Professor Yitang Zhang, a world-renowned expert in analytic number theory, has been appointed Chief Scientist of our institute. Professor Zhang has long been committed to fundamental research in number theory, particularly achieving historically significant breakthroughs in prime number distribution and major problems in number theory, and enjoys an extremely high reputation in the international mathematical community.

Professor Yitang Zhang was admitted to the Department of Mathematics at Peking University in 1978, where he later obtained his master’s degree. In 1991, he earned his PhD in mathematics from Purdue University in the United States. Following his doctoral graduation, he underwent a long period of exploration and perseverance in academic positions, conducting research and teaching at various mathematical research institutions abroad. In June 2025, he returned to China to join the Sun Yat-sen University Institute of Advanced Studies in Hong Kong full-time as Chief Scientist.

Yitang Zhang’s main research focus is analytic number theory, with a particular emphasis on fundamental theoretical issues such as prime number distribution. In 2013, he published a groundbreaking paper related to the twin prime conjecture in the Annals of Mathematics, a top international academic journal. For the first time, he proved that there exist infinitely many pairs of primes with bounded gaps, marking a major breakthrough in one of the most prominent fundamental problems in number theory and sending shockwaves through the global mathematical community.

As a core research force, Yitang Zhang has published numerous highly influential papers in the international mathematical community and has received many international honors, including the Morningside Medal of Mathematics, the Ostrowski Prize, the Cole Prize in Number Theory, the Shaw Prize, and election as an Academician of the Academia Sinica. His research achievements have not only advanced the development of fundamental theories in analytic number theory but also inspired the global mathematical community to conduct in-depth explorations of long-standing difficult problems.

With his outstanding contributions to the field of basic science, Yitang Zhang is widely regarded as one of the most influential mathematicians of our time, and his academic achievements have had a profound impact on the international scientific and educational communities.