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Minkowski problem

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Minkowski problem is for given a strictly positive real function f defined on sphere, find a strictly convex compact surface S such that the Gauss curvature of S at the point x equals f(n(x)) , where n(x) denotes the normal to S at x .

A. V. Pogorelov received Ukraine State Prize (1973) for resolving the multidimensional Minkowski problem in Euclidean spaces.

Shing-Tung Yau's joint work with S. Y. Cheng gives a complete proof of the higher dimensional Minkowski problem in Euclidean spaces. Shing-Tung Yau received the Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Warsaw in 1982 for his work in global differential geometry and elliptic partial differential equations, particularly for solving such difficult problems as the Calabi conjecture of 1954, and a problem of Hermann Minkowski in Euclidean spaces concerning the Dirichlet problem for the real Monge-Ampère equation.

In 2007 The Minkowski problem in Riemannian space was resolved.


  • Minkowski H. Volumen und Oberfläche, Mathematische Annalen, 57 (1903) 447—495
  • Cheng, Shiu Yuen; Yau, Shing Tung On the regularity of the solution of the n-dimensional Minkowski problem. Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 29 (1976), no. 5, 495--516.
  • A. V. Pogorelov The Minkowsky multidimensional problem .- Washington: Scripta, 1979.- 97 p.