On April 20, Yau Chengtong, a world-renowned mathematician and Winner of the Fields Medal, retired from Harvard University and was hired as a Chair Professor at Tsinghua University. The joining of Yau Chengtong is of great significance to Tsinghua University and the discipline of mathematics in China. Yau Chengtong, who has just celebrated his 73rd birthday, delivered a 1549-word speech at the inauguration ceremony, which gave us a glimpse of mathematicians' literary brilliance.
I summarized the entire speech into 32 words: respect the teacher and pass on the torch; don't create a style, touch the present and look back at the past; whip into the inside, and quote from the side; seek truth from facts, and work hard with one heart.
First, respect the teacher and pass on the torch
At the beginning of the speech, Yau Chengtong first posed three "big gods": Gauss, Riemann, and Chen Shengshen. Gauss was Riemann's doctoral thesis supervisor, both German, both of whom had taught at the University of Göttingen and both as mathematicians and physicists. Chen Shengshen, the thesis supervisor of Yau Chengtong himself, is known as the "father of integral differential geometry", he is the first graduate student of the Department of Mathematics of Tsinghua University, and his work involves mathematics and theoretical physics.
Qiu Chengtong specifically mentioned that Chen Shengsheng once gave himself a copy of his own new work when he was 60 years old, and also wrote an inscription: "The rest of his life is sixty years old, and there are people who are willing to encourage him!" Later, he also talked about the couplet he made to commemorate Chen Sheng's hundredth birthday, "Passing on the salary and giving the book, the ink is still there, the phase period has not lived up to the original ambition; the show is subtle, the geometry is changed, and the self-respect is worthy of the teacher." ”
One sentence summary: There are respected teachers and heavy ways, and there are also torches to pass on, which is the beginning of Yau Chengtong's speech.
Second, don't create a grid, touch the present and look back at the past
Immediately after, Qiu Chengtong talked about his "don't create a grid". In 2009, he presided over the establishment of the Mathematics Center at Tsinghua University, and in 2021, the Qiuzhen College of Tsinghua University was established, with Yau Chengtong as the dean. Here, he doesn't pay much attention. However, the efforts and achievements he has made in the field of mathematics at Tsinghua University must be supplemented by me.
After Yau Chengtong became the director of the Mathematical Science Center of Tsinghua University in 2009, he spent great efforts to organize various academic activities, hired top talents from all over the world, and devoted himself to the cultivation of Chinese mathematical talents. I've chosen a few of the most important things to talk about.
Yau Chengtong led the organization of the "Yau Chengtong Middle School Mathematics Award" to stimulate the interest of middle school students in learning mathematics and discover special mathematical talents. Yau Chengtong led the "Yau Chengtong University Students Mathematics Competition" to discover mathematical talents in the university and provide academic opportunities.
In 2021, Tsinghua University launched the "Qiu Chengtong Mathematical Science Leading Talent Training Program", and on this basis, established qiuzhen college on which Qiu Chengtong himself is the dean. Yau Chengtong personally formulated the "3+2+3" training model for students, and mathematical talents from junior high school to senior high school have the opportunity to join.
In 2021, Nikolai Leshertikin, one of the founders of quantum group theory, and Fields Medal winner Kouchel Birkar both joined the Center for Mathematical Sciences at Tsinghua University, which now has more than 80 professors, and these talents have come to vote, which is inseparable from Yau Chengtong's efforts.
Looking back, Yau Chengtong talked about Newton, Leibniz, Euler, Lagrange, Gauss, Riemann, and Einstein. In just a few lines, a history of scientific development jumps out of the paper.
One sentence summary: don't create a new style, establish a new institution, create a new model; look back on the past, look back at the history of science, and send a message to Tsinghua people.
