Professor Chen Ning Yang was a world-renowned theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, best known for his groundbreaking contributions to particle physics and statistical mechanics. Born in Hefei, China, Yang conducted undergraduate study at the National Southwestern Associated University in China, and graduate study at the University of Chicago, receiving a Ph.D. in 1948 under Enrico Fermi. In 1957, he and Tsung-Dao Lee became the first scientists of Chinese heritage to win the Nobel Prize for their revolutionary work disproving the long-held parity conservation law in weak nuclear interactions — a discovery that reshaped modern physics.
Yang’s profound influence extends beyond parity violation. His collaborations with Robert L. Mills produced the Yang-Mills theory, a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics and the foundation for gauge theory. His work in statistical mechanics, quantum field theory, and condensed matter physics has left an indelible mark on multiple disciplines.
A dedicated educator and advocate for scientific progress, Yang has held professorships at leading institutions in both the U.S. and China, mentoring generations of physicists, and has actively promoted scientific exchange between China and the West. Regarded as one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, Yang’s legacy continues to inspire researchers worldwide.
Chen Ning Yang (Frank), born on October 1, 1922, in Hefei County, Anhui Province (now Feixi County), is a renowned Chinese-American physicist and Nobel laureate. He is one of the proposers of the theory of parity nonconservation, for which he and Tsung-Dao Lee were jointly awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Yang has made extraordinary contributions to physics, particularly in particle physics, statistical mechanics, and condensed matter physics. Collaborating with R.L. Mills, he developed the non-Abelian gauge field theory (Yang-Mills theory) in the 1950s, which profoundly shaped modern physics. He also proposed the Yang-Baxter equation, opening new directions in the study of quantum integrable systems and many-body problems.
Yang began his career after graduating from National Southwestern Associated University in 1942, later earning his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1948. He held prestigious positions at institutions such as the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and Stony Brook University. He became a U.S. citizen in 1964, retired from Stony Brook in 1999, renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2015, and was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017.
Internationally celebrated as one of the most versatile and accomplished physicists of the 20th century, Yang is often regarded as a "polymath of physics" following in the footsteps of Einstein and Fermi. His groundbreaking work not only advanced theoretical physics but also left an enduring legacy on global scientific research, bridging fundamental discoveries with profound technological implications.
