FigureAsia 35 Under 35 · Science
Yilin Wang
Age 34 · Probability and conformal geometry · China / Switzerland
A leading architect of the bridge between Loewner energy, random curves and conformal field theory.
- Approximate age at the edition eligibility date
- 34
- Field
- Mathematics
- Country or region
- China / Switzerland
- FigureAsia U35 Assessment
- 92.7 / 100
Profile
Career and documented record
Yilin Wang studies the border between deterministic geometry and the random curves that arise in two-dimensional statistical physics. Her work on Loewner energy has supplied a variational language for objects usually described through probability, exposing structure that neither viewpoint reveals alone.
In 2025, Wang continued that bridge through work on infinitesimal conformal restriction and unitarising measures for the Virasoro algebra. The result connects geometric function theory, stochastic Loewner evolution and representation theory—areas with different technical languages but a common conformal core.
Her July 2025 appointment as an ETH associate professor and the Prix Jacques Herbrand reflect a body of work already reshaping random conformal geometry. The contribution is foundational: a new framework in which probabilistic phenomena can be measured, compared and, in some regimes, optimised geometrically.
FigureAsia selection
Why Yilin Wang is on the list
Wang's distinction is synthesis at theorem level. She has not attached fashionable language to established geometry; she has built machinery that lets probability, analysis and mathematical physics speak to one another with new precision.
Verified work
The 2025–26 record
Virasoro and conformal restriction
Published work connecting infinitesimal conformal restriction with unitarising measures for the Virasoro algebra.
ETH appointment
Became associate professor of mathematics at ETH Zurich.
Prix Jacques Herbrand
Received major recognition for contributions to probability and conformal geometry.
Field context
The work in its field
Random conformal geometry describes interfaces and curves at criticality. Loewner energy provides a deterministic counterpart, allowing rare or limiting random behaviour to be understood through geometric cost.
FigureAsia U35 Assessment
Assessment breakdown
92.7out of 100
Substantive 2025–2026 contribution
18 / 20
Published work connecting infinitesimal conformal restriction with unitarising measures for the Virasoro algebra.
Verified scientific impact
13.8 / 15
A major appointment and prize recognise a framework already used across probability, analysis and mathematical physics.
Originality and distinction
9.3 / 10
The distinction lies in a deterministic energy formalism that captures the geometry underlying random conformal curves.
Field influence
9.3 / 10
Within mathematics, the work matters because it shifts a live question in probability and conformal geometry rather than merely attracting attention.
Individual agency
9.3 / 10
Wang's papers and research programme establish her as an originator of the Loewner-energy framework and its extensions.
Durability and trajectory
4.8 / 5
As Associate Professor of Mathematics at ETH Zurich, Wang has a platform to carry the work into its next stage.
Asian significance and global relevance
4.7 / 5
Born in Shanghai and educated in China before building an international research career in Europe.
Evidential validity and reproducibility
7.5 / 8
Results are formal mathematical arguments with explicit hypotheses, open to complete verification by the field.
Advance in scientific knowledge
6.5 / 7
The work reveals a variational structure behind random interfaces and their conformal symmetries.
Translational or methodological utility
4.7 / 5
Its utility is methodological, giving probabilists and mathematical physicists a common set of geometric tools.
Responsible research stewardship
4.8 / 5
The profile separates established theorems from wider interpretations in physics and credits all co-authored work jointly.