Third, whip into the inside, side to the solicitation of bo introduction
Next, Qiu Chengtong quotes a passage from Sima Qian to the effect that " The ancestors said: 'There has been Confucius since the death of Duke Zhou five hundred years ago.' Five hundred years after the death of Confucius, is there anyone who can inherit the Qing Ming Dynasty, Zhengding Yichuan, and continue the Spring and Autumn Period, yiben "Poems", "Books", "Rituals", and "Music"? That's what it means, that's it! How dare I resign. ”
Look at the words used by Qiu Chengtong, he hopes that Tsinghua students can make great ambitions, join hands with talents around the world, and seek mathematical truths on the occasion of heaven and man. He believes that the science of the twenty-first century, although it is currently "a hundred boats competing for the flow and the elites competing", will eventually "return to the sect of ten thousand streams and one thousand learning".
He believes that at this moment in history, Chinese students should "uphold the spirit of King Wen's Performance and Zhou Gong's rituals and music, work together with one heart, and revitalize China's great cause of learning." Pin Yi Pin Qiu Chengtong's literary style, think about the boldness of his words, is it admirable to the ground?
One-sentence summary: whip into the inside, tell their own unique point of view; side to attract, ignite the ambition of students.
Fourth, seek truth from facts and work hard with one heart
At the end of the speech, Yau Chengtong returned to mathematics and returned to teaching. Speaking of mathematics, he said: Mathematics is the only truth that remains unchanged with the times, and the beauty and truth of mathematics will lead the encyclopedia and drive science to the forefront of the world. He confessed: Mathematicians are not looking forward to ten thousand gold, nor is it a thousand-year hegemony, after all, these will become ashes. What we seek is eternal truth, what we love is theory and equation, which is more precious than gold, which is more real than power, because it is the only way nature expresses itself. It is more magnificent than the psalms, for when the truth is presented nakedly, all the eulogies become small. It can enrich countries and strengthen soldiers because it is the source of all applied science. It can be a stable state because it can plan the meridians of modern society.
In this paragraph, words such as "ten thousand two golds", "millennium hegemony", "ashes", "gold", "power", "the only way", "rich country and strong army", "ann state and a fixed country" are not only magnificent, but also vivid. Is Yau Chengtong really just a mathematician? I don't think so.
Since I am a "Bole", I naturally encourage students to work with students to do one thing together. As a result, there is "seeking truth and beauty", "cultivating morality", "non-learning is impossible to broaden talents, non-ambition is impossible to learn", there is "the rise and fall of the country, the responsibility of the puppeteer", and there is "in addition to investigating heaven and man, we must also open up peace for all the worlds!" ”
Frankly speaking, I have not seen an article with literary style, connotation, courage and a sense of the times for a long time, after reading Qiu Chengtong's inaugural speech, I copied the full text into a PDF file, recommended to many teachers, I hope they can take this article to their students to read.
Fifth, the significance is far-reaching, supplementary explanation
Born in Shantou, Guangdong Province, Yau Chengtong was the first Chinese mathematician to win the Fields Medal, and he pioneered the extremely important branch of mathematics, "geometric analysis". He was a figure of the Founding Sect, not the kind of pseudo-master who did the work of repairing the seams. He has never been a "peacemaker", he is a "straight boy", and he is not used to things, he opens his mouth and says, without mercy.
Although the news of joining Tsinghua University full-time has just been widely reported by the media, Yau Chengtong has been working at Tsinghua full-time for more than a year. His work at Tsinghua is conducive to the overall improvement of Tsinghua's mathematical level, and can also promote the overall improvement of Tsinghua's science and engineering level (after all, mathematics is the foundation), which will also have a positive impact on the recruitment of talents.
There was The Nobel Laureate Yang Zhenning, and then the Fields Medal winner Yau Chengtong, and the return of the two had a great impact on Tsinghua and chinese academia. Yang Zhenning has abandoned his American citizenship and become a Chinese citizen, and he does not know whether Yau Chengtong will make the same choice in the future.
What do you think of Yau Chengtong's inaugural speech? How do you evaluate the significance of Yau Chengtong joining Tsinghua full-time? Let's talk in the comments section.
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