View source for Su Buqing

{{Short description|Chinese mathematician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Family name hatnote|[[Su (surname)|Su]]|lang=Chinese}}

'''Su Buqing''', also spelled '''Su Buchin''' ({{zh|s=苏步青|t=蘇步青}}; September 23, 1902 – March 17, 2003), was a Chinese [[mathematician]], educator and poet. He was the founder of [[differential geometry]] in China, and served as president of [[Fudan University]] and honorary chairman of the [[Chinese Mathematical Society]].<ref name="Obituary" /><ref name="MPC-object" />

==Early life==
Su was born in [[Pingyang County]], [[Zhejiang]] Province in 1902, with ancestry from [[Quanzhou]].

Su's academic journey began in 1911 when he transferred to the First Primary School in Pingyang County and was subsequently admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial Tenth Middle School in 1914. In 1919, Su was offered a scholarship by the principal of his middle school to study in [[Japan]]. Su successfully passed the entrance examination for Tokyo Higher Technical College in February 1920 and enrolled in the Department of Electrical Engineering where he graduated from in March 1924. After that, he was admitted to the Department of Mathematics of [[Tohoku Imperial University]] in Japan and graduated in 1927. Under the supervision of Tadahiko Kubota, Su received his Ph.D. from the university in 1931 for dissertation entitled ''The relation between affine and projective differential geometry''.<ref name=":0" />

During his time in Tohoku Imperial University, Su met and married Yonako Matsumoto in 1928.

== Career ==
After returning to China, he first served as a professor and dean at [[Zhejiang University]] (he established the [[Chen-Su School]] with [[Chen Jiangong]]). When universities across China underwent reorganization in 1952, Su and his students from Zhejiang University's Department of Mathematics relocated to [[Fudan University]] where he initially served as the Provost and later became the honorary President of Fudan University in 1978.

He was honorary chairman of the [[Chinese Mathematical Society]] (CMS) and elected to [[Academia Sinica]] and the [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]] in 1948 and 1955 respectively.

In 1985, the Propaganda Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee appointed Su as the honorary President of [[Wenzhou University]]. Additionally, he provided guidance and supervision in the establishment of the Shanghai Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 1989 and the [https://www.csiam.org.cn/ China Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM)] in 1990, serving as a consultant for the latter.

Some other positions Su held included member of the sixth (1983–88) and later vice chairman of the seventh and eighth (1988–98) National Committee of the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] (CPPCC), honorary chairman of the [[China Democratic League]] Central Committee (1997), and Conference and deputy to the [[National People's Congress]] (NPC).

== Research ==
Praised commonly in mathematical field as the "first geometer in the orient",<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fudan.edu.cn/su/34.htm|title=提示信息}}</ref> Su was engaged in research, teaching and education in [[differential geometry]] and [[computational geometry]]. In his early years, he made excellent contributions to [[affine differential geometry]] and [[projective differential geometry]]. He obtained extraordinary achievements in general space differential geometry, conjugating net theory in higher-dimensional space and computer aided geometry design.

Su's research on general surfaces led to the discovery of quartic algebraic surfaces of the third order. In recognition of his achievements, a geometric shape known as the "Su-cone" was named after him. In the 1940s, he made notable contributions to the theory of K-spreads, involving families of K-dimensional manifolds in space.

Throughout his career, Su authored over 160 mathematical papers published in both domestic and international journals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Y Han. Su Buqing: A life of wind and rain as "geometry". Chinese Journal of Science People. 4th Edition. |url=https://news.sciencenet.cn/sbhtmlnews/2019/11/351026.shtm |access-date=2023-06-20 |website=news.sciencenet.cn}}</ref> He also wrote more than 20 monographs and textbooks on topics such as projective curves, projective surfaces, and affine differential geometry. Su's main papers are included in ''Selected Works of Buqing Su'' (1991). Notable among his works are "''The General Projective Theory of Curves''," (English translation 1958) "''Affine Differential Geometry,''" (English translation 1983) and "''Computational Geometry, Curve and Surface Modeling''," (Chinese 1980; English edition 1989) co-authored with Dingyuan Liu.

== Honors and awards ==
Su won the second prize of the first [[National Natural Science Foundation of China|National Natural Science]] Award in 1956 for his work on "''Geometry of K-spread Space and General Metric Space, Projective Curve Theory.''"

