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Professor Xuhua HE, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Mathematics of the Department of Mathematics and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMS) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), has recently received the 2022 AMS Chevalley Prize in Lie Theory by the American Mathematical Society. Professor He is the first Hong Kong scholar to receive this award, in recognition of his contribution to the advance of “Lie theory”.  

Advancing the development of Lie theory

“Lie theory” (including Lie groups and Lie algebras) was proposed by a Norwegian mathematician Marius Sophus Lie in the 19th century. It describes the fundamental laws of symmetry. Like algebra, analysis and geometry, “Lie theory” is one of the pillars of modern mathematics. Professor He is a recognised scholar in pure mathematics. His work in arithmetic geometry, algebraic groups and representation theory has made substantial advances in at least these directions of “Lie theory”, which has won him the award.

Professor He regards receiving the award as a great honour, and said, “George Lusztig, renowned mathematician and founder of this award was my PhD advisor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was a bliss to have his supervision which shaped my way of thinking about Lie theory. Lie theory is a fascinating subject that I am incredibly proud of contributing to through my research. I am so grateful for the support and encouragement received from my colleagues and collaborators. The award gives affirmation to my work in the fields of arithmetic geometry, algebraic groups and representation theory, in which I envisage a further leap to promote the development of mathematics to contribute to global sciences.”

Research in pure mathematics has been internationally recognised

Professor He was awarded the Morningside Gold Medal of Mathematics at the 2013 International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians, for his contributions to several fundamental problems in arithmetic algebraic geometry, algebraic groups, and representation theory. He was also in the first cohort of Hong Kong recipients receiving the XPLORER PRIZE by Tencent in 2020 for his contributions to affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties.

Professor He has published over 60 papers in SCI ranked mathematical journals and has several publications in the top mathematical journals, including Annals of Mathematics, IHES, and Journal of the American Mathematical Society. He has also been an invited speaker at various top international conferences, including the Current Development of Mathematics Conference (2015) and the International Congress of Mathematicians (2018).

Professor He received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Peking University in 2001 and a Doctoral degree in Mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. Since then, he has worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Stony Brook University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and was a Full Professor at the University of Maryland before joining CUHK in 2019. Professor He was also the Von Neumann Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in the academic year 2016-2017.

About Chevalley Prize in Lie Theory

The Chevalley Prize in Lie Theory by the American Mathematical Society was established in 2014 by Mathematician George Lusztig to honour Claude Chevalley, a founding member of the Bourbaki group for Mathematics. The Prize is awarded in even-numbered years for notable work in “Lie theory” published in the preceding six years and the recipient should be at most 25 years past their PhD. The 2022 prize will be presented in January at the 2022 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.