Tu Than Duong was born in 1981, in an intellectual family in Chongqing city (China). At the age of 3, Duong showed a sensitivity to numbers. A long-time teacher, Than Duong's father recognized his son's talent for mathematics and began applying systematic educational methods.
Under the guidance of his parents, Than Duong quickly mastered basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division at the age of 4, becoming a prodigy in everyone's eyes.
Professor of Mathematics Tu Than Duong. (Photo: Sohu)
Math Genius
In primary school, Than Duong showed a clear gap with his peers when he mastered all the knowledge of Math and always had the highest achievements.
In 1993, Than Duong was admitted to Thu Duc Secondary School - a key school in Sichuan Province. During his time in secondary school, the school provided him with opportunities for intensive study, helping his talent in Mathematics to improve.
While other students were scratching their heads over the math knowledge in the books, Than Duong felt that the knowledge was too simple. Even the teachers in the school could not help but "sigh" at the student's excellent math thinking.
With his talent and diligence, Than Duong achieved many outstanding results in Mathematics and was selected to join the Sichuan Province team to participate in the National Mathematics Olympiad. The student won the final round.
However, this math genius almost couldn't enter university because he spent all his time on math and neglected other subjects.
Fortunately, in the National Mathematics Competition that year, Shen Yang made a strong impression on Professor Tian Gang of Peking University - one of the two top universities in China. Not wanting to waste his talent, Professor Tian Gang personally recommended Shen Yang to the school's admissions committee. In this way, Shen Yang got a "direct flight" ticket to the Mathematics Department of Peking University.
Not letting down his teacher's trust, after entering university, Than Duong continued to work hard to study and research Mathematics. He spent almost all day hugging all kinds of Math books in the library.
Thanks to his talent and tireless efforts, Than Duong completed his undergraduate program at Peking University in just three years. He continued his graduate program at the school and received his master's degree at the age of 23.
The professors at the school recognized Than Duong's achievements. They all saw that Than Duong still had a lot of potential, so they encouraged him to go abroad to continue his studies.
With the encouragement of his teachers and his tireless efforts, he finally won a doctoral scholarship at Princeton University in the US.
Princeton University is known as the global center of Mathematics, where the world's mathematical geniuses gather. This created a major breakthrough in Than Duong's academic research, especially in the field of Algebra.
In 2008, Than Duong received his PhD in Mathematics from Princeton University. However, he still felt that he was too small for knowledge, so he continued to study in a postdoctoral program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to further research Algebraic Geometry.
During this time, Than Duong published many quality articles on mathematical research that shocked the academic world.
Than Duong published many quality articles on mathematical research that shocked the academic world.
Return home and then leave home again
In 2012, faced with the choice of staying in the US to work or returning to China to contribute, Shen Yang received a letter from Professor Tian Gang. In the letter, Professor Tian expressed his wish to invite his former student to return to Peking University to teach. To repay his teacher, Shen Yang returned to China.
Upon returning to China, Shen Yang found the curriculum system lacking, so he reorganized it himself. He was honored as an outstanding professor by Peking University in 2013, at the age of 32.
This young professor also won many awards such as the Youth Science and Technology Award, Young Scientist Award, China Youth Science and Technology.
In 2017, he was honored to be the only young professor in China to receive the Henri Poincaré Prize sponsored by the Daniel Iagolnitzer Foundation worth 1 million USD (24 billion VND). Also in this year, he successfully entered the Poincaré Institute, a place that many mathematicians may not be eligible to join in their entire lives.
Just when the Chinese were proud to have a genius leading the country's mathematics to new heights, Shen Yang suddenly decided to return to the United States. He chose to become a full-time professor in the Mathematics Department of the Masson Institute of Technology. This decision confused many people, and at times Shen Yang became the target of public criticism.
Leaving everything behind, Shen Yang returned to the US to continue his mathematical career. In 2019, he won the New Horizons Award for his contributions to mathematics. In 2020, the Chinese genius became a member of the American Mathematical Society.
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