Text/Pan Caixia
2000, Nankai University, Tianjin. In a small yellow two-story building, the mathematical master Chen Sheng, looking at a large picture on the wall, muttered: "You are only in your eighties, why did you leave first?" ”
In the photo, her eyes are gentle, as before.
The small building is called "Ning Garden". The name was taken by Chen Shengsheng, one of which he believes that to do learning should have a quiet mind;
Second, the word "Ning" is full of his deep affection for his wife.
His wife, named Zheng Shining.
Chen Shengshen and Zheng Shining
In 1930, Chen Graduated from Nankai University and was admitted to the Department of Mathematics of Tsinghua University to pursue graduate studies. Because of his talent, Zheng Tongsun, a professor in the Department of Mathematics, paid special attention to him. His daughter, Zheng Shining, is studying biology at Soochow University, and he hopes that Chen Shengsheng can be his son-in-law who rides the dragon.
Zheng Tongsun's thoughts, his friend Professor Yang Wuzhi (Yang Zhenning's father) saw it, so he and his wife acted as a red bride. At that time, Chen Shengsheng was preparing to study abroad, and he promised to talk about lifelong events after returning to China.
In 1937, despite the fact that the war had already begun, Chen Returned to China after completing his studies and came to teach at the Changsha Provisional University, which was established by Tsinghua, Peking University, and Nankai.
That year, Zheng Shining had graduated from Soochow University and also came to Changsha. Led by the needles of the division commanders, the two young men were engaged.
Although it is the fate of his parents, Zheng Shining is not blind to love at all.
Under the turmoil of the country' wars and chaotic times, the fate of many people was forced to be rewritten, and Chen Shengsheng, while teaching, while propagating the anti-Japanese struggle to save the country, this patriotic sentiment and national aspirations made Zheng Shining feel that he was a magnet and had an irresistible attraction.
Young Chen province
As war approached, Changsha Temporary University moved to Kunming. After the establishment of southwest United University, Chen Shengshen served as a professor in the School of Science. In July 1939, he and Zheng Shining became a couple.
Such emotions are not romantic, but simple and sincere. Many years later, Chen Recalled: "We didn't actually fall in love, because her father wanted to recruit a son-in-law and thought I was good enough to be his daughter's husband." She also listened to her father, so we got married. ”
In the United Nations General Assembly, the material life was very difficult, and because of the constant bombardment of the Japanese and Kosovo, there was often no place to live. Soon, Zheng Shining became pregnant, and in order to ensure safety, her father took her back to her home in Shanghai to give birth.
It was 1940, and the couple would never have imagined that by the time they said goodbye, it would have been 6 years later.
After the birth of his son, Zheng Shining prepared to return to Kunming, but unexpectedly, the Pacific War broke out. As the fighting expanded and transportation was interrupted, she was forced to remain in Shanghai.
At the Southwest United University, Chen Province had no choice but to live a single life. Fortunately, his supervisor sent a large amount of materials from abroad, and he published a large number of papers while "thinking behind closed doors", and cultivated many talents on the other hand, including Yang Zhenning.
Chen Shengshen (left) and Yang Zhenning
Because the research results attracted the attention of the international mathematical community, in 1943, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study invited Chen Shengsheng to be a visiting scholar.
The world was in a big war, and he could not go to Shanghai to say goodbye to his wife and children. With guilt, and an obsession and desire for mathematical research, he finally reached the United States after several tosses.
On the other side of the ocean, Chen Province immersed himself in research, making "differential geometry enter a new era" and was known as the "father of modern differential geometry". And Zheng Shining, in the long and difficult days, while teaching in the middle school, while raising his young son, looking forward to seeing through.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Shengshen decided to return to China to serve. After the war, the traffic was congested and chaotic, and the return trip took three months.
In 1946, he was finally reunited with Zheng Shining. At this time, the son who had never met before was 6 years old.
Grievances and hardships, Zheng Shining did not tell, for him, only understanding and support. Embracing his virtuous wife and son, Chen Shengsheng made a tearful promise: "From now on, the family will never be separated!" ”
He didn't break his word. At the end of 1948, Princeton University issued another invitation, originally inviting only Chen To be alone, but he insisted on going with the whole family. It wasn't until the other party solved the family's ticket that he embarked on the road to the United States.
When he set off, in addition to a pair of mahjong, he also carried his daughter's diaper.
Chen province is a family
After arriving in the United States, Chen first engaged in research at Princeton University, and later taught at the University of Chicago and the University of California. In order to let him study with peace of mind, Zheng Shining undertook all the chores of life, and the small family was quiet and happy.
Because of his obsession with mathematics, Chen Sheng's mind will always burst out of fresh and wonderful thoughts, and every time he drives out, Zheng Shining will be very nervous and repeatedly ding. Later, she simply picked him up and dropped him off, a habit that lasted for decades.
