigent problems. With complicated ideas explained for a broad audience, this book offers readers not only insights into the life of an eminent mathematician, but also an accessible way to understand advanced and highly abstract concepts in mathematics and theoretical physics.

One Mathematician's Search for the Universe's Hidden Geometry

 Si Li

Bong H. Lian

 Wei Song

This volume contains the proceedings of the conference String-Math 2015, which was held from December 31, 2015–January 4, 2016, at Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum in Sanya, China. Two of the main themes of this volume are frontier research on Calabi-Yau manifolds and mirror symmetry and the development of non-perturbative methods in supersymmetric gauge theories. The articles present state-of-the-art developments in these topics. String theory is a broad subject, which has profound connections with broad branches of modern mathematics. In the last decades, the prosperous interaction built upon the joint efforts from both mathematicians and physicists has given rise to marvelous deep results in supersymmetric gauge theory, topological string, M-theory and duality on the physics side, as well as in algebraic geometry, differential geometry, algebraic topology, representation theory and number theory on the mathematics side.

String-Math 2015

Sembra impossibile che spazi più piccoli di quelli che si possono umanamente immaginare, spazi a sei dimensioni, un milione di milioni di milioni di volte più piccoli di un elettrone, siano in grado di esercitare un’influenza tanto profonda su ogni parte dell’Universo da diventarne un tratto distintivo e caratterizzante. Eppure è così.Per la teoria delle stringhe le dimensioni dell’Universo sono dieci: quattro sono le dimensioni spazio-temporali contemplate dalla teoria della relatività generale, le restanti sei (le cosiddette «dimensioni extra») danno forma alle varietà di Calabi-Yau. Nel 1976 Shing-Tung Yau ha conquistato la Medaglia Fields, il premio Nobel dei matematici, per aver dimostrato l’esistenza di queste forme complesse che portano il suo nome, spazi invisibili la cui geometria può essere la chiave definitiva per comprendere i più importanti fenomeni fisici.La forma dello spazio profondo ripercorre le tappe del percorso scientifico che ha portato Yau alla formulazione di una teoria rivoluzionaria, con una nuova possibile immagine dell’Universo.Troppo bello per essere vero: così, spesso, gli scettici hanno liquidato le astrazioni della nuova geometria. L’ipotesi delle dimensioni extra, che riguarda fisica, matematica e geometria, suggerisce non solo che i nuovi spazi possano essere veri, ma che la realtà, ancora una volta, è più affascinante dell’immaginazione.

La forma dello spazio profondo

Brian Greene

Vol. 1 represents a new ed. of papers which were originally published in Essays on mirror manifolds (1992); supplemented by the additional volume: Mirror symmetry 2 which presents papers by both physicists and mathematicians. Mirror symmetry 1 (the 1st volume) constitutes the proceedings of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Workshop of 1991.

Mirror Symmetry II

In the summer of 1990, S.Y. Cheng and S.-T. Yau organized a conference in honour of their professor S.S. Chern on the occasion of his 79th birthday. This volume contains personal reminiscences from some of his friends and students. The lectures reflect his wisdom and warmth toward young geometers.

Shing-Tung Yau

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