Revised Thesis Statement and Introduction

Shiing Shen Chern who was a Chinese American mathematician, he was born on October 26th, 1911 in JiaXing, China. One of the greatest geometers of the 20th century and a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley.

Chern was living in the era of revolution in China, his father works for government, in his early life, he had only one day of elementary school, four years at middle high school, and at aged 15 he skipped two grades to enter the Nankai University. While undertaking graduate studies at Tsing Hua University, Peking, Chern became a really interest in differential geometry. During the period of 1934 to 1943, Chern made his three major dicisions that affect the rest of his life. In 1934, he earned a chance to study aboard, and he chose to went to Europe instead of U.S, because he had listened to the lecture of Blaschke when he was still in Peking in 1932, which attracted him most.

And then in 1936, use a postdoctoral fellowship for study in Europe to study with Elie Cartan in Paris. Later in 1943, at the end of World War II, Chern returned to China to the Institute of Mathematics at the Academia Sinica in Nanking, he made one of his most important decision in his life to accepted the invitation go to visit the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at Princeton, even it was a difficult time to travel. At Tsinghua, he married his wife Shih-Ning, the daughter of a professor, in Kunming in 1939.

Chern died of heart failure following a heart attack, in 2004, at aged 93 in Tianjin, China, even though he was died, he had left with a huge property for us. A large part of modern algebraic geometry would not exist without Chern classes, his efforts on geometry made scientists take a big step toward the new mathematical world.


Introduction

What is String Theory? First what is the world made of, ordinary matter is made of atoms, and atom is made of three part, proton, neutron, and with the electron arranged around them. But neutrons and protons are made of even smaller particles, known as quarks. The world has many secretes we hadn't found out yet. The essential idea behind string theory is this: all of the different 'fundamental ' particles of the Standard Model are really just different manifestations of one basic object: a string. This is a most famous theory in geometry field, but Chern made a prove of this theory, a Chinese American mathematician of the 20th century.

Fourth Annotation

10/28/08

http://www.nucleares.unam.mx/~alberto/physics/string.html

This article gives me an idea of what is String Theory. First what is the world made of, ordinary matter is made of atoms, and atom is made of three part, proton, neutron, and with the electron arranged around them. But neutrons and protons are made of even smaller particles, known as quarks. There are four fundamental forces in this universe: gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear forces. Each of these is produced by fundamental particles that act as carriers of the force. The essential idea behind string theory is this: all of the different 'fundamental ' particles of the Standard Model are really just different manifestations of one basic object: a string.


This is a primary source, it provided me some important information of the my project, and this article let me easier understand the basic meaning of String Theory.

Third Annotation and Thesis Statement

10/25/08

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/shiingshenchern.htm


This article gives a main detailed biography of Chern's life, he only had one day of elementary education, and four years at middle high school, at aged 15, he skippe two greades to enter the Nankai University, and how he opened his eyes to the grand vistas in geometry. And three major decisions in the period 1934 to 1943 that shaped the rest of his life.

This article references primary and secondary source, including the picture of Chern's and this article was created after Chern was passed away.

Thesis Statement

Shiing Shen Chern who was a Chinese American mathematician. In 1934, he earned a chance to study aborad, and he chose to went to Europe instead of U.S, and then in 1936, use a postdoctoral fellowship for study in Europe to study with Elie Cartan in Paris. Later in 1943, he made one of his most important disicion in his life to go to visit the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at Princeton. Chern, who had made a big improvement in geometry, that he made a major discovery, namely, an intrinsic proof of the n-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet theorem. This important proof was the forerunner of other invariants which bear his name, Chern classes, Chern-Weil homomorphism and Chern-Simons invariants, which have become essential tools not only in differential geometry but in other areas of mathematics such as topology and algebraic geometry and also mathematical physics. A large part of modern algebraic geometry would not exist without Chern classes. Chern's efforts on geometry made scientist take a big step toward the world.

Second Annotation

10/24/08

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=869ADDF818FB552D066D1FF56B0E39B7.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=441323

This website informed me that Shiing Shen Chern was born on October 26th, 1911 in JiaXin, in china, and died in 2004. His father works for government. He first shows his mathematical ability by doing all the exercises in classical English textbooks on algebra and trigonometry when he was in his middle school, and he later became really interesting in the Sun's subject, projective differential geometry, he works hard. At Tsinghua, he met his wife Shih-Ning, the daughter of a professor.

This website help me to recongnized a brief summarize of Chern's life.


This is a secondary source, because this website was not created by Shiing Shen Chern's lifetime.

First Annotation

10/24/08

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_quantum_mechanics

This website introduced the basic definition of Quantum Mechanics, it helps me to understanding the meaning of it, which is a physical science dealing with the behavior of matter and energy on the scale of atoms and subatomic particles or waves. And it spends a century of experimentation and applied science, to made quantum mechanical theory been proven to be very successful and practical.

This website is a secondary source, because it was created after Chern was died.

Topic Selection Post

I choose Shiing Shen Chern for my NHD Project this year, who was a Chinese American mathematician from Tianjin, one of the leaders in differential geometry of the twentieth century.

This person is important to history because without his efforts, we can not prove the String Theory. Math is a major tool for studying science. And because of his efforts on math, we finally solve the problems between Einstein's theory and quantum mechanics which we are not sure which one is true, because these two theory were against each other.

For this week, I will work on his efforts to the world's math for more find details, and look for some websites or bookes about his career.