The next day, on the front pages of the "People's Daily", "Guangming Daily" and other authoritative newspapers, the news that made all Chinese people celebrate was made public: China's young physicists Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning won the Nobel Prize in Physics, becoming the fir

In November 1957, a telegram was sent from the Chinese Physical Society representing the attitude of the Chinese government and scientific community. The next day, on the front pages of the "People's Daily", "Guangming Daily" and other authoritative newspapers, the news that made all Chinese people celebrate was made public: China's young physicists Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning Won the Nobel Prize in Physics, becoming the first Chinese scholar to win in this field!

As soon as the news that brought glory to the people came back, all walks of life began to get busy: the government was striving to welcome the two young talents back to the country as soon as possible, and the media from all walks of life actively followed the news of these two Nobel Prize winners. The two young people who took home the trophy invariably picked up their pens and wrote their heartfelt words on the letter paper with excitement and gratitude.

The recipient of this letter is neither a relative of their family nor a well-known popular figure. But he was like Confucius to Zi Lu Yanhui. This person's name is Wu Dayou.

1. Ten years of Nankai life

China in 1907 was still under the rule of the corrupt Qing government. In the 33rd year of Guangxu's reign, Guangzhou was still called Panyu County, Guangzhou Prefecture, and it was here that Wu Dayou began his life.

Compared with the common people born in a poor family, Wu Dayou's background is obviously much superior. Born into a distinguished and scholarly family, he was taught by his grandfather who was a Jinshi scholar and his father who was a scholar since childhood.

His father's generation worked for the Qing government. Naturally, it was clear that the country's fortunes were declining, so he hoped to train Wu Dayou to become a pillar of the country and worked hard. Unfortunately, something unexpected happened. Before Wu Dayou reached school age, his father and grandfather died of illness one after another. The huge Wu family suddenly lost its mainstay.

When he was six years old, Wu Dayou had only his mother taking care of him. However, it is difficult for women with feudal traditions to provide good educational resources for their children. Fortunately, Dayou's uncle, the principal of Guangdong Lujin Middle School at the time, extended a helping hand. He couldn't bear to see his extremely intelligent nephew become a mediocre person, so he funded his education and allowed Wu Dayou to attend Nankai Middle School.

That year, Wu Dayou was 14 years old. The young boy didn't know yet that his fate with Nankai had just begun. The pursuit of knowledge was all his hobbies. The young Wu Dayou had a firm belief: I want to go to college!

The course content of Nankai Middle School is not simple. While other sophomore students were still struggling with the homework assigned by the teacher, Wu Dayou, who had completed his homework ahead of schedule, was already studying the senior year courses on his own with the borrowed senior books. The knowledge that he had never been exposed to was so obscure and difficult to understand, but Wu Dayou was not only gifted, but also far more diligent than others.

He kept polishing his talent, and when he turned 18, he eagerly took the entrance examination and became the first grade-skipping student in the history of Nankai University to pass the exam in advance.

Yang Zhenning and his mentor

are young talents and are favored by famous teachers. Professor Rao Yutai of Nankai University took a fancy to Wu Dayou's talents and taught him carefully from the first day he entered the university. A thousand-mile horse must be appreciated by Bole, and Wu Dayou's piece of jade finally found its way into the hands of a skilled craftsman. Professor Rao Yutai is a pioneer of modern physics in China. It can be said that without him, there would be no Physics Department of Nankai University today.

To Wu Dayou, Rao Yutai was both a teacher and a friend, a mentor and a loving father. In the laboratory, he patiently and wholeheartedly guided Wu Dayou's scientific research; in life, he and Wu Dayou ate at the same table and played chess together. He was Wu Dayou's physics leader, and he also made him feel the care and concern of a father like a spring breeze.

For ten years, from middle school to university, from a student to a teacher, Wu Dayou grew up in the fertile soil of Nankai. In the blink of an eye, there were more than 3,600 days and nights. He absorbed the nutrients of physics in the company of good teachers and friends, and his knowledge reserve increased day by day with his love for physics. When a seed of hope finally grew into a tree that could withstand the storm, Professor Rao Yutai wrote a letter of recommendation, which opened the academic path for Wu Dayou to study in the United States.

years later, when the successful Wu Dayou looked back at the ten years in Nankai that set the tone for his life, he said with deep affection: "The ten years in Nankai determined my life's behavior and work habits. I left my motherland for a long time, What I miss the most is my mentor Mr. Rao Yutai. "

2. Stay together forever

If Wu Dayou was asked to choose the most unforgettable place in his life, I think he would definitely name "Nankai" without hesitation. Character. Because here, he not only paved the way for his career, but also met the love of his life - Ruan Guanshi .

