Fun, where does fun come from? First, you have to solve the problem; second, you do have a way to solve him, and this solution is not obvious, but you can get the greatest pleasure by solving scientific problems creatively.
- Huang Kun
In 2001, the country's highest science and technology award was awarded to a physicist, Huang Kun.
Huang Kun, this quiet and low-key name was known for the first time. However, this is a name that has repeatedly shocked the world's physics community. In the Southwest United Congress in the midst of the anti-Japanese flames, young Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao knew who Huang Kun was. After winning the Nobel Prize, Yang Zhenning said that his research method was argued when he lived in the same room as Huang Kun. Another Nobel laureate, Born, also knew who Huang Kun was, and after the publication of the Lattice Dynamics Theory, which he co-authored with Huang Kun, he wrote in a letter to Einstein: "The content of the manuscript completely exceeds my theory, and I can understand what the young Huang Kun wrote in the name of the two of us. ”
In more than half a century of life, Huang Kun has always taken a silent posture, turned his back on the changes in the world, tirelessly pursued the true meaning of science, became one of the pioneers of China's semiconductor physics research, and won the respect of the world.
Huang Kun (Source: Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="7" > is at the forefront of solid state physics</h1>
Huang Kun was born in Beijing in September 1919. He was bright and studious from an early age, with excellent academic performance, and his grades were always the first in the class in the three years of high school. In 1937, he was sent to the Physics Department of Yenching University, and after graduating in 1941, he was introduced by metal physicist Ge Tingxuan to Southwest United University to pursue graduate studies in the Department of Physics.
At Southwest United University, Huang Kun, Yang Zhenning and Zhang Shoulian were classmates and shared a dormitory. The three of them are known as the "Three Musketeers of the Physics Department".
In 1944, Huang Kun completed his thesis "The Arousal of Corona Spectral Lines" and obtained a master's degree. After graduating from Southwest United University, he worked as an assistant researcher at the Kunming Astronomical Observatory.
In 1945, when the Anti-Japanese War was won, Huang Kun took the "Gengzi Indemnity" to stay in the UK and went to the University of Bristol to study. He studied under the famous theoretical physicist and later Nobel Prize-winning Professor Mott for a Ph.D. in solid state physics, which was just beginning to form a discipline.
In 1947, Huang Kun proposed the theory that impurity defects in solids lead to X-ray diffusion, a phenomenon that was later internationally named "Huang-Diffuse Scattering" after Huang Kun's surname. Huang Kun made his debut in the field of solid state physics research.
Huang Kun took a photo of himself as he graduated from Yenching University in Beijing in 1941 (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Huang Kun's pioneering theoretical research has attracted the attention of a master physicist, who is one of the founders of quantum mechanics and Nobel Prize winner Max Born. Born invited Huang Kun to the University of Edinburgh as an exchange scholar and gave him a manuscript framework for Lattice Dynamics, hoping that he would continue to write along the outline. Born, who was already very old at the time, was well-known in academia, and it was a fortunate thing for Huang Kun, who was only 28 years old, to be invited to cooperate with this master.
But the cooperation did not go as smoothly as expected, and differences of opinion arose between the two. Huang Kun attaches great importance to building physical models, because this will help readers understand the essence of the theory, he hopes to use a clear physical image in the first three chapters of the book, so that the beginner reader can also understand the basic physical problems in lattice dynamics, but Born does not agree.
The difference in the style of governance has made this landmark cooperation face a huge obstacle. In the end, Huang Kun's scientific creation and persistence moved Born, and Born made concessions, and the manuscript added a three-chapter introduction according to Huang Kun's suggestion.
After being published by Oxford University Press in 1954, Lattice Dynamics Theory became a basic theoretical work of this sub-discipline and a must-read book for scientists in the field. Facts have also proved that the three chapters that Huang Kun and Born have their own understanding of according to their arguments are the most popular among readers.
In 1954, oxford published the "Lattice Dynamics Theory" and Peking University Press pressed the Chinese translation (source: Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
During this time, Huang Kun also made two pioneering academic contributions in succession.
One is that in the 1950s, he and his collaborators first proposed a quantum theory of polyphonon radiation and radiation-free transitions, the "yellow-pecar theory".
The other is that in 1951, Huang Kun first proposed the coupled oscillation mode of phonons and electromagnetic waves in the crystal, which was confirmed by the international Raman scattering experiment in 1963, and the equation of motion proposed by Huang Kun was internationally known as the "Yellow Equation".
Huang Kun erected a series of monuments in the history of the development of solid state physics, laying the foundation for his towering kunlun position in the field of solid state physics.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="73" > the second spring of scientific research</h1>
In 1951, huang Kun, with the ardent mood of revitalizing China and serving the motherland, gave up the opportunity to achieve more significant achievements and the superior living conditions abroad, and returned to his beloved motherland with enthusiasm to teach in the Department of Physics of Peking University.
In 1956, Peking University, Fudan University, Xiamen University, Northeast Renmin University (the predecessor of Jilin University) and Nanjing University jointly established China's first semiconductor major in the Department of Physics of Peking University, and Huang Kun served as the director of the Semiconductor Teaching and Research Department. Most of the students trained by this major have become the backbone of scientific research on semiconductors and integrated circuits in China, so the academic community also calls this major "the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy of Semiconductors".
