Peking University, October 14, 2022: Peking University alumna Tang Yunqing was awarded the prestigious SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for 2022, according to a statement by the Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA) on October 3, 2022. She is the first female mathematician of Chinese descent to be honored with the prize.
Prize announcement
The prize is presented annually to individuals aged under 32 who have made outstanding contributions to mathematics and are influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan in a broader sense.
Tang is praised for “having established, by herself and in collaboration, a number of striking results on some central problems in arithmetic geometry and number theory.” Krishnaswami Alladi, chair of the prize committee, also acknowledged Tang’s work for displaying “a remarkable combination of sophisticated techniques, in which the arithmetic and geometry of modular curves and of Shimura varieties play a central role, and have strong links with the discoveries of Srinivasa Ramanujan in the area of modular equations.”
Tang is also noted as “one of the deepest and most creative mathematicians of her age, and her wide-ranging contributions are bound to have impact in the decades ahead.” The prize will be presented at an international conference in number theory at SASTRA University in Kumbakonam, India (Ramanujan’s hometown) in December 2022.
Tang Yunqing was an undergraduate student at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, from 2007 to 2011. She received numerous accolades and her research in Algebraic Geometry and Algebraic Number Theory was sponsored by the Hui-Chun Chin and Tsung-Dao Lee Chinese Undergraduate Research Endowment (CURE).
She then earned her doctoral degree at Harvard University in 2016 and is currently an Assistant Professor at University of California, Berkeley. Prior to this, she worked at Princeton University, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and at Université Paris-Sud.
When graduating from PKU, Tang reflected on her undergraduate career and saw her undergraduate research play an important role in deepening her understanding of mathematics. She is grateful for the encouraging and inclusive environment at Peking University. “In my four years at PKU, my alma mater offered me much more than I had ever expected,” she remarks.
It is worth mentioning that all four Chinese mathematicians who have received the award so far are Peking University alumni. Zhang Wei, Yun Zhiwei and Liu Yifeng were recognized in 2010, 2012 and 2018 respectively.
Written by: Mei Yue Wong
Edited by: Ng Joong Hwee
Designed by: Khoo Yeu Her
