Others are not short-sighted, study mathematics assiduously, and go to Japan to study for the third time. He was the first Chinese to obtain a PhD in Science in Japan. He founded the Chen Su School, which is well-known in the history of mathematics at home and abroad, and is the veritable founder of modern mathematics in China. He devoted his whole life to cultivating mathematics talents for the motherland. He is the pioneer of modern Chinese mathematics Chen Jiangong .
On September 8, 1893, Chen Jiangong was born in an ordinary family in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. He is the eldest son of the family. His father Chen Xingzhai is a staff member of a charity organization in Shaoxing. His monthly salary is only two yuan. His mother worked in a clothing store to subsidize the family. Due to life difficulties, his father was unable to send Chen Jiangong to school. He could only send him to a wealthy family as a companion when he was four years old. Chen Jiangong has an amazing memory and cleverness since he was a child, and soon his homework surpassed the master's reading. A few years later, Chen Jiangong entered the famous Qishan Academy in Shaoxing to study in elementary school. The middle school was admitted to the Shaoxing Dafu Middle School where Mr. Lu Xun once taught. In 1910, 17-year-old Chen Jiangong was admitted to Hangzhou Higher Normal School, which was free of tuition and fees. In the next three years of study, his favorite subject was mathematics, and he became more and more obsessed with mathematics research.
At that time, seeing the vicissitudes of the motherland, the aggrieved Chen Jiangong decided to study mathematics and take the road of saving the country through science. If you want to learn the international frontier mathematics knowledge, you must go abroad for further study. After graduating from normal school, Chen Jiangong decided to apply for the foreign students whose tuition was paid by the government, but his father hoped that Chen Jiangong could find a teaching job in his hometown to support his family after graduation. Although it is impossible to give up the road of mathematics research that he has always adhered to, he is extremely considerate of his father, who is suffering. Chen Jiangong not only did not violently oppose his father's suggestion, but patiently settled an account for his father. If he returns to his hometown to teach, Low wages are a drop in the bucket for improving family life.However, if you study abroad with official fees, you can use most of the scholarships to help your family during your studies. After completing your studies, you can have more income, which can greatly improve the family's living conditions. At that time, the sisters could not only eat, but also go to school. Knowing that Chen Jiangong had a strong desire to study, his father thought that Chen Jiangong's ideas were more long-term, so he asked someone to lend Chen Jiangong to study abroad to make up the total cost of studying abroad.
In 1914, the government at that time did not offer a formal examination for studying abroad with official fees for science. Chen Jiangong could only apply for the engineering course and was successfully admitted to the Tokyo Higher Industrial School to study dyeing craftsmanship. But his interest in mathematics did not diminish, so he was admitted to the night school of Tokyo Physics School, where he studied chemical dyeing during the day and mathematics and physics at night. In order to complete his studies efficiently, Chen Jiangong often eats in his mouth and does research in his hands. While studying day and night, Chen Jiangong had to minimize living expenses and send the saved bursaries home to support his family. But in such a hard and tense learning rhythm, Chen Jiangong successfully completed the learning tasks of the two schools.
In 1918, Chen Jiangong graduated from the Higher Industrial School, and in the spring of the following year, he graduated from the Tokyo Physics School. He returned to China full of learning results and taught at Zhejiang Jiazhong Industrial School. Although the teaching tasks are arduous, Chen Jiangong's love for mathematics continues unabated. Apart from teaching, he is keen on mathematics research and has directed a mathematics interest group. Later, Chen Jiangong felt that he needed to continue to improve in mathematics research. So he was admitted to the Department of Mathematics at Tohoku Imperial University in Japan. In 1920, he went to Japan to study again. Since then began a special study of modern mathematics. In 1921, Chen Jiangong's first mathematics paper was published in the "Northeast Journal of Mathematics". This is also one of the earliest mathematics papers published by Chinese scholars abroad.
In 1923, Chen Jiangong graduated with honors from Northeast Imperial University and returned to China to teach at Zhejiang Technical School.The following year, he was hired as a professor of mathematics by National Wuchang University. After three years of teaching at National Wuchang University, in order to learn the frontier knowledge of international mathematics, Chen Jiangong was once again admitted to the Graduate School of Tohoku Imperial University for a doctorate degree, under the tutelage of Fujimoto Matsaburo, majoring in trigonometric series theory. During Chen Jiangong's two-and-a-half-year postgraduate study, scientific research progressed rapidly and fruitful results. Published 14 professional papers in Japanese academic journals of mathematics. The results of the trigonometric series he studied at that time were also world-class.
