About Yum-Tong Siu
Born 1943. Yum-Tong Siu is a Chinese and American mathematician and university teacher.
Yum-Tong Siu (; born May 6, 1943) is a Chinese mathematician. He is the William Elwood Byerly Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University.
Siu is a prominent figure in the study of functions of several complex variables. His research interests involve the intersection of complex variables, differential geometry, and algebraic geometry. He has resolved various conjectures by applying estimates of the complex Neumann problem and the theory of multiplier ideal sheaves to algebraic geometry.
Education and career Siu obtained his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Hong Kong in 1963, his M.A. from the University of Minnesota, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1966. Siu completed his doctoral dissertation, titled "Coherent Noether-Lasker decomposition of subsheaves and sheaf cohomology", under the supervision of Robert C. Gunning. Before joining Harvard, he taught at Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, Yale, and Stanford. In 1982 he joined Harvard as a professor, of Mathematics. He previously served as the Chairman of the Harvard Math Department.
In 2006, Siu published a proof of the finite generation of the pluricanonical ring.
Awards, honors and professional memberships In 1993, Siu received the Stefan Bergman Prize of the American Mathematical Society. He has holds honorary doctorates from the University of Hong Kong, University of Bochum, Germany, and University of Macau. He is a Corresponding Member of the Goettingen Academy of Sciences (elected 1993); a Foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (elected 2004); and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (elected 1998), the National Academy of Sciences (elected 2002), and Academia Sinica, Taiwan (elected 2004). He has been an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Helsinki (1978), Warsaw (1983) and Beijing (2002).
Currently, Siu is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Clay Mathematics Institute (since 2003); the Advisory Committee for the Shaw Prize In Mathematical Sciences (since 2010); the Advisory Committee for the Millennium Prize Problems under the sponsorship of the Clay Mathematics Institute; the Scientific Advisory Board for the Institute for Mathematics Sciences, National University of Singapore (since 2009) and the Institute of Advanced Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (since 2006).
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Frequently asked questions
Who is Yum-Tong Siu?
Chinese mathematician
When was Yum-Tong Siu born?
Yum-Tong Siu was born on 6 May 1943 in Guangzhou.
What is Yum-Tong Siu's occupation?
Yum-Tong Siu is a mathematician and university teacher.
What nationality is Yum-Tong Siu?
Yum-Tong Siu is Chinese and American.
Sources & further reading
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APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Yum-Tong Siu. https://biography.guide/yum-tong-siu/
MLA: "Yum-Tong Siu." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/yum-tong-siu/.
Chicago: "Yum-Tong Siu." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/yum-tong-siu/.
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