■Qi Dan Zhang Kecheng
In 2016, the late academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Tsinghua University professor Zhang Wei was listed as a target of the "Academic Growth Data Collection Project for Old Scientists" by the China Association for Science and Technology. To this end, a special working group was established under the leadership of Huang Kezhi academician of Tsinghua University. Mr. Huang is the second graduate student of Academician Zhang Wei. He is the leader of the collection engineering team. The main contact persons are Professor Ren Wenmin, a student of Academician Zhang Wei and his academic secretary for many years, and his son Mr. Zhang Kecheng. The main collectors are Mr. Zhang Kecheng and His wife, Ms. Qi Dan, is in charge, and Chen Pengxiang and Cao Qingqing from Tsinghua University TV Station are responsible for filming and videography. After the
collection team was established, a meeting was held immediately to discuss the collection work and divide the work. It was decided that the work would be divided into three steps: the first step was to sort out the existing data, roughly divide Zhang Wei's life history, and find out the key points of the data. deficiencies and ambiguities; the second step is to formulate collection goals, search for archival materials and literature, and contact and arrange interviews with relevant personnel; the third step is to organize the entries, fill in the gaps, and improve the documents.
After nearly three years of collection and sorting, the collection team has basically completed the scheduled work and is currently in the post-collation and entry stage. After 3 years of collecting, my biggest experience is: you cannot simply be superstitious about existing materials, you must trust your own intuition, and the results will eventually come out through multiple comparisons. In the past three years, we conducted many interviews and surveys on some unreasonable or unclear aspects of Zhang Wei's original information, and through hard work we finally found the answers.
confusion 1
Why did it take 6 years to get a doctorate?
Information shows that Zhang Wei received the fifth Ying Geng grant to study in the UK at public expense in 1937, and his fiancée Lu Shijia accompanied him to study in Germany at his own expense. A year later, Zhang Wei obtained the Diplom of Imperial College, which is equivalent to a master's degree. In order to facilitate contact with his fiancée and to engage in emerging international majors that he was interested in, Zhang Wei transferred his box office funds to Germany at public expense with the consent of the Chinese Embassy in the UK at that time, and entered the civil engineering department of the Berlin Higher Technical School in Germany. majoring in engineering mechanics, studying shell theory under the tutelage of Professor Turk. At the same time, after one year of language barrier, Lu Shijia joined Prandtl at the Göttingen Academy and became his final disciple.
It can be said that Zhang Wei's starting point is higher than that of Lu Shijia. He has completed his master's degree and went straight to his doctorate, while Lu Shijia studied for both master's and doctoral degrees. Four years later, Lu Shijia completed his doctoral thesis under the guidance of Prandtl. He defended his thesis in the spring of 1942 and was highly praised by his supervisor, becoming a first-class doctorate in Germany. After Lu Shijia achieved academic success, she held a wedding with Zhang Wei, and then she became pregnant and gave birth to a child, becoming a mother. It can be said that she had both family and career. However, Zhang Wei received his doctoral diploma two years later than Lu Shijia, and only completed his thesis defense in October 1944.
Some people may think that 6 years is normal, but because Lu Shijia is so good, Zhang Wei seems to be slightly inferior. Information shows that Zhang Wei started his education at the age of 5 and a half and went to college at the age of 16. Not only was he the youngest in his grade, he was also an outstanding student. When he graduated from college, he ranked among the top six in his grade and won the Filippo Medal. Why have I been a top student since I was a kid but slowed down when I was studying for a Ph.D.? Why can't I read Madam?
Information also shows that his roommate Lu Jiaxi, who was awarded the Fifth Geng Geng Scholarship to study abroad in the UK University of London, , obtained a doctorate in philosophy in physical chemistry from the University of London in just two years; he went to Germany to study in the same year as Zhang Wei Li Guohao also became the first Chinese student to obtain the "Chartered Doctor of Engineering" degree from Germany in 1942. Is he worse than them? Is it that the thesis topic is too difficult, or that I missed the point and took a detour?
