Renowned mathematician Zhu Yongchang joins Tsinghua after 30 years in Hong Kong

Prominent mathematician Zhu Yongchang will join Tsinghua University in Beijing after 30 years in Hong Kong as universities in mainland China continue their efforts to recruit top-tier talent.

Tsinghua’s Yau Mathematical Sciences Centre announced on July 9 that Zhu, previously at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), would join the centre in September.

Zhu’s research focuses on the intersection of representation theory and mathematical physics. Representation theory builds on group theory – an important branch of modern mathematics, especially algebra, that provides a basic language for modern mathematics.

Zhu studied mathematics at Peking University, graduating in 1984. He was part of the second cohort of students to be awarded the Shiing-Shen Chern scholarship, established to support outstanding Chinese students in pursuing further studies in the US. The scholarship was set up by mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern in collaboration with the American Mathematical Society.

In 1990, Zhu obtained a doctorate in mathematics from Yale University, where he studied under mentor Igor Frenkel.

Zhu was a division research fellow at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from 1990 to 1993, then held visiting positions at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University and the Max Planck Institute in Bonn.