Top mathematician Shing-Tung Yau leads China’s bid for 2030 maths Olympics

China is vying with Japan and Britain to host the 2030 maths Olympics for the second time, after it first held the event in 2002, an initiative led by eminent mathematician Shing-Tung Yau.

Yau is leading a team of 40 Chinese and international mathematicians in the bid for the 2030 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), according to the Yau Mathematical Sciences Centre at Tsinghua University.

“The ICM is important for many mathematical researchers as a platform to understand key developments worldwide over the past four years and an opportunity to showcase their academic achievements,” Yau said in an interview with China Science Daily on Tuesday.

“As the level of mathematics in China advances, I think 2030 will be a critical year and an important moment for Chinese mathematics to rise on the world stage. We hope to inspire young Chinese researchers and scholars to stand out in the world through the ICM.”

Yau, the first Chinese to win the Fields Medal for his work in differential geometry, retired from Harvard University in 2022 to teach at Tsinghua University and help China become a maths powerhouse.

He has set up institutions in China such as the maths centre at Tsinghua and the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, which have attracted top local and international talent.

  

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