article| Zhou Yuan
9 9 _span 9 9th birthday of Mr. Yang _span11 _span 9 20th birthday 9 . According to the folk custom of "beyond nine but ten", this is the 100th birthday.
On this day, the "Mr. Yang Zhenning Academic Thought Symposium-Mr. He Yang Centennial Birthday" co-sponsored by Tsinghua University, Chinese Physical Society, and Chinese University of Hong Kong The main building of the university was held. At the meeting, Mr. Yang Zhenning delivered a speech under the theme of "I hope that people will be long and have a common journey for thousands of miles."
At the meeting, Yang Zhenning specifically talked about his feelings when he first visited New China in 1971. "This understanding will have a very big impact on my life trajectory in the next 50 years." During that interview, he met his long-lost father and many old friends and relatives, as well as his "most important and closest friend." "—— Deng Jiaxian.
At that time, American newspapers kept saying that the Chinese atomic bomb was made with the help of the American physicist Hanchun . Yang Zhenning asked Deng Jia for confirmation before leaving. Later, Deng Jiaxian wrote in a letter to him, “No foreigners participated in the manufacture of China’s atomic bombs, except for some assistance from the Soviets at the very beginning, and later it was basically made by the Chinese themselves.”
Deng Jiaxian also I said an expectation at the end of the letter,"At the end of the letter, he gave me an expectation, "I hope people will last forever." He changed the "Qianli Gongchanjuan" to a "A Thousand Miles Common Way". At that time, I didn't understand this sentence after reading the letter. Fifty years later today, I can say to Deng Jiaxian: Jiaxian, I understand what you mean by "common path", and I can confidently tell you that I will meet your expectations of "common path" for the next fifty years. , I believe you will also be satisfied."
Many people are familiar with the contribution of Deng Jiaxian, the "Two Bomb Hero", and their understanding and attention to Yang Zhenning are limited to his marriage with Weng Fan, and they don’t know Yang Zhenning. His achievements in physics have reached a high level in the history of human science.
He is the greatest physicist in the world, and it is no exaggeration to say that parity unconservation law + Yang Mills theory + Young Baxter equation, these three epoch-making achievements are enough to make Yang Zhenning Become among the greatest physicists of all time.
Yang Zhenning, experienced World War II, experienced the Cold War, experienced China's closure, subsequent reform and opening up, economic takeoff, and experienced China's re-advocacy of science and rapid development in the new century.
One hundred years of wind and rain, what has not changed is his love, pursuit and advocacy of science, and his heart for the motherland. Since Deng Jiaxian wrote to him, now fifty years have passed, he can reply to his old friends calmly, and he has completed his vision of "the common way".
On October 1, 1922, Yang Zhenning was born in the Yang Family Courtyard, Guxiang Road, West Street, Hefei, Anhui. Later, his date of birth was mistakenly written as September 22, 1922 in his 1945 overseas passport, so Tsinghua University’s Centennial Birthday Symposium was chosen to be September 22.
father Yang Wuzhi is a famous mathematician, graduated from Stanford University ,He is the first scholar in China to obtain a Ph.D. in factor theory research. After returning to China, he taught at Tsinghua University, Chen Xingshen , Hua Luogeng , etc. were all from his school.
Mother Luo Menghua and his father are from the same hometown. Although the education level is not high, the two have a good relationship. After the birth of the eldest son, the couple hoped that the child would be able to rejuvenate this poor and weak country when he grew up, and hoped that he could spend his life in peace, so they named him "Zhenning".
Yang Zhenning has been guided by his father since he was a child. He likes mathematics very much, and his grades in other subjects are also very good. He is an out-and-out student. At the age of 16, he was admitted to the National Southwest Associated University with the second place in the country. He was the youngest student enrolled by the Southwest Associated University .
