Professor Xuhua He, Chair Professor in the Department of Mathematics in the HKU Faculty of Science, has been elected Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union (IMU). At 47, Professor He is the youngest Vice-President to join the Union’s leadership in nearly two decades, and only the second Chinese mathematician to hold this prestigious position since the IMU’s inception. The appointment was formally announced on July 21 at the IMU General Assembly in New York, USA.
The IMU is the premier global authority in mathematics. A member of the International Science Council, its membership comprises mathematics organisations from more than 80 countries and regions. The IMU organises the quadrennial International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) and adjudicates the highest accolades in mathematics, including the Fields Medal. In his role on the IMU’s core Executive Committee, the Vice-President will be instrumental in shaping global strategies for mathematical development, while overseeing the organisation of the ICM and the selection of major international awards.
“Pure mathematics is the very soul of technological innovation,” said HKU President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Xiang Zhang, in extending his congratulations to Professor He. “With the recent arrival of several world-class scholars, including a Fields Medallist, our Department of Mathematics is rapidly cementing its position as a world-class mathematical centre. Professor He’s election underscores the leading academic strength of Hong Kong and the nation on the global stage, whilst igniting the aspirations of young scholars. We trust this historic milestone will inspire a new generation of scientists to venture fearlessly into the unknown and reach new heights in global academia.”
Professor He is an internationally acclaimed leader in Lie theory, arithmetic geometry, and representation theory. His work on finite and affine Weyl groups, and flag varieties, has gained wide recognition for its innovative approaches and applications.
In 2013, he was awarded the Morningside Gold Medal of Mathematics, widely regarded as the ‘Chinese Fields Medal’. He was an invited sectional speaker at the ICM in 2018, and in 2022 received the Chevalley Prize in Lie Theory – the field’s highest international honour – becoming the only mathematician based in China to date to achieve this distinction. Professor He also serves as the President of the Hong Kong Mathematical Society and is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences.
As a leading figure in modern mathematics, Professor He displayed extraordinary talent from an early age. Born in Chongqing in 1979, he first rose to prominence in 1996 by winning a gold medal for China at the International Mathematical Olympiad. He went on to pursue his studies at Peking University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dedicated to tackling the most challenging, frontier conjectures in pure mathematics, Professor He has made systematic and highly original breakthroughs in the areas of Shimura varieties and Hecke algebras, and in the work on Serre’s conjecture II and Lusztig’s positivity conjecture on the of canonical bases.
Expressing his gratitude, Professor He said, “I am deeply honoured to be elected Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union. This is not only a personal milestone but, more importantly, a reflection of how the global mathematical community recognises the vibrant growth of research in China. Moving forward, I hope to actively champion open collaboration and academic exchange globally, bringing our mathematical achievements to the world stage while creating broader international opportunities for Chinese mathematicians.”