Neither the archives nor the literature gave a direct answer. We gradually speculated on an explanation:
First, Zhang Wei once described several of his mentors in "Eight Years in Germany", in which he mentioned, "My The second supervisor, Professor Franz Dischinger, has higher requirements for graduate students. He even has to choose the topic of his doctoral thesis. He often says: "I don't run a doctoral factory here."’ Thus rejecting people who want to ask him for a thesis topic to become a doctoral student. Whoever has research results and writes a thesis can submit it to him for defense."
Could it be that for this reason, Zhang Wei took a detour when choosing a doctoral thesis topic?
Secondly, the doctoral thesis "Axisymmetrically Curved Circular Shells" "Uniformly effective solution" is a world-wide problem. Starting from the Reissner-Meissner-Tölke rotating thin shell equation, Zhang Wei used asymptotic analysis and the 1/3-order Bessel function to obtain the positive and negative Gaussians for the torus shell. A consistent and effective asymptotic solution on curvature surfaces. His research results were several years ahead of American and Soviet scholars, and were easier to apply. It was not until 1983 that E. Reissner, a famous mechanic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, presented His letter also reaffirmed his work. This doctoral thesis established Zhang Wei's position in the field of mechanics and set him on the path of scientific research.
Perhaps it was based on the above two factors that led to his expenditure. It took 6 years to complete the doctoral thesis, two years later than normal.
Members of the acquisition team accepted this reasoning and explanation during the stage work discussion.
However, is this really the case? , we interviewed Zhang Wei’s students Niu Youjie and Zhang Qikun. They were classmates in the Department of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University in the 1950s. In addition to their teacher-student relationship during school, they also had many contacts with Zhang Wei after graduation, especially. Niu Youjie, after graduating from university, first stayed at the school and later served as deputy secretary of the Party branch of the Department of Civil Engineering. He worked alongside the department director Zhang Wei and had many contacts. When Zhang Wei was planning to establish Shenzhen University in the 1980s, he even went out of his way to recruit people from his old classmate Lu Jiaxi. , transferred Niu Youjie from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to serve as the director of the Department of Civil Engineering at Shenzhen University to assist him in building Shenzhen University.
Niu Youjie said in the interview that during the early days of Shenzhen University, after dinner in the evening, Zhang Wei I often chat with them, mostly about how to study in foreign universities. Some traditions are very scientific, and some traditions are very strange. Once, Zhang Wei accidentally mentioned that at the Technical School of Engineering in Berlin, Germany, he had to follow the rules for thesis defense. The students entered the school in order, and he waited for his senior brother for two years before it was his turn to defend.
We were shocked! We asked Niu Youjie to repeat it, it was correct! In other words, because Zhang Wei’s senior brother did not graduate, He can only wait until his senior brother graduates before it is his turn.
It turns out that the six-year mystery is due to the convention of the German academic community!
Confusion 2
Why did you leave Tongji and transfer to Beiyang? Display: Zhang Wei landed in Shanghai in May 1946. At the invitation of his friend Li Guohao who had studied in Germany, he accepted a short-term appointment at Shanghai Tongji University; because his mother was in Tianjin, Li Shutian, who was the president of Peiyang University at the time, The professor was Zhang Wei's principal when he was studying at Tangshan Jiaotong University. He enthusiastically hired Zhang Wei as a professor of mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering, where he taught engineering mechanics and structural mechanics. At the same time, Lu Shijia was also hired as a professor in the Department of Aeronautics of Peiyang University.
How long does it mean that "at the invitation of my friend Li Guohao who studied in Germany, he accepted a short-term appointment at Tongji University in Shanghai"? What made them leave Tongji?
The information explains, "Because my mother is in Tianjin, Professor Li Shutian, who was the president of Beiyang University at the time, was also the president of Zhang Wei when he was studying at Tangshan Jiaotong University. He enthusiastically hired Zhang Wei as a professor of mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering." Therefore, Zhang Wei accepted Li Shutian's appointment. At the invitation of the principal, he gave up Tongji and went to Beiyang.
Changing the agreement easily is not Zhang Wei’s style, and it doesn’t make sense!
