Prof. Ngo Bao Chau has joined a blogger to write a novel, which they call “the novel of maths.”
Prof. Ngo Bao Chau
The 200-page book is being released on March 19 and introduced at the HCM City Book Fair from March 19-25.
The co-author of the book, blogger Nguyen Phuong Van, whose blog has been widely known by readers, said that the book tells the history of maths.
“Because both of us like Alice in the Wonderland, we have named the book Ai and Ky in the Land of Invisible Numbers,” Van says.
Prof. Chau and Van began writing the book in April 2011 and they had exchange via Skype and Gmail very often. They met at coffee shops when Prof. Chau was in Vietnam.
The draft novel was completed in late November 2011 and sent to a publisher. The introduction for the book was written by Prof. Chau and Doctor of Maths Quoc Anh.
Blogger Van said that through the book, readers will get information about famous mathematicians of the world and some mathematic concepts.
Ngo Bao Chau was born in 1972 in Hanoi. He is the only son of Professor Ngo Huy Can and Associate Professor Tran Luu Van Hien.
In 1988, Chau won the gold medal at the International Mathematics Olympiad in Australia. The next year, he again won the gold medal at the International Mathematics Olympiad in Germany.
In 1989, Chau went to France to study at Paris VI University. He successfully defended his doctorate thesis at the age of 25. In 2003, at the age of 31, he finished his habilitation thesis at Paris XI University and then became a professor at the university the following year.
In 2004, Chau and Professor Gerard Laumon, his teacher, both received the annual research award from the Clay Mathematics Institute, which is given to only one or two people a year. Chau was the first Vietnamese person to win the award.
After winning the Clay award, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study invited Chau to become a researcher. The institute is known for gathering many of the leading mathematicians and physicists in the world, including those who have won Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals.
In 2005, at the age of 33, Chau was given the title of Professor in Vietnam, becoming the youngest professor in the country. One year later, he was invited to present the subcommittee report at the ICM in Madrid (Spain). He was the third Vietnamese person to receive the honor. The other two Vietnamese people to receive the honor include Professor F. Pham and Professor Duong Hong Phong.
After solving the ‘fundamental lemma’, he was given the Oberwolfach prize and a prize from the French Academy in 2007. In June, his work, entitled “Le lemme fondamental pour les algèbres de Lie” was officially published in Publications Mathématiques de L’IHÉS magazine.
Though Chau works for leading scientific centers, he still spends time teaching in Vietnam.
Chau began working at the Mathematics Faculty of the University of Chicago in the US from September 1, 2010.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on February 27, 2012, conferred the order of the Legion d’honneur on Professor Ngo Bao Chau at the Elysee Palace.
Nguyen Phuong Van is widely known as Phuong Cam Sa, the owner of 5xu blog. In 2010, Alpha Books published “Urban Weather”, with selected entries on 5xu blog.