In 1978, his work, ''A Program of Hull Lofting'', won the National Science Conference Award.

Su won the second prize of the first [https://www.cas.cn/ky/kjjl/gjkxjbj/ National Science and Technology Progress Award] in 1985 for his collaborative effort on "''A Production Process of the Hull Form by the Curved-Surface Method''."

In 2001, the book, ''Geometry and Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations'', which presents the proceedings of a conference on geometry and nonlinear partial differential equations, dedicated to Su in honor of his one-hundredth birthday.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Shuxing |url=http://www.ams.org/amsip/029 |title=Geometry and Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations |last2=Yau |first2=S.-T. |date=2002-09-03 |publisher=American Mathematical Society |isbn=978-0-8218-3294-3 |series=AMS/IP Studies in Advanced Mathematics |volume=29 |language=en |doi=10.1090/amsip/029}}</ref>

In August 2003, the [[International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics]] (ICIAM) established the "ICIAM Su Buqing Award" in recognition to contributions to the application of mathematics in economic growth and human development. Furthermore, the Chinese Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM) established the "[https://www.csiam.org.cn/home/article/lists/category/13.html CSIAM Su Buqing Applied Mathematics Award]" in 2004.

Asteroid [[297161 Subuchin]], discovered by astronomers of the [[PMO NEO Survey Program]] in 2008, was named in his memory.<ref name="MPC-object" /> The official {{MoMP|297161|naming citation}} was published by the [[Minor Planet Center]] on 8 November 2019 ({{small|[[Minor Planet Circulars|M.P.C.]] 118221}}).<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" />

== Publications ==
* Buqing, Su. (1958). ''The General Projective Theory of Curves: She Ying Qu Xian Gai Lun''. Peking: Science Press. Print.
* Buqing, Su. (1983). ''Affine Differential Geometry''. Beijing, China: Science Press. Print. {{ISBN|978-0-677-31060-2}} (Gordon and Breach)
* Buqing, Su & Ding-Yuan, Liu. (1989). ''Computational Geometry: Curve and Surface Modeling''. Academic Press. {{ISBN|978-0-12-675610-4}}. {{doi|10.1016/B978-0-12-675610-4.50013-5}}
* Buqing, Su. (1991). ''Selected Works of Buqing Su''. {{ISBN|7-5341-0383-5}}.

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Obituary">{{cite press release
  |title       = Su Buqing, CAS Member and Mathematician, Passes Away
  |publisher   = Chinese Academy of Sciences
  |date        = March 19, 2003
  |url         = http://english.cas.ac.cn/english/news/detailnewsb.asp?infono=24493
  |access-date = 2008-05-09
  |url-status  = dead
  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927224457/http://english.cas.ac.cn/english/news/detailnewsb.asp?infono=24493
  |archive-date= September 27, 2007}}</ref>

<ref name="MPC-object">{{cite web
  |title      = (297161) Subuchin
  |work       = Minor Planet Center
  |url        = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=297161
  |access-date = 21 November 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive">{{cite web
  |title      = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive
  |work       = Minor Planet Center
  |url        = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html
  |access-date = 21 November 2019}}</ref>

}} <!-- end of reflist -->

== External links ==

* O'Connor, John J.; [[Edmund F. Robertson|Robertson, Edmund F.]], "[https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Su_Buqing/ Buqing Su]", [[MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive|MacTutor History of Mathematics archive]], [[University of St Andrews]]
* O'Connor, John J.; [[Edmund F. Robertson|Robertson, Edmund F.]], "[https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Honours/Buchin/ ICIAM Su Buchin Prize]", [[MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive|MacTutor History of Mathematics archive]], [[University of St Andrews]]
* [https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=117813 Buqing Su] - [[Mathematics Genealogy Project]], Department of Mathematics, [[North Dakota State University]]
{{Founding members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences}}

{{CPPCC Vice-Chairpersons}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Buqing}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese mathematicians]]
[[Category:Chinese geometers]]
[[Category:Chinese men centenarians]]
[[Category:Educators from Wenzhou]]
[[Category:Mathematicians from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Sinica]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the National Taiwan University]]
[[Category:People's Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:Politicians from Wenzhou]]
[[Category:Presidents of Fudan University]]
[[Category:Scientists from Wenzhou]]
[[Category:Tohoku University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Zhejiang University]]
[[Category:Vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]