Former Faculty: CHEN NING YANG

Faculty, School of Mathematics, September 1955–June 1966; Member, School of Mathematics, September 1949–June 1954

Yang was one of several physicists who formed a separate working group within the School of Mathematics in the 1950's and 1960's (the School of Natural Sciences was not established until 1966).

  • * PhD: University of Chicago, 1948
  • * Born: September 22, 1922 in Hofei, Anhwei, China

Career Highlights:1

  • * Yang's contributions to theoretical physics cover a wide range, from particle physics to statistical mechanics to condensed matter physics. He made a great impact both on abstract theory and on phenomenological analysis.
  • * Of his works, the Yang-Mills theory, parity nonconservation in weak interactions, and the Yang-Baxter equation are lasting contributions to physics and to mathematics.

Additional Career Notes:

  • * Yang was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Tsung Dao Lee, in recognition of "their penetrating investigation of the so-called party laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles," work they completed while at the Institute together.

Awards/Prizes include:

  • * Nobel Prize for Physics (1957)
  • * Albert Einstein Commemorative Award (1957)
  • * U.S. National Medal of Sciences (1986)
  • * Benjamin Franklin Medal (1993)
  • * Bower Award (1994)
  • * King Faisal International Prize (2001)

1excerpts from a biography of Yang by Bing-An Li and Yuefan Deng (translated from a Chinese article which first appeared in Biographies of Contemporary Chinese Scientists, vol. 3, 1992) the text of which can be found as a link on his Faculty Emeritus web page at the State University of New York