Chen Ning Yang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Chen-Ning Yang |
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| Born | 22 September 1922 Hefei, Anhui, China. |
|---|---|
| Residence |  USA |
| Nationality |  Chinese-American |
| Field | Physicist |
| Institution | Institute for Advanced Study State University of New York at Stony Brook |
| Alma mater | National Southwestern Associated University Tsinghua University University of Chicago |
| Academic advisor | Edward Teller |
| Notable students | Shou-Cheng Zhang |
| Known for | Parity non-conservation Yang-Mills theory Yang-Baxter equation |
| Notable prizes |  Nobel Prize in Physics (1957) |
Zhen-Ning Franklin Yang (Traditional Chinese: 楊振寧; pinyin: Yáng Zhènníng) (born 22 September[1], 1922) is a Chinese American physicist who worked on statistical mechanics and symmetry principles.
In 1957, at the age of 35, he and Tsung-Dao Lee received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their theory that weak force interactions between elementary particles did not have parity (mirror-reflection) symmetry. Chien-Shiung Wu experimentally verified the theory. His relationship with Lee turned sour around 1962 after they had received the Nobel Prize. Their quarrel has been who, among the two of them, first proposed the idea of parity non-conservation for weak interaction up to the present day.
Yang is also well known for his collaboration with Robert Mills in developing a gauge theory of a new class. Such "Yang-Mills theories" are now a fundamental part of the Standard Model of particle physics.
Born in Hefei, Anhui, China Yang attended elementary school in Beijing, and middle school first in Beijing, then in Kunming.
He received his Bachelor of Science degree from National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming in 1942. Two years later, he studied for his Master of Science degree with a full scholarship at Tsinghua University, at the time also in Kunming. He attended the University of Chicago on a Tsinghua University Fellowship in January 1946. There he studied for his Ph.D. with Edward Teller and after receiving it in 1948, remained for a year as an assistant to Enrico Fermi. In 1949 he moved to the Institute for Advanced Study and in 1965 to the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
He has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Academia Sinica, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Princeton University (1958).
Yang married Chih-li Tu (杜致禮 Dù Zhìlǐ), a teacher, in 1950 and has two sons and a daughter: Franklin Jr., Gilbert, and Eulee (in order of age). His father-in-law was the Kuomintang General Du Yuming.
He retired from Stony Brook in 1999 and returned to Tsinghua University. His wife died in the winter of 2003. At the age of 82, Yang became engaged to 28-year old Weng Fan (翁帆) who is studying for her masters at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and married her in early 2005. He has since received much criticism from some Chinese media.
Contents |
[edit] Awards
- Nobel Prize in Physics (1957)
- Rumford Prize (1980)
- National Medal of Science (1986)
- Benjamin Franklin Medal (1993)
- Bower Award (1994)
- Albert Einstein Medal (1995)
- N. Bogoliubov Prize (1996)
- Lars Onsager Prize (1999)
- King Faisal International Prize (2001)
[edit] References
- Books written by Yang
- Yang, C.N. [1952] (1952). Special problems of statistical mechanics. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ASIN B0007FZHH4.
- Yang, C.N. [1961] (1963). Elementary Particles: A Short History of Some Discoveries in Atomic Physics. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ASIN B000E1CBGG.
- Yang, C.N. [1983] (1983). Selected papers 1945-1980, with commentary (Chen Ning Yang). San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. ISBN 071671406X.
[edit] Notes
- ^ In many sources mistakenly 22 November. "Yang Chen Ning". Internetowa encyklopedia PWN. Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics(YITP)
[edit] See also
- Yang-Baxter equation
- Yang-Mills Theory
[edit] External links
- Nobel biography
- YITP website (The C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook)
- Past Faculty biography (Institute for Advanced Study)
- Symmetries and Reflections (C.N. Yang retirement symposium at the State University of New York at Stony Brook)
- Official homepage I (State University of New York at Stony Brook)
- Official homepage II (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Yang, Chen Ning Franklin |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 楊振寧 (Chinese) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Nobel Prize-winning physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 22, 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hefei, Anhui, China |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
Categories: Weak Interaction physicists | 1922 births | American physicists | Chinese American scientists | Chinese physicists | Living people | Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences | National Medal of Science recipients | Nobel laureates in Physics | Albert Einstein Medal recipients | University of Chicago alumni | Particle physicists
