Hua Luogeng
Encyclopedia
Hua Luogeng was a Chinese
mathematician
born in Jintan, Jiangsu
. He was the founder and pioneer in many fields in mathematical research. He wrote more than 200 papers and monographs, many of which became classics. Since his sudden death while delivering a lecture at the University of Tokyo
, Japan
, many mathematics secondary education programs have been named after him. His book on additive prime number theory
influenced many subsequent number theorists in China, including the renowned Chen Jingrun
who obtained the best result so far towards the binary Goldbach conjecture. Hua also made contributions to the development of college education in China. He was the first Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Vice President of University of Science & Technology of China (USTC), a new type of Chinese university established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS) in 1958, which was aimed at fostering skilled researchers necessary for the economic development, defense and education in science and technology.
Hua's father was a small businessman. Hua met a capable math teacher in middle school who recognized his talent early and encouraged him to read advanced texts. Hua was partially paralyzed in his late teenage years, due to mistreatment of a prolonged illness during which he stayed in bed for half a year. His first significant result was concerned with a paper written by Dr. Su Jiaju who claimed to have a closed form radical solution of the quintics. Hua studied Abel
's original paper on the unsolvability of quintics and found a miscalculation in a 13×13 matrix in Su's paper. Henceforth Hua published his rebuttal in an influential mathematics journal in China, which was noticed by some professors at Tsinghua University
, especially Dr. Xiong Qinglai
.
Hua did not receive a formal university education. Although awarded several honorary PhDs, he never got a formal degree from any university. In fact, his formal education only consisted of six years of primary school and three years of middle school. For that reason Dr. Xiong Qinglai
was amazed about Hua's mathematical ability and in 1931 invited him to study mathematics at Tsinghua University
.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
born in Jintan, Jiangsu
Jintan
Jintan is a county-level city within Changzhou in Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China.-Location:Jintan, is located in Jiangsu province in the south, surrounded by Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing. The name Jintan developed from Jinshan county, which continued to be used up to now...
. He was the founder and pioneer in many fields in mathematical research. He wrote more than 200 papers and monographs, many of which became classics. Since his sudden death while delivering a lecture at the University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, many mathematics secondary education programs have been named after him. His book on additive prime number theory
Additive number theory
In number theory, the specialty additive number theory studies subsets of integers and their behavior under addition. More abstractly, the field of "additive number theory" includes the study of Abelian groups and commutative semigroups with an operation of addition. Additive number theory has...
influenced many subsequent number theorists in China, including the renowned Chen Jingrun
Chen Jingrun
Chen Jingrun was a Chinese mathematician who made significant contributions to number theory.- Personal life :Chen was the third son in a large family from Fuzhou, Fujian, China. His father was a postal worker. Chen Jingrun graduated from the Mathematics Department of Xiamen University in 1953...
who obtained the best result so far towards the binary Goldbach conjecture. Hua also made contributions to the development of college education in China. He was the first Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Vice President of University of Science & Technology of China (USTC), a new type of Chinese university established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica, is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...
(CAS) in 1958, which was aimed at fostering skilled researchers necessary for the economic development, defense and education in science and technology.
Hua's father was a small businessman. Hua met a capable math teacher in middle school who recognized his talent early and encouraged him to read advanced texts. Hua was partially paralyzed in his late teenage years, due to mistreatment of a prolonged illness during which he stayed in bed for half a year. His first significant result was concerned with a paper written by Dr. Su Jiaju who claimed to have a closed form radical solution of the quintics. Hua studied Abel
Niels Henrik Abel
Niels Henrik Abel was a Norwegian mathematician who proved the impossibility of solving the quintic equation in radicals.-Early life:...
's original paper on the unsolvability of quintics and found a miscalculation in a 13×13 matrix in Su's paper. Henceforth Hua published his rebuttal in an influential mathematics journal in China, which was noticed by some professors at Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
, especially Dr. Xiong Qinglai
Xiong Qinglai
Xiong Qinglai , courtesy name Youzhi , was a Chinese mathematician from Yunnan. He was the first person to introduce modern mathematics into China, and served as an influential president of Yunnan University from 1937 through 1947. A Chinese stamp was issued in his honour.-Biography:Xiong studied...
.
Hua did not receive a formal university education. Although awarded several honorary PhDs, he never got a formal degree from any university. In fact, his formal education only consisted of six years of primary school and three years of middle school. For that reason Dr. Xiong Qinglai
Xiong Qinglai
Xiong Qinglai , courtesy name Youzhi , was a Chinese mathematician from Yunnan. He was the first person to introduce modern mathematics into China, and served as an influential president of Yunnan University from 1937 through 1947. A Chinese stamp was issued in his honour.-Biography:Xiong studied...
was amazed about Hua's mathematical ability and in 1931 invited him to study mathematics at Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
.
External links
- Biographical memoir – by Heini Halberstam
- Biography of Loo-Keng Hua - from MacTutor History of Mathematics from University of St Andrews