Nantong-born delivers lecture at International Congress of Mathematicians

Zhu Yongchang is a 1980 graduate of Nantong High School. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Zhu Yongchang, a professor at Tsinghua University's Yau Mathematical Sciences Center and a 1980 graduate of Nantong High School, delivered an invited lecture at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Philadelphia, the United States, on July 29.

The ICM, regarded as the most prestigious gathering in the mathematical community, brings together leading scholars from around the world to present breakthrough research across various disciplines. This year's congress features a record number of 14 faculty members and alumni from Peking University as invited speakers, including Zhu.

Zhu is an internationally recognized authority in representation theory. He has made foundational contributions to vertex operator algebras and conformal field theory, along with pioneering advances in the representation theory of loop groups and automorphic forms.

Zhu's academic roots trace to Nantong, Jiangsu province, where his mathematical talent emerged at an early age. He won first prize in local mathematics competitions at both junior and senior high school levels. In the 1980 national college entrance examination, he came in second place among all science-track students in the province.

Despite his global reputation, Zhu has remained largely out of the public spotlight over the years. His appearance at the ICM podium has now brought the soft-spoken Nantong native back into the limelight.