Winnie Li facts for kids

Wen-Ch'ing (Winnie) Li (Chinese: 李文卿) was born on December 25, 1948. She is a mathematician from Taiwan and America. She is a special professor of mathematics at Pennsylvania State University.

Winnie Li studies number theory, which is a branch of mathematics that looks at numbers. She uses her math skills to help make communication networks better. These networks are like the internet or phone systems.

Her Journey in Math

Winnie Li started her college studies at National Taiwan University. She finished her degree there in 1970. Some of her classmates were also famous female mathematicians. These included Fan Chung, Sun-Yung Alice Chang, and Jang-Mei Wu.

She then moved to the United States to continue her education. In 1974, she earned her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Her main teacher there was Andrew Ogg.

After finishing her PhD, she taught at important universities. She was a professor at Harvard University from 1974 to 1977. Then she taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1978 to 1979. In 1979, she joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University. She has been a professor there ever since.

From 2009 to 2014, she also led a big math center in Taiwan. It was called the National Center of Theoretical Sciences.

Awards and Special Honors

Winnie Li has received many awards for her work in mathematics. These awards show how important her research is.

• In 2010, she won the Chern Prize. This award is given every three years to a great Chinese mathematician.
• In 2012, she became a special member of the American Mathematical Society. This group is for top mathematicians in America.
• In 2015, she was chosen to give the Noether Lecture. This is a very respected talk given by a leading female mathematician.