Chuan-Chih Hsiung (1916-2009), also known as Chuan-Chih Hsiung, C C Hsiung, or Xiong Quanzhi, is a notable Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

-born American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 differential geometer. He was Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Lehigh University

Lehigh University

Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...

, Bethleham PA

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 USA.

He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Differential Geometry, an influential journal in the domain http://www.intlpress.com/JDGonline/http://www.lehigh.edu/~math/jdg.html.

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

Nanchang

Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi Province in southeastern China. It is located in the north-central portion of the province. As it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east by Poyang Lake, it is famous for its scenery, rich history and cultural sites...

, the capital city of Jiangxi. He graduated from the National Chekiang University

Zhejiang University

Zhejiang University , sometimes referred to as Zheda, is a national university in China. Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University is one of China's oldest institutions of higher education...

 (Zhejiang University

Zhejiang University

Zhejiang University , sometimes referred to as Zheda, is a national university in China. Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University is one of China's oldest institutions of higher education...

) in 1936, and Su Buqing

Su Buqing

Su Buqing was a Chinese mathematician and educator.He was born in Pingyang in Zhejiang Province in 1902. He graduated from Tohoku Imperial University in Japan in 1927 and received his Ph.D. from the University in 1931...

 (or Su Buchin) was his main academic advisor. http://aoloo.com/math/Print.asp?ArticleID=358

Forced by the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

, Hsiung moved with the university to Guizhou

Guizhou

' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.- History :...

. 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

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 with generous financial support. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Hsiung.html

1945, after the Japanese surrender, Hsiung was able to go to the USA, and obtained his PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 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

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

. Due to Hassler Whitney

Hassler Whitney

Hassler Whitney was an American mathematician. He was one of the founders of singularity theory, and did foundational work in manifolds, embeddings, immersions, and characteristic classes.-Work:...

's invitation from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Hsiung became a research assistant there. Autumn 1952, Hsiung went to the Institute for Advanced Study

Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...

, Princeton

Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

. At Lehigh University, 1955 Hsiung became associate professor, and then rose to full professorship in 1960. He retired (emeritus) in 1984. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Hsiung.html

Research

During his early age, he focused on projective geometry

Projective geometry

In mathematics, projective geometry is the study of geometric properties that are invariant under projective transformations. This means that, compared to elementary geometry, projective geometry has a different setting, projective space, and a selective set of basic geometric concepts...

. His interests were largely extended after his research in Harvard, including two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds with boundary, conformal transformation problems, complex manifold

Complex manifold

In differential geometry, a complex manifold is a manifold with an atlas of charts to the open unit disk in Cn, such that the transition maps are holomorphic....

, curvature and characteristic classes, etc. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Hsiung.html

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

Books by him

• A First Course in Differential Geometry http://210.77.218.4:8080/RESOURCE/CZ/CZSX/SXBL/SXTS1003/364_SR.HTM
• Almost Complex and Complex Structures http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/2309.html
• Selected Papers of Chuan-Chin Hsiung http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/4437.html

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.