Hao Wang

Hao Wang

Hao Wang (1921–1995) was a renowned mathematician and logician, best known for his work on automata theory and the development of Wang tiles, a method of tiling a plane with geometric shapes.

Biography

Hao Wang was born in China and showed exceptional talent in mathematics from a young age. He pursued his studies at the National Central University and later moved to the United States, where he earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University.

Contributions

Wang is primarily recognized for introducing Wang tiles, which are square tiles that can be used to cover a surface in such a way that the colors on the edges of adjacent tiles must match. This concept has significant implications in the areas of computer science, particularly in algorithm design and theoretical computer science.

Wang Tiles

• Wang tiles consist of colored square tiles, each with designated edge colors.
• The challenge involves arranging the tiles on a plane without leaving any gaps, while ensuring that adjacent tiles share the same color along their edges.
• Wang's exploration of this tiling method led to important theorems in the fields of computation and algorithms.

Legacy

Wang’s work continues to inspire researchers in mathematical logic, computer science, and theoretical foundations of computation. His contributions serve as a basis for exploring computational complexity and non-periodic tiling.

References

• Hao Wang - Wikipedia
• Additional Resources