AWARDEE OF MATHEMATICS PRIZE

CHENG MINDE

Abstract

Cheng Minde (M.T. Cheng), a mathematician, was born on January 24, 1917 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.  He graduated from the Zhejiang University, receiving B. Sc. and M. Sc. degree in 1940 and 1942, the Princeton University in 1949, receiving Ph.D. degree.  He served successively as vice chairman of the Department of Mathematics and director of the Institute of Mathematics at the Beijing University.  He was elected as a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980.  He won a second  class Award of National Prize of Progress in Science and Technology in 1993. Prof. Cheng is the initiator of harmonic analysis of functions of several variables in China.  He got a result on the uniqueness of multiple trigonometrical series in 1950, which initiated the research of harmonic analysis of functions of several variables in   China.  He also developed a research field on trigonometric approximation of  functions of several variables.  He and Chen Yong-he thoroughly resolved the  approximation problem of Bochner-Riesz mean above critical orders.
Prof. Cheng is one of the initiators and promoters of research in pattern recognition and image processing in China.  He conducted a systematic analysis on higher Walsh transformation, proved the convergence theorem and sampling theorem and  expounded the advantages of Walsh transformation in compressing the frequency  band of digital patterns in 1978. The system of automatically recognizing fingerprints directed and developed by him and Prof. Shi Qingyun entered the international markets in 1990 and won the first class awards for contribution to the advancement of cience and technology by the State Education Commission in 1991.