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The Shape of a Life: One Mathematician’s Search for the Universe’s Hidden Geometry
Price $28.00Hardcover
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Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis
present
The Shape of a Life:
One Mathematician's Search for the Universe's Hidden Geometry
This event includes a book signing
DateFeb
26
Tuesday
February 26, 2019 7:00 PM ET |
LocationHarvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 |
Tickets
This event is free; no tickets are required.
|
Harvard Book Store welcomes renowned mathematician and Harvard professor SHING-TUNG YAU and science writer STEVE NADIS—contributing editor to Astronomy and Discover magazines—for a discussion of their new book, The Shape of a Life: One Mathematician's Search for the Universe's Hidden Geometry.
About The Shape of a Life
Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world’s most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal–winning proof of the Calabi conjecture, his return to China, and his pioneering work in geometric analysis. This new branch of geometry, which Yau built up with his friends and colleagues, has paved the way for solutions to several important and previously intransigent problems. With complicated ideas explained for a broad audience, this book offers readers not only insights into the life of an eminent mathematician, but also an accessible way to understand advanced and highly abstract concepts in mathematics and theoretical physics.
Praise
“The remarkable story of one of the world's most accomplished mathematicians, Shing-Tung Yau, who has made profound contributions in pure mathematics, general relativity, and string theory. Yau’s personal journey—from escaping China as a youngster, leading a gang outside Hong Kong, becoming captivated by mathematics, to making breakthroughs that thrust him on the world stage—inspires us all with humankind's irrepressible spirit of discovery.” —Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe
"Candid, deep, and truly inspiring, The Shape of a Life is studded with unexpected insights into Yau's thinking. An extraordinary story about an extraordinary person." —Gish Jen, author of The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap
“Yau and Nadis’s The Shape of a Life opens a window into the fascinating mind and world of today’s equivalent of Apollonius of Perga, ‘The Great Geometer’ of antiquity.” —Mario Livio, author of Brilliant Blunders
Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes
As you exit the station, reverse your direction and walk east along Mass. Ave. in front of the Cambridge Savings Bank. Cross Dunster St. and proceed along Mass. Ave for three more blocks. You will pass Au Bon Pain, JP Licks, and TD Bank. Harvard Book Store is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton St.
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