Although he was a mathematical genius, Chen Shengsheng had no interest in administrative chores. Zheng Shining was his plenipotentiary representative, and when he was invited to the academic conference, he had only one request, that is, to bring his wife along.
Accompanied by Zheng Shining, Chen Shengshen's career was in full swing, and in 1961, he was elected as an academician by the American Academy of Sciences.
Being in the United States, my heart is worried about my homeland. Whenever he encounters overseas students, Zheng Shining will warmly invite them to come to his home. She has a good cooking skill, and the warmth on the tip of her tongue comforts the homesick heart of young students.
Her hospitality enhanced Chen's character and prestige, and together with her academic achievements, she earned him a high reputation in the mathematical community.
In 1972, when Sino-US relations finally broke the ice, Chen Shengsheng immediately returned to China for a visit, hoping to contribute his last efforts to the motherland.
He invited domestic mathematicians to study in the United States, and in order to save money, he let them live in his own home. Zheng Shining is still a consistent enthusiasm, and many years later, Hua Luogeng and Yau Chengtong are still obsessed with her hospitality.
Family chores, interpersonal interactions, she solved them one by one. Without worries, Chen Shengsheng was able to devote himself to research wholeheartedly, and only then did he have the glory of "going up to the tall building alone".
Mr. and Mrs. Chen Shengshen and Mr. and Mrs. Hua Luogeng
Love, in fact, is a simple thing, nothing more than the harmony and bitterness of the piano, nothing more than the hand of the son and the son with the old, just like a good habit, let people be willing to repeat it day and night.
On the day of Zheng Shining's company, happy and warm, on her 60th birthday, Chen Shengshen specially composed a poem for her:
"Thirty-six years of joy and sorrow, merciless time forced people to come.
Ma Tian, the sea, su zhi, raised children lai Rucai.
Fortunately, there are articles to comfort the evening scene, and I am ashamed to leave the well and work hard.
The little mountain white head is blessed, and he does not feel that the sun and moon in the pot are long. ”
Her decades of silent dedication, he remembered. In 1978, in "My Scientific Career and The Synopsis of My Writings", Chen Shengshen wrote affectionately:
"Before concluding this article, I must mention the role that my wife has played in my life and work. In the past 40 years, whether in times of war or peace, whether in good times or in bad times, we have lived simple and fulfilling lives, and my achievements in mathematical research are the crystallization of our joint efforts. ”
Their names are juxtaposed; their lives fit together.
In 1985, the Nankai Institute of Mathematics was established, which was tailor-made for Chen Province, who donated money and books to carefully raise this "newborn".
He decided to return to China to settle down, zheng Shining disregarded his heart disease, far away from his children and grandchildren, and did not hesitate to accompany him. At that time, she was already a rare year.
Knowing that he is indifferent to fame and fortune, he is the most headache about the affairs of the officialdom, and how to arrange seats for holding banquets is a problem. So, she attended his academic meeting, advised him, first numbered the note, and then personally stood at the door and issued a note for everyone to sit in.
Mathematical achievements have attracted worldwide attention, and a pair of children have successful careers, because with Zheng Shining, Chen Shengsheng has a perfect life. In 1999, on their 60th wedding anniversary, he proudly told his friends:
"We haven't had a fight in 60 years, she's the housekeeper, I don't care, I do my math, so our family life is simple!"
Chen is in the classroom
Accustomed to her company, he never thought she would go before him, especially since she was 4 years younger than him, but the bad news still came.
In 2000, in a sleep, Zheng Shining died quietly due to a heart attack. Chen Was overwhelmed with grief and disbelief, unable to distinguish for a moment whether this was reality or nightmare.
After several thoughts, he buried her ashes in the Nankai Mathematical Institute, on its side, leaving an empty tomb, which was prepared for himself.
Born and died, and born and dead are the same cave, and life and death are never separated. He had promised her.
Zheng Shining went, but her breath was everywhere. Large photographs hung on the wall, and when I was tired from work, Chen would look up at her and talk to her.
To a visiting friend, he said sadly, "It's easy to think of her." I couldn't find anything before, so I said to her, you help me find it, and she will find it quickly. Now, if you can't find it, you can't find it! ”
In order to alleviate the pain, Chen threw himself into intense research, working more than ten hours a day at the age of ninety.
Chen Province's handwriting
Without Zheng Shining's supervision, he selflessly studied "problems belonging to young people", which inevitably accelerated his aging.
In December 2004, just after his 93rd birthday, he was gone, looking at him peacefully. In accordance with his last wishes, he and Zheng Shining were buried in Nankaiyuan.
Their cemetery was designed as an open-air classroom, with blackboards and circular stone benches in front of the stele. Generations of students have followed him into the wonderful mathematical garden, and they have also deeply felt the simple love between him and her that shines like diamonds.
Chen Shengsheng Cemetery