The film is a study of zhangs rise from obscurity and a disadvantaged youth to. Celebrity mathematician joins ucsb faculty the daily nexus. An unknown mathematician, yitang zhang, has revolutionized his field and helped move forward a 2,000yearold conjecture about prime numbers. This page was last edited on 24 september 2018, at 19.
Til that chinese mathematician yitang zhang could not get an. Frankly put, not being fully transparent about the state of this work and thus have other people spend their time on it not knowing where it is lacking is absolutely ridiculous. Students stopped zhang on the unh campus to ask for his autograph. Two years later a further breakthrough was obtained by james maynard independently found also by terence tao improving unconditionally the bound to h 600 using more simpler arguments based on the ideas of selberg. Zeros of the derivatives of the riemann zetafunction ki, haseo and lee, yoonbok, functiones et approximatio commentarii mathematici. The department of mathematics and statistics invites applications for two tenuretrack faculty positions in statistics data science, one at the assistant professor level, and one at open rank, starting in the fall semester of 2020. Wenjun zhang department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, university of california berkeley verified email at berkeley. He was a math instructor, not a tenuretrack professor, at the university of new hampshire from 1999 to 20, teaching prealgebra and calculus yitang zhang on rat. The ones marked may be different from the article in the profile. Yitang zhangs techniques for bounding the gaps between primes soon led to rapid incremental progress by the polymath group, and then to a further major innovation by james maynard.
Apr 02, 2015 as a boy in shanghai, china, yitang zhang believed he would someday solve a great problem in mathematics. Please join the simons foundation and our generous member organizations in supporting arxiv during our giving campaign september 2327. In may 20, the mathematician yitang zhang launched what has proven to be a banner year and a half for the study of prime numbers, those numbers that arent divisible by any smaller number except 1. Mathematics and statistics college of engineering and. In 20, yitang zhang, member 2014 in the school of mathematics, submitted his paper small gaps between primes, which set off a series of rapid developments around the twin prime problem.
Ten mathematical landmarks, 19672017 mddcva spring section meeting frostburg state university april 29, 2017 ten mathematical landmarks, 19672017. Zhang, yitang i i 2s i zhang, yitang 1955 yitang zhang is a chinese american mathematician who catapulted from obscurity into professional and public prominence in 20 with the publication of his research related to the famous twin primes conjec ture in number theory. As a boy in shanghai, china, yitang zhang believed he would someday solve a great problem in mathematics. Math needed to understand yitang zhang proof i want to do my undergrad thesis about yitang zhang proof, how much math do i need to understand the proof i think it can be a good topic for my undergraduate thesis, that is, a brief history of the problem ending in the landmark paper of zhang. Now he is on a lecture tour that includes stops at harvard, columbia, caltech, and princeton, is fielding multiple professorship offers, and spends two hours a day dealing. In 20, yitang zhang, member 2014 in the school of mathematics, submitted his paper small gaps between primes, which set off a series of rapid developments around the twin prime. By yitang zhang abstract it is proved that liminf n. Is the outline in the annals the preprint or the full accepted paper. In fact, forbes ranked the owner and founder of nine dragons paper as the wealthiest selfmade woman in the world. The proof of this conjecture seems to be out of reach by present methods. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Small gaps between prime numbers kitp colloquium by. Why did seemingly nobody notice yitang zhang before the.
On april 17, a paper arrived in the inbox of annals of mathematics, one of the disciplines preeminent journals. Y zhang, g soundararajan, mw storer, ln bairavasundaram, s subbiah. Zhang yitang made a major advancement to the twin prime conjecture as veri ed by prof. His counterintuitive findings show that special pairs. Yitang zhang, an unknown mathematician who worked at subway while trying to find an academic position earlier in his career, has written a paper that makes significant progress towards understanding the twin prime conjecture, one of mathematics oldest problems. Yitang zhang, bounded gaps between primes, annals of mathematics 2. He later went on to solve a math problem that had been unsolved for 150 years and won a. During the cultural revolution, he and his parents were sent to the countryside to work in the fields. A complete riemann zeta distribution and the riemann hypothesis nakamura, takashi, bernoulli, 2015. He later went on to solve a math problem that had been unsolved for 150 years and won a macarthur genius grant. Jan 28, 2015 yitang zhang s mathematical discovery starring.
Renowned mathematician yitang zhang will be joining uc santa barbaras mathematics faculty this fall, a development many hope will add further prestige to the university. Yitang zhang and the mystery of numbers quanta magazine. How yitang tom zhang proved a theorem that had stumped. Department of mathematics south hall, room 6607 university of california santa barbara, ca 931063080. Bounded gaps between primes yitang zhang abstract it is proved that liminf n. This can be seen as a massive breakthrough on the subject of twin primes and other. Has anybody read yitang zhangs paper on prime gaps. Feb 12, 2014 yitang zhang lisa nugent, unh photographic services. Til that chinese mathematician yitang zhang could not get. Yitang zhang lisa nugent, unh photographic services.
On the landausiegel zeros conjecture by yitang zhang. Some people are curious about yitangs life as a graduate student at purdue university. Prime time a unh mathematicians discoveryand the dramatic story behind itcreates an overnight sensation. In 1964, at around the age of nine, he found a proof of the pythagorean theorem, which describes the relationship between the lengths of the sides of any right triangle. While working for the university of new hampshire as a lecturer, zhang submitted an article to the annals of mathematics in 20 which established the first finite bound on gaps between prime numbers, which lead to a 2014. While working for the university of new hampshire as a lecturer, zhang submitted an article to the annals of mathematics in 20 which established the first finite bound on gaps between prime numbers, which lead to a 2014 macarthur award and his. Zhang yin might be the bill gates of bulkrecycled paper. Zhang proved his result by going fishing for prime numbers. And when news leaked out about yitang zhangs solution to an ageold problem, the reaction was swift.
