Fanghua Lin

The native form of this personal name is Lin Fanghua. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Fanghua Lin (Chinese: 林芳華; pinyin: Lín Fānghuá; born March 11, 1959), also written as Fang-Hua Lin, is a Chinese-born American mathematician. He is currently the Silver Professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. He applies rigorous analysis to nonlinear systems and is a leader in this field.^[1] He was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2025.^[2]

Lin Fanghua
林芳華
Born	(1959-03-11) March 11, 1959 (age 66) Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Zhejiang University University of Minnesota
Known for	Ginzburg–Landau equation liquid crystal behaviour
Awards	Bôcher Prize (2002)
Scientific career
Fields	Analysis
Institutions	Courant Institute University of Chicago

Biography

Lin was born in 1959 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, and graduated from the Department of Mathematics of Zhejiang University in 1981. He went to the United States to obtain his PhD from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota in 1985. From 1985 to 1988, he was an instructor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. Then he went to the University of Chicago, becoming a full professor there from 1988 until 1989. In 1989, he started his professorship at New York University. He was then awarded the Silver Professorship at the Courant Institute.^[3][4]

Lin made substantial contributions in Ginzburg–Landau theory.^[5]

Awards and honors

• 1989–1991, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
• 1989–1994, Presidential Young Investigator Award
• 1990, Invited Speaker, International Congress of Mathematicians, Kyoto^[6]
• 1999, Ordway Chair Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota
• 2002, Bôcher Memorial Prize, by American Mathematical Society for fundamental contributions to our understanding of the Ginzburg-Landau equations^[5]
• 2004, Shiing-shen Chern Prize
• 2004, Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[7]
• 2014, Fellow of the American Mathematical Society^[8]
• 2022, SIAM Fellow, "for significant contributions to our understanding of the properties of solutions throughout nonlinear partial differential equations"^[9]