Shiing-Shen Chern was a prominent Chinese-American mathematician known for his significant contributions to differential geometry and topology. Born on October 4, 1911, in Hangzhou, China, he later moved to the United States, where he became a professor at University of California, Berkeley. Chern is best known for the Chern classes, which are fundamental in the study of vector bundles and have applications in various fields, including physics. Throughout his career, Chern received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the prestigious National Medal of Science in 1975. He played a crucial role in promoting mathematics in China and was instrumental in establishing the Chern Institute of Mathematics in Tianjin. Chern passed away on December 6, 2004, leaving a lasting legacy in the mathematical community.