View source for Andrew Yao

{{Short description|Chinese computer scientist, physicist, and computational theorist}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Yao (surname)|Yao]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{BLP more footnotes needed|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Andrew Chi-Chih Yao
| native_name       = {{lang|zh|姚期智}}
| image             = Andrew Yao P1130016 (cropped).jpg
| caption           = Yao in 2015
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1946|12|24}}
| birth_place       = [[Shanghai]], [[Republic of China (1912–49)|China]]
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| citizenship       = {{Plainlist|
* [[ Republic of China]] (1946–2015)
* United States (?–2015)
* [[People's Republic of China]] (2015–present)
}}
| education         = [[National Taiwan University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br />[[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])<br />[[University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| thesis1_title     = Internal Symmetries and Positivity
| thesis1_url       = https://books.google.com/books/about/Internal_Symmetries_and_Positivity.html?id=lalKtwAACAAJ
| thesis1_year      = 1969, Harvard
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Sheldon Glashow]] (Harvard)<br />[[Chung Laung Liu]] (Illinois)
| thesis2_title     = A Study of Concrete Computational Complexity
| thesis2_url       = https://archive.org/details/studyofconcretec716yaoa
| thesis2_year      = 1975, Illinois
| known_for         = [[Yao's principle]]<br />[[Communication complexity]]<br />[[Dolev–Yao model]]<br />[[Garbled circuit]]<br />[[Hybrid argument (cryptography)|Hybrid argument]]<br />[[Yao's Millionaires' Problem]]<br />[[Yao's test]]<br />[[Yao graph]]
| field             = [[Computer science]]<br />[[Theoretical physics]]
| work_institution  = [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]<br />[[Stanford University]]<br />[[University of California, Berkeley]]<br />[[Princeton University]]<br />[[Tsinghua University]]<br />[[Chinese University of Hong Kong]]
| prizes            = [[George Pólya Prize]] (1987)<br />[[Knuth Prize]] (1996)<br />[[Turing Award]] (2000)<br />[[Kyoto Prize]] (2021)
| spouse            = [[Frances Yao]]
| module            = {{Infobox Chinese |child=yes |c = 姚期智 |p = Yáo Qīzhì |w = Yao<sup>2</sup> Ch'i<sup>1</sup>chih<sup>4</sup> }}
}}

'''Andrew Chi-Chih Yao''' ({{lang-zh |c = 姚期智 |p = Yáo Qīzhì}}; born December 24, 1946) is a Chinese [[computer scientist]], [[Theoretical physics|theoretical physicist]], and [[computational theorist]]. He is currently a professor and the dean of [[Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences]] (IIIS) at [[Tsinghua University]]. Yao used the [[minimax|minimax theorem]] to prove what is now known as [[Yao's principle]].

After graduating from [[National Taiwan University]], Yao earned a doctorate in physics from [[Harvard University]] in 1972 and a second doctorate in computer science from the [[University of Illinois]] in 1975 before teaching mathematics and computer science as a professor at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], [[Stanford University]], and the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. In 1986, he became the William and Edna Macaleer Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at [[Princeton University]].

Yao was a naturalized U.S. citizen, and worked for many years in the U.S. In 2015, together with [[Yang Chen-Ning]], he renounced his U.S. citizenship and became an academician of the [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]].<ref>{{cite web |title = Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen To Expatriate, as Required by Section 6039G |url = https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/10/27/2015-27281/quarterly-publication-of-individuals-who-have-chosen-to-expatriate-as-required-by-section-6039g |website=Federal Register |access-date = 22 February 2017 |date = 2015-10-27 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-02/21/c_1120503565.htm |title=杨振宁、姚期智正式转为中国科学院院士 |website=Xinhua News }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=Scientists drop U.S. citizenship |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=March 3, 2017 |volume=355|issue=6328|page=891|doi=10.1126/science.355.6328.890 |pmid=28254889 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Kathleen |title=Two top Chinese-American scientists have dropped their U.S. citizenship |journal=Science |date=24 February 2017 |doi=10.1126/science.aal0823 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/two-top-chinese-american-scientists-have-dropped-their-us-citizenship |quote=CAS released a statement confirming the news but offered no further explanation as to why the two had given up their U.S. citizenship.}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Yao was born in [[Shanghai]] (then a part of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]) on December 24, 1946. His parents later moved to [[Hong Kong]] and then [[Taiwan]], where Yao was raised.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lecture: Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, A journey through computer science |url=https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/b6617f79-eda4-491a-ba18-b427ba338a88/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=talks.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>

After attending [[Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School]], Yao graduated from [[National Taiwan University]] with his [[Bachelor of Science]] (B.S.) in physics in 1967 and pursued graduate studies in the United States at [[Harvard University]], where he earned his [[Master of Arts]] (M.A.) degree in physics in 1969 and then his [[Ph.D.]] in [[theoretical physics]] in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Communications |first=Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and |title=Andrew Chi-chih Yao |url=https://grainger.illinois.edu/alumni/distinguished/Andrew-Chi-chih-Yao |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=grainger.illinois.edu |language=en}}</ref> His doctoral thesis, completed under [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate [[Sheldon Glashow]], was titled, "Internal Symmetries and Positivity".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harvard PhD Theses in Physics: 1971-2000 {{!}} Department of Physics |url=https://www.physics.harvard.edu/academics/phds1971-2000 |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=www.physics.harvard.edu |language=en}}</ref>

