Yu Deng

Yu Deng
In this Chinese name, the family name is Deng.

Yu Deng
邓煜
Deng in 2026
BornJune 1989 (age 37)
Kaifeng, Henan, China
Education
Known forDerivation of the Boltzmann equation
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
Workplaces
ThesisLong time behavior of some nonlinear dispersive equations (2015)
Alexandru D. Ionescu
WebsiteUChicago faculty page
Personal website
Yu Deng
Simplified Chinese邓煜
Traditional Chinese鄧煜
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDèng Yù
Wade–GilesTêng⁴ Yü⁴

Yu Deng (Chinese: 邓煜; pinyin: Dèng Yù, born June 1989) is a Chinese mathematician and a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago. He is known for his contributions to partial differential equations, fluid dynamics, and probabilistic analysis. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2026 for his derivation of the Boltzmann equation, his derivation of wave kinetic equations from nonlinear dispersive systems, and his development of probabilistic approaches to non-linear dynamics.

Early life and education

Deng was born in June 1989[1] in Kaifeng, Henan, China.[2] His father was a software engineer, and his mother was a gastroenterologist.[1] He was raised in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and began participating in mathematics competitions in primary school.[3]

As a child, Deng excelled in tournaments of the Chinese strategy board game Go.[4] In 2001, while in middle school, he competed professionally but failed to qualify for the national Go tournament in China. He later recalled, "Either Go or math. Since I lost, I decided to move my focus to math."[1] As a first-year student at Shenzhen Senior High School, he won first prize at the 2006 Chinese Mathematical Olympiad.[5] He then represented China in the 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad, where he won a gold medal at age 16.[4]

Granted exemption from the Gaokao, Deng was admitted to Peking University in 2007, the same year as Hong Wang.[6] He was an undergraduate there for two years until June 2009, when he transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 2011.[7] As an undergraduate at MIT, Deng developed an interest in partial differential equations and, after working on a problem given to him by Gigliola Staffilani, published a paper on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the journal Analysis & Partial Differential Equations.[8]

In 2015, Deng earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University.[7] As a doctoral student at Princeton, Deng won a Jacobus Fellowship, the university's highest honor for graduate students.[9] His doctoral dissertation, completed under Alexandru D. Ionescu, was titled, "Long time behavior of some nonlinear dispersive equations".[7] Ionescu recalled Deng as "brilliant from the beginning...even as a graduate student, without experience...he was very good at getting at the essence of the thing, picking up what matters in a problem."[8]

Career

After receiving his doctorate, Deng was an instructor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University from 2015 to 2018. He became an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Southern California in 2018 and a full professor there in April 2024.[7] In September 2024, Deng joined the faculty of the University of Chicago as an associate professor of mathematics and was promoted to a full professorship in June 2025.[7]

Academic research

Deng works in partial differential equations and mathematical physics, particularly on probabilistic and combinatorial methods for nonlinear wave and particle systems. With Andrea Nahmod and Haitian Yue, he developed tools known as random tensors to study rough random initial data for the two-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation, proving invariance of the associated Gibbs measure. With Zaher Hani at the University of Michigan, he subsequently used combinatorial expansions of interacting waves to rigorously derive the wave kinetic equation from the Schrödinger equation over the time scales predicted by physics.[8]

Deng and his collaborators adapted these methods to systems of hard spheres. They derived[10] the Boltzmann equation from Newtonian particle dynamics over long time scales, overcoming the repeated-collision problem that had restricted earlier results to very short times. For a periodic-box model, their work combined with earlier Boltzmann-to-Navier–Stokes limits to establish a rigorous passage from microscopic particle motion to macroscopic fluid behaviour in a major case of Hilbert's sixth problem.[11][12][13]

Awards

In 2021, Deng received a Sloan Research Fellowship in recognition of outstanding early-career research.[6] In 2025, he was awarded the Oberwolfach Prize for "his outstanding achievements in analysis and applied mathematics".[14] In 2026, he was awarded the Clay Research Award for "remarkable derivation of the Boltzmann equation for long times, starting from a system of hard spheres".[15]

On 23 July 2026, Deng was awarded the Fields Medal alongside Hong Wang, John Pardon, and Jacob Tsimerman at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[16] He and Hong Wang are the first Chinese citizens to be awarded the Fields Medal.[6]

For his work in partial differential equations, including the rigorous derivation of the Boltzmann equation from hard-sphere dynamics for rarefied gases, the derivation of wave kinetic equations from nonlinear dispersive systems, and probabilistic approaches to nonlinear Schrödinger dynamics.

References

  1. ^ a b c Cepelewicz, Jordana (23 July 2026). "Yu Deng Wins the Fields Medal 2026 for His Work on the Random Data Problem". Quanta Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  2. ^ 钟羽 (26 July 2026). "菲尔兹奖获得者邓煜祖籍河南开封，全家学霸！舅舅回忆和他下棋的故事" [Fields Medalist Deng Yu’s Kaifeng Roots: A Family of Academic Prodigies as Uncle Recalls Chess Memories]. 大象新闻 (in Chinese). Retrieved 28 July 2026.
  3. ^ Liu, Michael (21 June 2023). "Mathematical maestro tackles nature's greatest puzzles". USC Dornsife News. University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 19 July 2026. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  4. ^ a b Searcy, Maureen (23 July 2026). "UChicago Prof. Yu Deng receives Fields Medal, highest honor in mathematics". University of Chicago News. University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 23 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  5. ^ "Deng Yu Wins Gold at the 47th International Mathematical Olympiad". Shenzhen Economic Daily (in Chinese). 1 September 2006. Archived from the original on 23 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026 – via Sina Corporation.
  6. ^ a b c "Wang Hong and Deng Yu become first Chinese nationals to win Fields Medal". South China Morning Post. 23 July 2026. Archived from the original on 23 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Yu Deng: Curriculum Vitae". July 2025. Archived from the original on 19 July 2026. Retrieved 17 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ a b c Cepelewicz, Jordana (23 July 2026). "Amid Life's Chaos, a Meticulous Mathematician Finds Stability". Quanta Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 July 2026. Retrieved 24 July 2026.
  9. ^ Best, Zia (5 February 2015). "Four win Jacobus Fellowship, top graduate student honor". Princeton News. Princeton University. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  10. ^ Deng, Yu; Hani, Zaher; Ma, Xiao (2024). "Long time derivation of the Boltzmann equation from hard sphere dynamics". arXiv:2408.07818 [math.AP].
  11. ^ Sloman, Leila (11 June 2025). "Epic Effort to Ground Physics in Math Opens Up the Secrets of Time". Quanta Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 July 2026. Retrieved 24 July 2026.
  12. ^ Jo, GaHyeon (29 June 2026). "Yu Deng uses mathematics to explain gas molecules' motion and resolves a 125-year problem". DongA Science. Archived from the original on 24 July 2026. Retrieved 24 July 2026.
  13. ^ Deng, Yu; Hani, Zaher; Ma, Xiao (2025). "Hilbert's sixth problem: derivation of fluid equations via Boltzmann's kinetic theory". arXiv:2503.01800 [math.AP].
  14. ^ "Oberwolfach Prize 2025 goes to Yu Deng". MFO. Archived from the original on 20 February 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  15. ^ "Yu Deng". Clay Mathematics Institute. Archived from the original on 24 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  16. ^ Chang, Kenneth (23 July 2026). "Four Young Mathematicians Receive Prestigious Fields Medals". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  17. ^ "Fields Medal 2026: Yu Deng" (PDF). International Mathematical Union. 23 July 2026. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.

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