World top mathematician Richard Hamilton has recognized the work of Chinese
mathematicians on giving a complete proof of the century-old puzzle of Poincare
Conjecture.
 Foreign member of the Chinese
Acadamy of Sciences, Professor Shing-Tung Yau (2nd R) from Harvard
University introduce the Poincare Conjecture to journalists in Beijing,
capital of China, June 3, 2006.
[Xinhua] |
"Chinese mathematicians have played
a very important part in this development," Prof. Hamilton at Princeton
University said in a video talk recorded two weeks ago in Beijing when he
discussed the proof with Prof. Cao Huaidong, one investigator who unraveled the
conjecture.
"It's very nice to have such an account written by two outstanding people in
the field of Ricci flow. They also introduced ideas of their own which makes the
proof easier to understand," Prof. Hamilton said in the video that for the first
time went to public at the ongoing International Conference on String Theory
2006.
"All Chinese can be proud of the achievements of their mathematicians in
differential geometry and their contributions to the completion of the proof of
Poincare Conjecture," he said.
Together with Prof. Cao, Prof. Zhu Xiping at Zhongshan University in
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, has put the final pieces together in the solution
to the puzzle that has perplexed scientists in the world for more than a
century.
The pair has published a paper in the latest issue of the U.S.-based Asian
Journal of Mathematics, providing complete proof of the Poincare Conjecture
promulgated by French mathematician Henri Poincare in 1904.
The work done by Zhu and Cao has given a new proof for the uniqueness of
solutions on complete manifolds, a different idea for doing the backwards blowup
in time and a proof of the canonical neighborhood theorem, Prof. Hamilton said.
He said he will further discuss details of the proof next week with a few
prominent mathematicians in Zurich, Switzerland.
"We want to be complete certain that everything in the proof is beyond
question before making a formal announcement, because many researchers will base
their work on it," he said.
Prof. Hamilton, member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, is
recognized as "the father of Ricci flow", who introduced the Ricci flow equation
and his development of it into one of the most powerful tools in geometry and
topology.
Hamilton's video talk was shown by Shing-Tung Yau, a Harvard mathematics
professor and a Fields Medalist. His audience included legendary astrophysicist
Stephen Hawking and 2004 Nobel physics laureate David Gross.
"I'm very positive about Zhu and Cao's work," Prof. Yau said when he
elaborated the proof to the audience.
"Chinese mathematicians should have every reason to be proud of such a big
success in completely solving the puzzle," Prof. Yau said.
In his wheelchair, Prof. Hawking listened to the lecture of Yau. Prof.
Hawking combines physical theories and mathematical methods to explore cosmic
origins and black holes.
"Professor Hawking's attendance at the lecture indicates that this is a very
important work," Prof. Yau said.