Chuan-Chih Hsiung

Chuan-Chih Hsiung (Chinese: 熊全治, Pinyin: Xióng Quánzhì) (1916-2009), also known as Chuan-Chih Hsiung, C C Hsiung, or Xiong Quanzhi, is a notable Chinese-born American differential geometer. He was Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Lehigh University, Bethleham PA USA.

He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Differential Geometry, an influential journal in the domain [1][2].

Life

Hsiung was born in Xuefang Village, Xinjian County, Jiangxi Province on February 15, 1916. He is the third of four children in his family. His early education was taken in Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi. He graduated from the National Chekiang University (Zhejiang University) in 1936, and Su Buqing (or Su Buchin) was his main academic advisor. [3]

Forced by the Second Sino-Japanese War, Hsiung moved with the university to Guizhou. Although the war was going on, Hsiung kept his study, and focus on the Tangrams, which has seven pieces and can change into tremendous different forms. 1942, cooperated with others, Hsiung proved that "at most 13 different convex Tangrams can be formed". 1943, V.G.Grove offered Hsiung an assistant position at Michigan State University with generous financial support. [4]

1945, after the Japanese surrender, Hsiung was able to go to the USA, and obtained his PhD from Michigan State University in 1948. After graduation, Hsiung became an instructor at the same university until 1950. Afterward, he was a visiting lecturer at Northwestern University. Due to Hassler Whitney's invitation from Harvard University, Hsiung became a research assistant there. Autumn 1952, Hsiung went to the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. At Lehigh University, 1955 Hsiung became associate professor, and then rose to full professorship in 1960. He retired (emeritus) in 1984. [5]

Research

During his early age, he focused on projective geometry. His interests were largely extended after his research in Harvard, including two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds with boundary, conformal transformation problems, complex manifold, curvature and characteristic classes, etc. [6]

Minkowski-Hsiung integral formula, or Minkowski-Hsiung formula, is named after him.

Books by him

• A First Course in Differential Geometry [7]
• Almost Complex and Complex Structures [8]
• Selected Papers of Chuan-Chin Hsiung [9]

Others

Zhejiang University Wenchin Yu Hsiung Scholarship, a scholarship fund, is donated by him and named after his wife Wenchin Yu Hsiung (余文琴).

Hsiung founded the Journal of Differential Geometry in Mar 1967.

C.C.Hsiung Fund for the Advancement of Mathematics of Lehigh University is named after him.

References

• Boston.com: Death Notice of Dr. Chuan-Chih Hsiung
• Complete biography of Chuan-Chih Hsiung (English)
• International Press: Journal of Differential Geometry (English)
• Journal of Differential Geometry Home Page (English)
• May 1996 conference at Harvard (English)
• [10] Journal of Differential Geometry (English)
• 熊全治 Hsiung's biography (Chinese)
• SELECTED PAPERS OF CHUAN-CHIH HSIUNG (English)
• 浙江大学熊余文琴助学金 Zhejiang University Wenchin Yu Hsiung Scholarship (Chinese)

Persondata
Name	Hsiung
Alternative names
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Date of birth	1916
Place of birth
Date of death	2009
Place of death