Xiao-Gang Wen received a BS in physics from University of Science and Technology of China in 1982 and a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1987.He studied superstring theory under theoretical physicist Edward Witten at Princeton University. Wen later switched his research field to condensed matter physics while working with theoretical physicists Robert Schrieffer, Frank Wilczek, Anthony Zee in Institute for Theoretical Physics, UC Santa Barbara (1987-1989).He became a five-year member of IAS at Princeton in 1989 and joint MIT in 1991. Wen is a Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT (2004-present), a Distinguished Moore Scholar at Caltech (2006), and a Distinguished Research Chair at Perimeter Institute (2009). Among other honors, Wen is a Sloan Foundation Fellow (1992); APS Fellow (2002), Isaac Newton Chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (2011), co-winner of the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize (2017) "for theories of topological order and its consequences in a broad range of physical systems", and was elected to National Academy of Science (2018) in recognition of "distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."

Abstract：

Topological orders and some related key concepts will be explained using some simple lattice models. The relation between topological order and tensor category theory will be explained  in a simple physical way.