RIP Chen Ning Yang (1922-2025)

[robphy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Chen-Ning

( photo from http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/~yang/ )



https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/science/chen-ning-yang-dead.html

Chen Ning Yang, Nobel-Winning Physicist, Is Dead at 103
He and a colleague, Tsung-Dao Lee, created a sensation in 1956 by proposing that one of the four forces of nature might violate a law of physics.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxrzzk02plo

Chinese Nobel laureate and physicist Chen Ning Yang dies aged 103

Chen Ning Yang, Nobel laureate and one of the world's most influential physicists, has died at the age of 103, according to Chinese state media.
... Yang and fellow theoretical physicist, Lee Tsung-Dao, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957 for their work in parity laws, which led to important discoveries regarding elementary particles - the building blocks of matter.

https://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/en/press/mourning-professor-yang-chen-ning/

Professor Yang Chen-ning, the first Chinese Nobel Laureate, Distinguished Professor-at-Large and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), passed away on 18 October 2025, at the age of 103. The CUHK community is profoundly saddened and conveys its deepest condolences to his family.

https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/...nobel_and_breakthrough_prizes/_profiles/yangc
https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/physics/people/_profiles/yangc
http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/~yang/

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(thanks to @pines-demon for alerting me)


I had made a post back in 2022 that celebrated him almost being 100.
www.physicsforums.com/threads/chen-ning-yang-is-almost-100-years-old.1045788/

• 

  Thread 'Chen Ning Yang is (almost) 100 years old'

  Sep 22, 2022

  Chen-Ning Yang is (on official documents) 100 years old today [His real birthday is Oct 1, according to
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Chen-Ning , which says
  " His birth date was erroneously recorded as September 22, 1922 in his 1945 passport.
  He has since used this incorrect date on all subsequent official documents."]
  
  With Tsung-Dao Lee (his classmate at U. Chicago where they were graduate students*),
  Chen-Ning Yang won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics
  "for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the...

  • robphy
  • Years
  • Replies: 2
  • Forum: General Discussion

  • 
  • 

• Here's a 2006 interview
  C. N. Yang: Stony Brook Masters Series
  (&t=26m52s Gauge Theory (Yang-Mills) ; 32m58 Fiber Bundles)
  https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.96.191 Yang & Mills 1954
  https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.104.254 Lee & Yang 1956
  https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.12.3845 TT Wu & CN Yang 1975 (mentioned in the video)

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Chen Ning Yang - AIP Physics History Network
https://www.trailblazers.psd.uchicago.edu/tsung-dao-lee-chen-ning-yang

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vuJL4QwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Scientific and Related Works of Chen Ning Yang (list from www.ias.tsinghua.edu.cn)


https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=105799
https://academictree.org/physics/tree.php?pid=66188

https://www.worldscientific.com/author/Yang,+Chen+Ning (some available as Free Access)
Selected Papers (1945–1980) of Chen Ning Yang
Selected Papers of Chen Ning Yang II

https://cnyangarchive.cuhk.edu.hk/About.aspx



https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/05/12/a-question-of-parity

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(more updates in a later post below)

 

[pines-demon]

Amazing age and amazing number of contributions. I wonder if we will ever know why he was not in terms with Lee.

 

[robphy]

Amazing age and amazing number of contributions. I wonder if we will ever know why he was not in terms with Lee.

Possibly helpful:

• Jeremy Bernstein - Lee and Yang: the break-up (53/86)
  Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People
  
  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/05/12/a-question-of-parity
  
  
• Biography details discord between two top scientists
  https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/11/17/0000179882
  

  "Winning the Nobel Prize does not mean a person's personality is perfect," Chiang Tsai-chien (江才健), biographer of Symmetry and Beauty -- Yang Chen-ning (楊振寧), told the Taipei Times yesterday.
  
  Chiang was commenting on a falling out between the first two Chinese Nobel laureates, Yang and Lee Tsung-dao (李政道) who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contribution to knowledge about parity laws.
  
  ...
  
  "Neither Yang nor Lee denied that an article that appeared in the New Yorker magazine on May 12, 1962, was one of the major reasons for their breakup," cited the author.
  
  The article, "A Question of Parity," was written by physicist Jeremy Bernstein. After the article's publication, Yang and Lee had a long talk on April 18, 1962.
  
  According to the biography, both men were concerned about how their names appeared in the article.
  
