----- Forwarded message from David Eisenbud ----- Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 14:45:22 -0800 From: David Eisenbud Subject: Shiing-Shen Chern: 1911-2004 Dear Friends and Colleagues, I'm sad to share with you what I just learned: Shiing-Shen Chern, cofounder and first Director of MSRI (1982-85), died yesterday after a brief illness in China. Chern was truly a towering figure in 20th century mathematics. Aside from his fundamental contributions in geometry (I use Chern classes every day! -- and that was just the beginning) he was mentor to many, many mathematicians both here (he taught at the University of Chicago and then, for most of his career, at Berkeley) and in China. His national celebrity in China was immense. A star was named for him. He had close ties to President Jiang Zhemin, and used them to benefit mathematics in many ways. Though he returned to China in 1999, Chern remained a strong supporter of MSRI. His major gift sparked MSRI's successful campaign to expand its building, and when he was honored this year with the the Shaw Prize for Mathematics, he gave MSRI a large additional gift from the proceeds. You can find a brief biography of Chern that we put together on the occasion of a Symposium in his honor in 1998 from MSRI's home page, or directly at http://www.msri.org/chern_04.pdf I feel personally honored to have known this great man, and to have had his help, friendship and tutelage at MSRI. We will all miss him greatly. in sorrow, David Eisenbud -- David Eisenbud, Director, MSRI http://www.msri.org President, American Mathematical Society http://www.ams.org Mathematical Sciences Research Institute 510-642-0143 17 Gauss Way 510-642-8609 FAX Berkeley CA 94720-5070 ----- End forwarded message -----