The wind was blowing in December of 1928, but in Wu Dayou's memory, it was a warm winter. At a teacher-student concert hosted by the school, 22-year-old Wu Dayou caught a glimpse of a weak girl from the crowd. She is so beautiful, it makes people think of the delicate flowers shining on the water and the bright moon in the pond.

The handsome young man straightened his collar and approached her. After introducing himself, he learned the name of the girl he fell in love with at first sight: Ruan Guanshi .

are both top students in the Physics Department of Nankai University, and the combination of talent and beauty is a natural fit. When you first taste love, everything about your lover seems so attractive. After meeting Ruan Guanshi, this proud man of physics gave up the "gentleman who lives far away from the kitchen" taught to him by his feudal family.

Just because she said she likes to drink beef soup, Wu Dayou, who "doesn't touch Yang Chun Shui", started to learn cooking skills without hesitation.

He bought fresh beef and condiments early in the morning, carefully cut it, marinated it, put it into a special casserole and simmered it for several hours, until the beef was completely flavored and then turned off the heat. The beef soup is bright in color and tastes like a famous restaurant chef.

So you can always see such strange things in Nankai University: Wu Dayou, a man of physics, holding a jar wrapped thickly in cloth with his hands playing with experimental equipment, clumsily but carefully standing beside Ruan Guanshi. Downstairs, waiting for lovers to taste his craftsmanship.

The dense heat will last for decades once it warms up. First she made beef stew, and then she made decoction. Ruan Guanshi had been in poor health since childhood, but Wu Dayou never left her and took care of her personally.

On a sunny day, a couple will go to the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing to play. The two people looked at each other, their ears pressed against the sound wall. Seeing his weak lover, Wu Dayou smiled sweetly, and prayed in a gentle voice: "I hope God will allow us to be together for all eternity."

Wu Dayou was greatly moved, and at that time he made up his mind: No matter what happens in the next life, In this life, he identified Ruan Guanshi as .

And he did spend his whole life fulfilling his promise. In September 1936, Wu Dayou invited Jiang Menglin, the president of Peking University, to witness his wedding. This sweet couple finally became a loving couple and continued their love.

Until a cannon sounded in Wanping City. Less than a year after their marriage, the Japanese army began a full-scale invasion of China. Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University all moved to Changsha. Wu Dayou was worried that his wife was weak and could not bear the displacement, so he made arrangements in advance and arranged for his wife to be properly settled in Tianjin.

When parting, he tearfully asked his wife to take care of herself. Living in troubled times, I don’t know when we will meet again. But Ruan Guanshi is not an ordinary weak woman. She missed her husband so much that she dragged her frail body and immediately bought a boat ticket to go south, following in her husband's footsteps. When they met in Qingdao, the two hugged each other and cried.

Three prestigious universities were temporarily merged into Southwest Associated University and settled in Changsha. Soon after, the Japanese army raided and Changsha was no longer safe. It's okay for Wu Dayou to be alone, but his wife's body is really unable to bear the load that can be transferred at any time.

In the past two years, Wu Dayou first took his wife to the safe Sichuan region, and then returned to Kunming, where the Southwest Associated University was relocated. One is to find a stable place, and the other is to allow his wife to recuperate in a suitable climate and environment. There was a Japanese air raid in Kunming, so Wu and his wife moved to the countryside. In order to take care of his wife, Wu Dayou kept changing jobs and moving house, but he never complained about Ruan Guanshi.

But Wu Dayou was a weak scholar after all. Years of avoiding chaos had made him haggard, not to mention that he had to wear leather shoes and walk more than ten miles every day to teach at Southwest Associated University. Prices soared during the war, and this handsome young man was wearing patched clothes, and the road was blue and blue.

In the spring of 1943, Wu Dayou lost his footing on a frightened horse and suffered a concussion. He had to suspend his teaching work and stay in bed. A husband and wife are friends in times of need. Ruan Guanshi, who was weak, managed to stay strong and took care of her husband for more than a month. When Wu Dayou finally got better, he himself collapsed in the ward.