  Yang felt that he was responsible for the lion's share of the work that netted the two men the Nobel prize, but the article suggested that Lee was the primary researcher.
  
  "Yang didn't deny that he cared very much about how Bernstein handled the names in the article."
  
  Yang's meeting with Lee on April 18 was a very emotional scene," Chiang wrote.
  
  During Yang's visit, he said a number of books and articles have speculated about his breakup with Lee. "They are all fiction," he said.
  
  "But Chiang's book is true. He interviewed my family and friends," Yang said.

 

[robphy]

(1980) AIP Oral History Interviews (OHI) Yang, Chen Ning on 1980 November 1.
https://repository.aip.org/yang-chen-ning-1980-november-1

(2001) Interview of C.N.Yang for the C.N.Yang Archive (by Kerson Huang)
THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
https://chaosbook.org/library/CNYang2000.pdf

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Here are more videos of CN Yang:

• (1964) https://cnyangarchive.cuhk.edu.hk/LectureVideo.aspx
  

  "What is Modern High Energy Physics"
  A remake of Professor Chen—Ning Yang’s Public lecture in Hong Kong in 1964
  
  This is a remake of Prof. Chen-Ning Yang’s 1964 lecture using modern graphics, based on the original voice recording
  (provided by Radio Television Hong Kong}, as a celebration of Prof. Yang’s 100‘" Birthday in 2021.

• (1991) 1991 Beatty Memorial Lecture - Yang Chen-Ning
  "Symmetry and Physics" by Yang Chen Ning, 1991 Beatty Memorial Lecture. McGill U. (video posted in 2019)
  
  
  
• (2008) James Simons and C.N. Yang: Stony Brook Masters Series
  
  
  
• (2015) Chen Ning Yang- Remembrance of Early Days of Particle Physics(Day1)
  
  
  
• (2015) Yang Zhenning, the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize, a life of achievements and controversies - Interview with Yang Lan
  《杨澜访谈录》 第一位荣获诺贝尔奖的华人杨振宁，成就与争议并存的一生 |#杨澜 #杨振宁 #翁帆 #杨澜访谈录 |杨澜工作室Yang Lan Studio
  

• (2004) College Physics - Chen Ning Yang - at Tsinghua (playlist of 30 lectures) - most parts are in English
  
  
  https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/info/1245/10640.htm
  

  ...Stay Loyal to Where I Came from – For the Next Generation of Scientists
  
  After returning to Tsinghua, Yang immediately threw himself into a compressed and busy work schedule, maintaining his vigorous attitude towards scientific research and teaching. In the fall semester of 2004, the 82-year-old Yang still lectured in General Physics to four freshman classes. He had two classes and one office hour session per week, prepared exam questions for the mid- term and final exams, and was present in the examination room. His role was exemplary for the students.
  
  According to students who attended Yang’s classes at that time, the classroom was always fully occupied with hundreds, or even close to a thousand students for each lecture. Those who were lucky enough would get a seat, while others huddled in the hallways or on the windowsills of the classroom. Those who could not squeeze into the classroom also gathered around the back door or the windows of the classroom to catch a glimpse of Yang lecturing.

  
  ( I think Yang is using Halliday and Resnick. (The playlist has 26 and 27 in the wrong order.)
  I'll try to get a list of topics generated... because I don't have time to watch (a few minutes into) 30 videos. I asked ChatGPT to watch each video and give an appropriate title.
  I have to verify some of its results.
  )

 

[pines-demon]

Possibly helpful:

• Jeremy Bernstein - Lee and Yang: the break-up (53/86)
  Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People
  
  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/05/12/a-question-of-parity
  
  
• Biography details discord between two top scientists
  https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/11/17/0000179882

Yes I did a two parter in the anecdotes of physics thread see
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/interesting-anecdotes-in-the-history-of-physics.1059261/

 

[robphy]

https://news.stonybrook.edu/univers...t-defined-stony-brooks-scientific-excellence/
http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/itp/www/

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• APS search for papers by author CN Yang

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https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=105799
https://academictree.org/physics/tree.php?pid=66188
(1948) "On the Angular Distribution in Nuclear Reactions and Coincidence Measurements"
Yang, Chen Ning.   The University of Chicago ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1948. T-00029.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/301825276 (dissertation preview)

https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.74.764
Phys. Rev. 74, 764 – Published 1 October, 1948
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.74.764