Why did seemingly nobody notice yitang zhang before the prime. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Erica klarreichs article in quanta includes an excellent laymans explanation of the proof. He moved to the usa in 1985 and defended his doctoral thesis at purdue university in 1992. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Bounded gaps between primes yitang zhang it is proved that liminf n. In 1964, at around the age of nine, he found a proof of the pythagorean theorem, which describes the relationship. Mathematicians team up on twin primes conjecture the relevant paragraphs are excerpted below.
Yitang zhang proves landmark theorem in distribution of. After that, he held various casual jobs until 1999, when he joined the university of new hampshire, where he recently was appointed professor of mathemat ics. Ten mathematical landmarks, 1967 2017 maa sections. It is also shown, with no hypothesis, that, with the exception of a bounded region where the zeros can be. Written by a mathematician virtually unknown to the experts in his field a 50something lecturer at the university of new hampshire named yitang zhang the paper claimed to have taken a huge step forward in understanding one of mathematics oldest. Yitang zhang was born in china in 1955 and studied mathematics at the university of beijing. Zhang became famous in 20 when he submitted a proof to the annals of mathematics which established the first finite bound on gaps between twin prime numbers, a feat many. Til that chinese mathematician yitang zhang could not get an academic job upon graduating, having to work as an accountant and a delivery worker for a new york city restaurant. It is conjectured that there are infinitely many pairs of prime numbers p, q such that q p 2.
For the undergraduate thesis i have about 250 hours. If you have additional information or corrections regarding this mathematician, please use the update form. Because zhang was a nobody at a relatively unknown researchwise us university. Yitang zhang should at least provide a respective comment at his arxivarticle wherehow incomplete the paper is. It is shown that the riemann hypothesis implies that the derivative of the riemann zeta function has no zeros in the open left half of the critical strip.
Yitang zhang s techniques for bounding the gaps between primes soon led to rapid incremental progress by the polymath group, and then to a further major innovation by james maynard. Written by a mathematician virtually unknown to the experts in his field a 50something lecturer at the university of new hampshire named yitang zhang the paper claimed to have taken a huge step forward in understanding one of mathematics oldest problems, the twin. I want to do my undergrad thesis about yitang zhang proof, how much math do i need to understand the proof i think it can be a good topic for my undergraduate thesis, that is, a brief history of the problem ending in the landmark paper of zhang. The successful candidates will have an earned doctorate in statistics, or a discipline closely related to data. To submit students of this mathematician, please use the new data form, noting this. Zhang yitang made a major advancement to the twin prime con jecture as verified by prof. Zhang, of the university of new hampshire, showed for the first time that even though primes get increasingly rare as you go further out along. Y itang tom zhang spent the seven years following the completion of his ph. Frankly put, not being fully transparent about the state of this work and thus have other people spend their time on it not knowing where. It began in april 20 when yitang tom zhang, a virtually. May 19, 20 on april 17, a paper arrived in the inbox of annals of mathematics, one of the disciplines preeminent journals. Small gaps between prime numbers kitp colloquium by yitang. Yitang zhang and the twin prime conjecture centers on an exciting string of mathematical discoveries. The 2014 frank nelson cole prize in number theory is awarded to yitang zhang for his work on bounded gaps between primes, and to daniel goldston, janos pintz, and cem y.
He worked as a laborer for ten years and was unable to attend high school. They had not only been more careful in several difficult arguments in zhangs original paper, they had also developed zhangs techniques to be both more powerful and to allow a much simpler proof and forms the basis for the proof presented herein. J du, z gu, m liang, y hu, w zhang, s priceman, l wu, zh zhou. Zhang yitang is a chineseborn american mathematician working in the area of number theory. Pdf document information annals of mathematics fine hall washington road princeton university princeton, nj 08544, usa phone. Bounded gaps between primes andrew granville abstract.
Geometry and analysis on manifolds, uc santa barbara, may 46, 2018. Are there any experts here who can explain the proof. Recently, yitang zhang proved the existence of a nite bound bsuch that there are in nitely many pairs p n. Jan 03, 2018 it is conjectured that there are infinitely many pairs of prime numbers p, q such that q p 2. Geometry and analysis on manifolds, uc santa barbara, april 79, 2017. The film is a study of zhang s rise from obscurity and a disadvantaged youth to mathematical celebrity. To submit students of this mathematician, please use the new data form, noting this mathematicians mgp id of 16848 for the advisor id. A year ago april, the editors of the annals of mathematics, a journal published by the institute and princeton university, received an email with a submission by an unknown mathematician. In 20, an imp ortant breakthrough was made by yitang zhang who. The lowprofile mother of two went from humble beginnings in china, to a top ranking on the list of the worlds richest people.
What is an intuitive explanation for yitang zhangs proof. Editors of prominent mathematics journals are used to fielding grandiose claims from obscure. Yitang tom zhang department of mathematics uc santa. Yitang zhangs pursuit of beauty in math the new yorker. Has anybody read yitang zhang s paper on prime gaps. Then he solved a hundredandfiftyyearold math problem. Math 241 lecture notes from fall and winter 20002001 taken and typed by john ennis notes on perelmans papers. Zhang himself says that something impressive probably has no practical application, though prime numbers do extend beyond the realm of pure. Proceedings of the 11th conference on file and storage technologies fast , 20 53. They had not only been more careful in several difficult arguments in zhang s original paper, they had also developed zhang s techniques to be both more powerful and to allow a much simpler proof and forms the basis for the proof presented herein. On repeated values of the riemann zeta function on the critical line banks, william d.