In 1929, Chen Jiangong obtained the extremely difficult doctorate. With an excellent defense, he became the first Chinese and the first foreign scholar to obtain the degree in Japan. More than ten years after the publication of his Japanese mathematics monograph "Trigonometric Series Theory", it is still listed as a bibliography for basic mathematics in Japan. After that, Chen Jiangong resolutely resigned from his mentor's invitation to stay in Japan and returned to the motherland. Well-known domestic universities are vying to hire. At the invitation of Zhejiang University , Peking University , Wuhan University and many other universities, he chose the nearest Zhejiang University as the dean of the mathematics department. At that time, there were only five students in the Department of Mathematics of Zhejiang University, divided into two fields. At that time, the Chinese mathematics circle was barren, with no mathematics publications and no mathematics research association. With a passion for the motherland and mathematics, Chen Jiangong embarked on an arduous journey of pioneering the land. Under Chen Jiangong's suggestion, Zhejiang University invited Su Buqing, the second Japanese doctor of science in China. Chen Jiangong gave Su Buqing a more suitable post as the dean of the mathematics department. For more than 20 years, two like-minded mathematicians began to work closely together, determined to build the Department of Mathematics of Zhejiang University into a first-class mathematics department in the country and even in the world. Chen Jiangong and Su Buqing initiated the first mathematics seminar at Zhejiang University, requiring students and teaching assistants to attend. Even if a student has completed all other courses upon graduation, if he does not pass the math seminar, he cannot graduate. Teaching assistants must pass the defense of the mathematics seminar to be promoted. Under this learning mode, the mathematics and scientific research capabilities of students and teaching assistants have been greatly improved.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, Zhejiang University continues to move westward due to the war. Chen Jiangong made up his mind to never stay in the enemy-occupied area, and must continue to run the Department of Mathematics. So he sent his family back to his hometown and moved west with Zhejiang teachers and students. On the westward road, Chen Jiangong and his students were displaced for more than 5,000 miles. Under the chaos of the war, Chen Jiangong's youngest son died of illness, his father died, his wife was separated, and his family was torn apart. Chen Jiangong endured his grief and devoted all his energy to mathematics research and teaching. With the joint efforts of Chen Jiangong and Su Buqing, the Institute of Mathematics of Zhejiang University was born in the war-torn poverty-stricken rural area. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Institute of Mathematics of Zhejiang University published more than 100 papers. The Research Institute and the Chensu College of Zhejiang University are internationally renowned and even attract Indian students to study. University of Cambridge Professor Joseph Needham visited China in 1944 and visited Zhejiang University twice. To his amazement, Zhejiang University still maintains a strong academic and scientific research atmosphere despite the raging war and extreme conditions. In the interview report, he praised the excellent institute of mathematics here, and compared Zhejiang University to China's and Cambridge University .
Chen Jiangong often said: "I think it is more meaningful to train people than to write papers. China needs more mathematics talents." He is diligent throughout his life, always studying hard, and walking at the forefront of teaching. Chen Jiangong was the first person to teach in Chinese in college math class. Before him, the mathematics textbooks used by domestic universities were all in English. Teachers also use English in class. Although Chen Jiangong is proficient in the six languages of Japanese, English, French, German, Italian and Russian, he always believes that as a Chinese, he should use Chinese as teaching materials and teach in Chinese. At that time, with almost no literature on modern Chinese mathematics, Chen Jiangong devoted a lot of energy to compiling Chinese lecture notes. Later, this handout was published publicly on the subject of "Real Function Theory", and it has long become a necessary textbook and reference book for the teaching of real variable function theory in mathematics departments of domestic colleges and universities.
Under the influence of Chen Jiangong,Many universities in China have also begun to teach mathematics in Chinese. Chen Jiangong is meticulous in mathematics and he is extremely serious in preparing lessons. The day before the class, he would carefully review and check the handouts, and then turn over the contents of the handouts in his mind on the morning of class. Regarding class, he has a famous saying: Teaching a class is like fighting, and you must be fully prepared. Su Buqing recalled Chen Jiangong and said, “Ms. Chen always only took a piece of chalk when giving lectures. There was no handout, no outline, no reading of the book, until the end.” He did not bring the handout, not without the handout. His handouts delete some old content and add new ones every year. The content of Chen Jiangong's lectures is objective and substantial, with extremely high reference value. The introduction to technology he wrote for undergraduate teaching in 1935 is still an indispensable textbook for young teachers at Zhejiang University in the 1950s and beyond. Chen Jiangong has guided more than fifty graduate students in his life, most of whom have become mathematics professors. Many of the graduate students taught by Chen Jiangong have made contributions to the motherland in other fields. On April 11, 1971, Chen Jiangong, who worked all his life for the research and education of Chinese mathematics, passed away at the age of 78.
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