At the age of 23, Yang Zhenning graduated with a master's degree. His undergraduate tutor is Professor Wu Dayou , known as the "Father of Chinese Physics", and his master tutor is Wang Zhuxi, a pioneer in statistical physics research in China thermodynamics . He once said more than once: "My life's insights, vision, appreciation ability, and basic attitude towards physics can be said to be the foundation laid in China when I was young."
Later , Yang Zhenning passed the exam and obtained the qualification to study in the United States at public expense. In 1945, he entered the where his father had studied abroad. Father" Edward Taylor.
Subsequently, Yang Zhenning entered the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study for post-doctoral research, also at Princeton ,He met Li Zhengdao , also from the Chinese physics genius.
Yang Zhenning (left) and Li Zhengdao together
The talented Yang Zhenning still shines in the physics world in the United States, and the tutors all praised him extremely. His teacher is the "Father of Atomic Energy" and the 1938 Nobel Prize winner Enrique Fermi. The two of them jointly proposed the first composite model of elementary particles .
Many years later, Fermi said in an interview: "Yang Zhenning is the most outstanding scientist in this world. He has exactly the same attitude as a famous scholar in ancient times. I am proud to know him. If he is. I am ashamed to be a student of mine. When we are working together on academic research, I often realize that he is a highly savvy scientist who can draw inferences from one another."
The dean of the college at that time was Manhattan Project (the U.S. Department of the Army’s Atomic Bomb Development Program), Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer, who has always been strict and critical, once said that his favorite scene is Yang and Li walking on the Princeton grassland.
In 1954, Yang Zhenning and American physicist Mills (R. Mills) jointly published a paper, and put forward the famous "Yang-Mills theory"-this is Yang Zhenning's most recognized by all physicists so far. Great achievement.
In 1956, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao jointly published a paper that overturned one of the central messages of physics- conservation of parity. elementary particles and their mirror images behave exactly the same. A year later, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao won the Nobel Prize in Physics for jointly proposing the parity non-conservation theory.
In 1957, when Yang Zhenning received the Nobel Prize at the Nobel Prize award ceremony
, representative Yang Zhenning delivered a speech: "I deeply perceive a fact: broadly speaking, I am a product of Chinese culture and Western culture. It is both a product of harmony between the two parties and a product of conflict between the two parties. I would like to say that I am proud of my Chinese tradition, and likewise, I am devoted to modern science."
After the founding of New China in 1949, it was suppressed and blocked by Western powers, and technological development was struggling. At this time, Qian Xuesen , Deng Jiaxian and others returned to China, but Yang Zhenning did not return. Many people use this incident to wonder whether he did not return to the country in time to contribute, but this is not without reason.
While Yang Zhenning was studying in the United States, Korean War broke out, and US President Truman ordered that those who obtained PhD degrees in the United States are prohibited from returning to China. Qian Xuesen and Deng Jiaxian were able to return to China because the government tried every means to "rescue" them.
Applied physics experts like Deng Jiaxian and Qian Xuesen can return to China to study missiles and atomic bombs. Yang Zhenning is a professional researcher of theoretical physics . Without sufficient experimental conditions, it will affect his research. Qian Xuesen also answered the question of Yang Zhenning's failure to return to China in time: "It is the country that wants him to stay abroad, and his role abroad is far greater than that in China."
Even in the United States, Yang Zhenning is also sometimes Always pay attention to the domestic situation. In 1971, after the "ice-breaking" of Sino-US relations, Yang Zhenning decided to return to his motherland for a look at the first time. As a result, he became the first Chinese scientist to return to China for exchanges.
In the room of Beijing Hotel ,Yang Zhenning saw a pair of couplets: For the sake of sacrifice, he dare to teach the sun and the moon to change the sky. "I watched this couplet day and night, and watched the earth-shaking changes in China. At that time, I suddenly realized that I should do my part as a bridge."