Our analysis shows that Zhang Wei’s mother is in Tianjin. He has already known it through family letters. This is a fact that has existed for 9 years and should not be the main reason for him to leave Tongji.Secondly, Li Shutian strongly invited him to go to Beiyang, which was indeed a temptation. There were five factors in the temptation: first, Beiyang was the earliest engineering university in China, with a solid foundation and a wide range of disciplines, making it an ideal place; second, Li Shutian was once Zhang Wei Zhang Wei, who was the principal of Tangshan Jiaotong University, was full of admiration for Principal Li. It was his honor to work under Principal Li. Thirdly, Zhang Wei had studied in Beiyang for less than a year as a preparatory course. He was one of his alma maters and had a close relationship with him. ; Fourth, Beiyang has an aviation system, and Lu Shijia will be useful after arriving in Beiyang; fifth, Tianjin not only has his mother and eldest brother's family, but it is also close to Peking, and Lu Shijia's mother is still in Peking, which facilitates family ties. But Zhang Wei is a scientist, rigorous in his work, and measured in his advancement and retreat. In his life, he has never done anything that was only for his own sake without considering the overall situation. Changing the agreement easily is not Zhang Wei's style! Then, it can be inferred that it is absolutely impossible to leave Tongji and go to Beiyang just because of these two factors.
We then looked up Li Guohao's biography to see if this paragraph was included in the book.
Records in the book: "(Li Guohao) returned to China in February 1946 and worked as an engineer in the Shanghai Municipal Public Works Bureau, repairing the Waibaidu Bridge. When he heard the news that his alma mater, Tongji University, had returned to Shanghai, he immediately found the president, Dong Xifan, and obtained the Professorship of the School of Engineering. In October 1947, he was appointed dean of the School of Engineering. "It can be seen that Li Guohao did not return to Tongji University immediately after returning to Shanghai in February 1946. Why? At this time, Tongji was on the way to demobilization after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. Therefore, while Li Guohao was responsible for the maintenance of the Waibaidu Bridge in the Shanghai Public Works Bureau, he was waiting for Tongji's return, and at the same time he was cooperating with Tongji University in recruiting talents. Zhang Wei and his wife arrived in Shanghai in May of the same year. After learning about the situation, they assisted Li Guohao in making some preparations for resumption of classes. However, Tongji did not demobilize so quickly, and classes did not resume until the autumn of the following year.
Zhang Wei and Lu Shijia had nothing to do. It was not their style to get paid and not work. They felt very uneasy. At this time, they received a letter from their eldest brother and learned that Principal Li Shutian intended to hire them and his wife to go to Beiyang. In addition, Lu Shijia found out that she was pregnant again at this time. The strong pregnancy reaction made her unable to adapt to the Shanghai environment as she grew up in the north. Moreover, she had a 4-year-old daughter to take care of. Her homesickness made her consider returning to the north. desire.
So, weighing the pros and cons, they submitted their resignation to Li Guohao. Li Guohao also knew the current situation and could only nod in agreement with regret.
A letter written by Zhang Wei to Mr. Gu Yisun of Tangshan Jiaotong University after arriving in Beiyang
So, how long did Zhang Wei stay in Tongji?
From the letter Zhang Wei wrote to Mr. Gu Yisun of Tangshan Jiaotong University after arriving in Beiyang, it can be seen that "[the student] unfortunately contracted jaundice at the end of September and was ill for more than a month. He just returned to the north a few days ago." This letter was written on November 20th. Based on this, it is inferred that we will take a boat from Shanghai to Tianjin in early November, travel for a week, and arrive in Beiyang in mid-November. Calculating this, Zhang Wei and his wife arrived in Shanghai in May and stayed in Tongji for nearly 6 months, which was indeed a short-term employment.
In 1983, Zhang Wei was appointed by the Ministry of Education to serve as the first president of Shenzhen University, creating many firsts. Colleges and universities across the country visited Shenzhen University to learn from it. As the principal, Zhang Wei often receives colleagues to introduce the situation to them. Likewise, he also received visiting teachers and students from Tongji University. During a reception, he told everyone that he was an alumnus of Tongji University and received a one-month salary.
I have been here for nearly 6 months, but I only received one month’s salary!
Excluding illness and idleness, Zhang Wei only asked for one month's salary. This is Zhang Wei, who distinguishes public and private matters to the last detail!
sounds simple, but it is actually very simple!
Confusion 3
Why did become a good guy so easily?
When determining the interview list, we did not hesitate to propose Academician Pan Jiluan , because Mr. Pan is very familiar with his father and there is a story between them.