In 1975, after only two years of study, Yao completed a second Ph.D. in [[computer science]] from the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] as a fellow of the [[National Science Foundation]]. His second doctoral dissertation, "A Study of Concrete Computational Complexity," was supervised by Taiwanese computer scientist [[Chung Laung Liu]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andrew C Yao - A.M. Turing Award Laureate |url=https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/yao_1611524.cfm |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=amturing.acm.org}}</ref>

==Academic career==
Yao was an assistant professor at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (1975–1976), assistant professor at [[Stanford University]] (1976–1981), and professor at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] (1981–1982).<ref name="Yao Turing">{{Cite web|url=http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/yao_1611524.cfm|title=Andrew C Yao – A.M. Turing Award Winner|website=amturing.acm.org|access-date=2016-06-12}}</ref> From 1982 to 1986, he was a full professor at Stanford University.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/voy/museum/yaotree.html|title=YaoTree |website=infolab.stanford.edu|access-date=2016-06-12}}</ref> From 1986 to 2004, Yao was the William and Edna Macaleer Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at [[Princeton University]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~yao/|title=Andrew Yao|website=www.cs.princeton.edu|access-date=2016-06-12|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808200627/https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~yao/|archive-date=2016-08-08}}</ref> where he continued to work on algorithms and complexity. In 2004, Yao became a professor of the [[Center for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University]] (CASTU) and the director of the [[Institute for Theoretical Computer Science]] (ITCS), [[Tsinghua University]] in [[Beijing]]. Since 2010, he has served as the Dean of Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) in Tsinghua University. In 2010, he initiated the [[Conference on Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science]] (ITCS). Yao is also the Distinguished Professor-at-Large in the [[Chinese University of Hong Kong]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.itcsc.cuhk.edu.hk/People.html|title=ITCSC People|website=www.itcsc.cuhk.edu.hk |access-date=2016-06-12|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008072456/http://www.itcsc.cuhk.edu.hk/people.html|archive-date=2016-10-08}}</ref>

In May 2024, Yao joined fellow AI researchers [[Yoshua Bengio]], [[Geoffrey Hinton]], and others in publishing an expert consensus paper describing the extreme risks posed by AI. The authors warned that [[AI safety]] research is lagging, and outlined "proactive, adaptive governance mechanisms" for policymakers ahead of the [[AI Seoul Summit]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=World leaders still need to wake up to AI risks, say leading experts ahead of AI Safety Summit {{!}} University of Oxford |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-05-20-world-leaders-still-need-wake-ai-risks-say-leading-experts-ahead-ai-safety-summit |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=www.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bengio |first1=Yoshua |last2=Hinton |first2=Geoffrey |last3=Yao |first3=Andrew |last4=Song |first4=Dawn |last5=Abbeel |first5=Pieter |last6=Darrell |first6=Trevor |last7=Harari |first7=Yuval Noah |last8=Zhang |first8=Ya-Qin |last9=Xue |first9=Lan |last10=Shalev-Shwartz |first10=Shai |last11=Hadfield |first11=Gillian |last12=Clune |first12=Jeff |last13=Maharaj |first13=Tegan |last14=Hutter |first14=Frank |last15=Baydin |first15=Atılım Güneş |date=2024-05-24 |title=Managing extreme AI risks amid rapid progress |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn0117 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=384 |issue=6698 |pages=842–845 |doi=10.1126/science.adn0117 |pmid=38768279 |issn=0036-8075|arxiv=2310.17688 |bibcode=2024Sci...384..842B }}</ref>

==Awards==
In 1996, Yao was awarded the [[Knuth Prize]]. Yao also received the [[Turing Award]] in 2000, considered the "Nobel Prize" of computer science, "in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the theory of computation, including the complexity-based theory of [[pseudorandom number generation]], [[cryptography]], and [[communication complexity]]".<ref name="Yao Turing"/> In 2021, Yao received the [[Kyoto Prize]] in Advanced Technology.<ref>[https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/en/laureates/andrew_chi-chih_yao/ Kyoto Prize 2021]</ref> In 2022, he was listed on the [[Asian Scientist 100]].

Yao is a member of U.S. [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]], a [[fellow]] of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], a fellow of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]], a fellow of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]],<ref>{{cite web |url = https://awards.acm.org/award_winners/yao_1611524.cfm |title=ACM Fellows–1995 |website=acm.org |access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref> and an academician of [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]]. His wife, [[Frances Yao]], is also a theoretical computer scientist.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[[Communication complexity]]
*[[List of pioneers in computer science]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.castu.tsinghua.edu.cn/publish/cas/1696/2010/20101222144134914165653/20101222144134914165653_.html Andrew Yao] {{in lang|zh}} at [[Center for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University|CASTU]]

{{Turing award}}
{{Knuth Prize laureates}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yao, Andrew}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century American scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century Chinese scientists]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:American emigrants to China]]
[[Category:Chinese computer scientists]]
[[Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Chinese University of Hong Kong people]]
[[Category:1995 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:International Association for Cryptologic Research fellows]]
[[Category:Knuth Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Sinica]]
[[Category:Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:National Taiwan University alumni]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:Former United States citizens]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
[[Category:Scientists from Shanghai]]
[[Category:Stanford University Department of Computer Science faculty]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Tsinghua University]]
[[Category:Turing Award laureates]]
[[Category:Grainger College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty]]
[[Category:Kyoto laureates in Advanced Technology]]