Theorems concerning the general form of the angular distribution of products of nuclear reactions and distintegrations are derived. These theorems are based only on the invariance properties of the physical process under space rotation and under inversion. The following examples are studied in detail: (i) angular correlation between the electron and the neutrino in 𝛽-decay; (ii) angular correlation between a 𝛽-ray and a 𝛾-ray emitted in succession by a nucleus; and (iii) angular correlation between two 𝛾-rays emitted in succession by a nucleus.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee–Yang_theory
(1952) Statistical Theory of Equations of State and Phase Transitions. I. Theory of Condensation
C. N. Yang and T. D. Lee
Phys. Rev. 87, 404 – Published 1 August, 1952
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.87.404

A theory of equations of state and phase transitions is developed that describes the condensed as well as the gas phases and the transition regions. The thermodynamic properties of an infinite sample are studied rigorously and Mayer's theory is re-examined.

(1952) Statistical Theory of Equations of State and Phase Transitions. II. Lattice Gas and Ising Model
T. D. Lee and C. N. Yang
Phys. Rev. 87, 410 – Published 1 August, 1952
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.87.410

The problems of an Ising model in a magnetic field and a lattice gas are proved mathematically equivalent. From this equivalence an example of a two-dimensional lattice gas is given for which the phase transition regions in the 𝑝 −𝑣 diagram is exactly calculated.

A theorem is proved which states that under a class of general conditions the roots of the grand partition function always lie on a circle. Consequences of this theorem and its relation with practical approximation methods are discussed. All the known exact results about the two-dimensional square Ising lattice are summarized, and some new results are quoted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang–Mills_theory
(1954) Conservation of Isotopic Spin and Isotopic Gauge Invariance -free to read
C. N. Yang and R. L. Mills
Phys. Rev. 96, 191 – Published 1 October, 1954
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.96.191

It is pointed out that the usual principle of invariance under isotopic spin rotation is not consistant with the concept of localized fields. The possibility is explored of having invariance under local isotopic spin rotations. This leads to formulating a principle of isotopic gauge invariance and the existence of a b field which has the same relation to the isotopic spin that the electromagnetic field has to the electric charge. The b field satisfies nonlinear differential equations. The quanta of the b field are particles with spin unity, isotopic spin unity, and electric charge ±𝑒 or zero.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_interaction#Violation_of_symmetry
(1956) Question of Parity Conservation in Weak Interactions -free to read
T. D. Lee and C. N. Yang
Phys. Rev. 104, 254 – Published 1 October, 1956 Erratum Phys. Rev. 106, 1371 (1957)
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.104.254

The question of parity conservation in 𝛽 decays and in hyperon and meson decays is examined. Possible experiments are suggested which might test parity conservation in these interactions.

- APS Landmarks—Breaking the Mirror

- https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1957/summary/
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1957 was awarded jointly to Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao (T.D.) Lee "for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang–Baxter_equation
(1967) Some Exact Results for the Many-Body Problem in one Dimension with Repulsive Delta-Function Interaction
C. N. Yang
Phys. Rev. Lett. 19, 1312 – Published 4 December, 1967
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.19.1312

The repulsive 𝛿 interaction problem in one dimension for 𝑁 particles is reduced, through the use of Bethe's hypothesis, to an eigenvalue problem of matrices of the same sizes as the irreducible representations 𝑅 of the permutation group 𝑆𝑁. For some 𝑅 ′s this eigenvalue problem itself is solved by a second use of Bethe's hypothesis, in a generalized form. In particular, the ground-state problem of spin-½ fermions is reduced to a generalized Fredholm equation.

Introduction to C. N. Yang's Selected Works

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(2011) A video interview, conducted on Feb. 22, 2011, with the Nobel Prize winning physicist Chen-Ning Yang.
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2011/12/20/chen-ning-yang/




2015 Joint Colloquia ASIAA/CCMS/IAMS/LeCosPA/NTU-Phys/NTNU-Phys
2015/03/17
(2015) Chen-Ning Yang, Conceptual Origin of Maxwell Equations and of Gauge Theory Part I
--(audio is low in the beginning... but gets slightly better)--

Part II

Part III



from https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/chen-ning-yang-is-almost-100-years-old.1045788/

13th Annual Geometry Festival
Connections in Modern Mathematics and Physics
Stony Brook University
April 2-5, 1998
(1998) Vector Potentials and Connections - C. N. Yang