Andrew Yao

Andrew Chi-Chih Yao
姚期智
Yao in 2015
Born (1946-12-24) December 24, 1946
Citizenship
EducationNational Taiwan University (BS)
Harvard University (MA, PhD)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (PhD)
Known forYao's principle
SpouseFrances Yao
AwardsGeorge Pólya Prize (1987)
Knuth Prize (1996)
Turing Award (2000)
Kyoto Prize (2021)
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
Theoretical physics
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
Princeton University
Tsinghua University
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Theses
Doctoral advisorSheldon Glashow (Harvard)
Chung Laung Liu (Illinois)
Chinese name
Chinese姚期智
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinYáo Qīzhì
Wade–GilesYao2 Ch'i1chih4

Andrew Chi-Chih Yao (Chinese: 姚期智; pinyin: Yáo Qīzhì; born December 24, 1946) is a Chinese computer scientist, physicist, and computational theorist. He is currently a professor and the dean of Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghua University. Yao used the minimax theorem to prove what is now known as Yao's principle.

Yao was raised in Taiwan and graduated from National Taiwan University. He earned a master's degree and his PhD in physics from Harvard University, then earned a second doctorate in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Yao was a naturalized U.S. citizen, and worked for many years in the U.S. In 2015, together with Yang Chen-Ning, he renounced his U.S. citizenship and became an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.