Yang Zhenning gives full play to his influence and contributes to the science of China The world has reopened a door to international exchanges. After he returned to the United States, he gave a series of speeches he saw and heard in New China, which also caused great repercussions in the United States. Since then, groups of Chinese American scholars have returned to visit China, and many Hong Kong and Taiwan students who are concerned about New China have also visited the mainland one after another.
Not only that, Yang Zhenning also actively participates in the "Diaoyu Movement". In October 1971, he testified at the hearing of the "Return to Okinawa Agreement" held by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "From the perspectives of history, geography and reality, he fully described the fact that Diaoyu Islands is Chinese territory."
In 1977, as the head of the National Chinese Association, he co-sponsored the establishment of the "National Committee for Chinese-Americans to Promote the Normalization of US-China Diplomatic Relations" with other people concerned about Sino-US exchanges, and published a full-page advertisement in the "New York Times" in an open letter. Letter to the President of Carter to promote the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States of .
Another thing that many people questioned is the nationality of Yang Zhenning.
Yang Zhenning never gave up Chinese nationality. When he went to study in the United States in 1945, he held the "Republic of China passport." When he became American citizenship in 1964, he did not abandon the "Republic of China citizenship", but chose dual citizenship.
Yang Zhenning explained this: "Because I have been going abroad for various visits and exchanges, the passport in my hand was already very inconvenient to use."
Although Yang Zhenning did not give up on himself Of Chinese nationality,But he knew his decision, and there must be many people who couldn't understand it, including his father Yang Wuzhi. Many years after Yang Wuzhi's death, Yang Zhenning recalled: "My father traveled a lot. But I know that until his death, in the corner of his heart, he never forgave my sin of abandoning my hometown and abandoning the country."
Father Yang Wuzhi once left a handwritten note to Yang Zhenning: "Don't forget Dear Yong for every meal, you should feel the grace of the country in your life." Regarding the teachings of his father, Yang Zhenning has actually never forgotten, and has been practicing.
In 1996, when Yang Zhenning gave a speech, the host introduced that he had won the Nobel Prize in 1957. Yang Zhenning immediately raised his hand and added: "At that time I was holding a Chinese passport!"
At the end of 2003, after Yang Zhenning returned to settle in China, he gave up his American citizenship and became a Chinese citizen. He said this sentence: "My father's blood is still circulating in my body. It is the blood of Chinese culture."
This incident has triggered the snobbish statement of Yang Zhenning by the fan. , It shows that looking at China's development now, returning to China to earn money in Tsinghua University pension circle, this is an exquisite egoist!
But actually? Yang Zhenning, who claims to be the "Dongli Returning to the Roots", not only gave up the high salary in the United States. He also sold a house in the United States and donated all the money to Tsinghua .
He also relied on his huge influence in academia to invite many outstanding talents to his motherland. For example, Lin Jiaqiao , the leader of the contemporary applied mathematics school, Nie Huatong , who has also made many achievements in physics research, and the world-renowned computer scientist Yao Qizhi.
Yang Zhenning not only introduces talents for domestic college education and academic research,He also introduced funds. He successively raised 200 million yuan in scientific research funding for Nankai University and Tsinghua University. He also promoted the establishment of Tsinghua University Advanced Research Center. Not only that, he also taught advanced physics knowledge for scientific talents. The Institute of Advanced Studies under his leadership has attracted, influenced and cultivated many young Chinese scientists.
In the 18 years since he returned to China, Yang Zhenning has participated in the construction of more than 60 top physics laboratories. All his research work is done by himself, sometimes with one collaborator at most. He has published more than 30 SCI academic papers at Tsinghua University, raising the level of scientific research on cool atom and condensed matter physics to several levels in the international arena.
wrote a lot of stories about Yang Zhenning, and was deeply impressed by what the popular science writer Zhuo Ke said: "Not every generation has the opportunity to live in the same era as such a great scientist. Being able to live in the same era as Yang Zhenning is the luck of our generation. Of course, this kind of luck should not be ignored and let down.”
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