Ruan Guanshi was terminally ill, and coupled with the exhaustion from days of hard work, even the doctor suggested preparing for funeral arrangements. But Wu Dayou didn't want to give up on his wife. He sent her to the hospital and returned to the countryside to recuperate. The war is raging and medical expenses are high. This distinguished intellectual and professor of Southwest Associated University had to set up a street stall to sell everything.

Perhaps their sincerity moved God, and Ruan Guanshi, who has a strong will to survive, finally turned the corner. After this crisis, the couple became destitute, but their love became stronger than gold.

3. Spring Breeze Tao Li Luo Tang Qian

Although his days at Southwest Associated University were difficult, Wu Dayou continued his scientific research work with the support of his lover.

Before the July 7th Incident, Wu Dayou, who had returned from many first-class universities in the world, had become the leader of the physics professor group of Peking University. He proposed the establishment of the Peking University-Tsinghua Joint Physics Seminar, which was the first of its kind in China. China's physics community has a strong academic atmosphere, and his personal research results are also fruitful.

During the war, he traveled around for a living during the day and discussed academic issues with academic leaders at night. Although the living conditions were difficult, Wu Dayou gained unprecedented spiritual wealth here.

Under the severe current situation, he insisted on teaching classical mechanics, trained a large number of famous physicists such as Yang Zhenning, Li Zhengdao, Guo Yonghuai, and Zhu Guangya. Although some key figures in the physics community are not teachers and students of Wu Dayou, their research results are all based on Wu Dayou's academic theories.

Wu Dayou learned how to be a good teacher from his mentor Professor Rao Yutai, and applied it to his own students. Yang Zhenning received the guidance of Wu Dayou for his graduation thesis, and has since established the direction of physics research in his life; and Li Zhengdao, who shared the Nobel Prize with him, is more like the Wu Dayou who was around Rao Yutai back then.

Li Zhengdao comes from an ordinary family, but he is eager to learn. He traveled all the way from his hometown of Zhejiang to Kunming, hoping to study at Southwest Associated University. Because he did not comply with school regulations, Li Zhengdao was unable to obtain student status. However, Wu Dayou, who had a keen eye for pearls, defied all opinions and made an exception to allow Li Zhengdao to attend.

This young student from Zhejiang did not disappoint Wu Dayou. He has topped the exams many times and demonstrated scientific research capabilities that far exceed the school's requirements. When he went to the United States for further study in 1946, Wu Dayou strongly recommended Li Zhengdao as an exchange student and followed him to study for a doctorate at the University of Chicago.

李正道

This was the first doctorate in Chinese history without a university diploma. Since then, he has flourished and eventually became a leading figure in the Chinese physics community. After he and Yang Zhenning won the Nobel Prize in Physics together, they wrote a special letter to express their gratitude to their mentor: "If you had not given me this opportunity in 1946, I would not have the glory I have today."

Wu Dayou received this letter Finally, he did not attribute the credit of his students to himself. He thought that he was just lucky enough, and that gold shines because it is gold.

In fact, Wu Dayou’s contribution to the Chinese physics community goes far beyond that. When he returned from the University of Michigan, he brought back a new and revolutionary theory of quantum mechanics. At that time, there was almost a blank in this area in the domestic physics community. He has been moving around for decades and has never stopped his career of teaching and educating people. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the Confucius of Chinese physics.

Maybe you have rarely heard of his name, maybe you have never heard of his story.But Wu Dayou and his students are using their own strength and knowledge to change and promote the development of China's physics community.

The three characters Wu Dayou represent not only him personally, but also a group of people of that generation who still adhered to the character of a scholar despite the war. In the first half of his life, he brought Western learning back to the East and established a new school of physics in China; in the second half of his life, he wrote books while ill and served as a bridge for academic exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.

Wu Dayou has been wandering for half his life, unable to return to his homeland, but his heart is always China. When he returned to his alma mater, Nankai, at the age of eighty-five, the old man's cloudy eyes were filled with tears. He lived up to his youthful dreams and devoted himself to academics throughout his life.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Mr. Wu Dayou. When we look up, don't forget that above the starry sky, there was once such an academic leader who used his light to illuminate the front and countless students.

text | Wen Xi