Sure enough, as soon as I contacted Mr. Pan, he said: "Mr. Zhang and I are very familiar. He is my teacher. I must talk about it. Not only do I want to talk about it, but my wife also wants to talk about it. Speaking of it, I If it weren't for Mr. Zhang, the fate with my wife might not necessarily be what it is today.”
Mr. Pan’s words surprised us, and we quickly arranged an interview with a group of relatives and friends. On June 4, 2016, Mr. Pan’s wife, Ms. Li Shiyu, told us about the process of coming to Beijing from Hunan alone to take the university entrance examination in 1950.
At that time, Ms. Li came to Beijing and was unfamiliar with the place. She found Long Yuqiu, who was an assistant coach at Tsinghua University at the time, through the introduction of a fellow villager, and asked him to help arrange accommodation. , without saying a word, he immediately arranged for her to live with his sister in Guyuetang, Tsinghua University. Mr. Long had a roommate named Pan Jiluan. Mr. Pan fell in love with this pretty Hunan girl and volunteered to tutor her
. It went smoothly, and the relationship between Pan and Li also developed smoothly. However, when the exam was approaching, they were suddenly notified that they needed to have a Beijing household registration to register. This made them dumbfounded. Li Shiyu was from Hunan, so he naturally had a Hunan household registration. She couldn't apply for a household registration, and there was no way she could go to college and stay in Beijing.
This made Li Shiyu anxious, and Pan Jiluan even more anxious. If she wasn't in Beijing, who would she find?
At this moment, A classmate named Huang asked Li Shiyu: "Do you know any professors at Tsinghua University? If so, talk to him and just put your hukou in his family. "
"I know Zhang Wei! Li Shiyu blurted out, "But I just know it, but I don't know it." "
It turns out that Li Shiyu's uncles, Li Enye and Zhang Wei, were both students studying in Germany. Li Shiyu only heard from his uncle that he had a classmate named Zhang Wei who returned to China and became a professor at Tsinghua University. They had never met.
That Huang The classmate with the last name was quite chivalrous and volunteered to find Zhang Wei. When Zhang Wei heard what was going on, he nodded. It was a person like Li Enye. His niece came to Beijing to take the university entrance examination and wanted to temporarily register her residence in his family. There was no problem. Even if Zhang Weidang agreed, he did it without even meeting Li Shiyu.
Li Shiyu was admitted to the Department of Chemistry of Peking University and later got married to Mr. Pan as he wished. Li Shiyu and Mr. Pan sighed with emotion: "Mr. Zhang is such a good person, how come you believe me without even meeting him?" People at that time were so simple, they didn’t even want to say thank you. ”
The story is very touching, and the image of Zhang Wei as a good person left a deeper impression on us. But the author (Qi Dan) is still a little confused: Is this a bit too unprincipled? Zhang Wei has always been rigorous in doing things, and he does things easily without verification. Yun Nuo is not like his style. Was he unprincipled for a while, or was he very innocent at that time?
One year passed, and one day in 2017, the author found a family tree sent by Zhang Wei to the Tsinghua Archives. I thought it was just the basic information about the Zhang family, but I didn't expect that there were two pieces of copy paper mixed in the family tree. On it was written the list of the Jinlan brothers he had sworn while studying in Germany. There were 24 people in total. When he checked carefully, he found a familiar The name is Brother Li Enye!
The truth is revealed, it turns out that Li Shiyu's uncle Li Enye is Zhang Wei's sworn brother! No wonder he doesn't need to meet with Li Enye to verify, and Li Enye's niece is his niece in the author's mind. I was secretly happy: Zhang Wei was not just a nice guy, he had principles in doing things. I immediately took a photo of this file and sent it to Li Shiyu and Mr. Pan to share it with them.
I searched for him on Baidu and found it every time. When reading this kind of information, the fatigue and hard work in the collection process disappeared immediately.
I was tired and happy!
(The author Zhang Kecheng and Qi Dan are the son and daughter-in-law of Zhang Wei)
Group photo after the collection interview ( From left are Long Yuqiu, Chen Yaosong, Pan Jiluan, Li Shiyu, Qi Dan, Chen Peiying, Huang Kezhi, Ren Wenmin, Zhang Kezheng)