Wang Yangyuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is one of the first batch of students majoring in semiconductors, once said: "The characteristics of Mr. Huang Kun's lectures are that the physics concept is clear, the language is concise, and the logic is rigorous. ”
In 1977, at the age of 58, Huang Kun was transferred to the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the director and resumed scientific research. He attaches great importance to the improvement of the academic level of the whole institute, and while organizing the scientific research work of the whole institute to complete the national tasks, he also personally lectures to the researchers and organizes the scientific researchers of the whole institute to carry out academic exchanges.
Under the auspices of Huang Kun, researchers re-conducted research on the difficult problems existing in the superlattice theory in the world. In 1988, Huang Kun and Zhu Bangfen cooperated to establish the "Huang-Zhu Model", which solved the problems that existed in the field of superlattices for more than 20 years, put forward original theories that had a profound impact on modern optoelectronics, and promoted the development of related fields.
Huang Kun once again stood at the forefront of international solid state physics and became the banner leading China's scientific and technological innovation. Under his leadership, in 1989, the Semiconductor Research Institute successfully established the State Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Superlattices, which created a new field in Materials Science and Solid State Physics in China.
From 1945 to 1951, Huang Kun made innovative and significant achievements in the five or six years of studying in the United Kingdom, and then created a second scientific research spring, proposing the "Huang-Zhu model", talking about these two major periods, he said: "When I was young, my work was distinctive, but I did not go deeper; later, in terms of depth, I was better than before, and my ability to solve complex problems was stronger than when I was young. ”
In 1955, the first batch of semiconductor graduates of Peking University and Huang Kun took a group photo (source: Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="74" > "from first principles"</h1>
When I first went to middle school, at the request of my uncle, Huang Kun had to do all the problems in the math book in addition to homework, "which not only made me very proficient in mathematics, but also had a great interest." Huang Kun, who is busy doing problems, rarely reads the examples in the book, "this accidental situation has a profound impact, so that I have not trained the habit of 'drawing a tiger according to a cat'."
According to academician Zhu Bangfen, who has long cooperated with Huang Kun in research, Huang Kun studies a problem and reviews a paper every time he likes to "start from the first principle", first do not look at the existing literature, and independently start from the most basic concepts.
Talking about innovation, Huang Kun commented on himself:
"I read less literature, because it is easy to be led by the nose and become a slave to books. Creating things on my own and accepting the opinions of others, the latter is much more difficult for me. It's hard to learn other people's things, and once you grasp the clues and know how to do them, the work will go very smoothly. ”
"I like to be different, I don't like to go with the flow. If you follow everyone, it's not interesting. ”
It is this attitude of governance that has enabled Huang Kun to repeatedly "attack the city and plunder the land" academically, as exemplified by a series of "Huang" theories named after his surname.
Huang Kun believes that for those who do scientific research, it comes down to creating knowledge. If you creatively solve scientific problems yourself, you can get the greatest pleasure. He said: "To create knowledge is to make a difference in scientific research and really make some valuable research results." To this end, we must be good at three 'good at', that is, we must be good at discovering and raising problems, especially problems that are scientifically meaningful; we must be good at proposing models or methods to solve problems, because only by raising problems and not solving problems, the problems raised will lose their practical significance; and we must also be good at making the most important and meaningful conclusions. ”
Huang Kun also believes that engaging in scientific research work "it is not enough to have a certain scientific foundation and interest, but also to have a certain ability", of course, this view can not be overemphasized", "when I was young, several people who studied and worked together abroad won the Nobel Prize, and they did not necessarily have special talents."
Group photo of Huang Kun, Deng Jiaxian, Huang Wan, Zhou Guangzhao and Yang Zhenning (from left to right) visiting the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1974 (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
In 2002, Huang Kun won the title of "Moving China" of the Year, and the award speech wrote: He has spent his whole life exploring the truth in the world of science, silently passing on the torch of knowledge all his life, and facing the rise and fall of fame and fortune. He not only made outstanding contributions to the progress of mankind in the field of science with his rigorous and diligent scientific attitude, but also interpreted the personality essence of a scientist with an indifferent attitude of fame and fortune and frankness in life.
On July 6, 2005, Huang Kun died of illness in Beijing at the age of 86.
"Crossing the ocean, greeting the morning sun, caring for the motherland, proud of merit and wealth like grass and mustard; climbing the peak, going through hardships, rejuvenating China, and hearing that the disciples and disciples are doing their best." This is a couplet donated by teachers and students of the Department of Physics of Peking University on his 70th birthday, and these 38 words condense Huang Kun's life.
Big Scientist Little Story
China has us and without us, makes a difference
In 1941, Huang Kun graduated from the Physics Department of Yenching University and was introduced by metal physicist Ge Tingxuan to Southwest United University to pursue graduate studies in the Department of Physics. At the Southwest United University, Huang Kun, Yang Zhenning and Zhang Shoulian were classmates and shared a dormitory, and they studied under Wu Dayu, Wang Zhuxi and Mr. Zhou Peiyuan respectively, and were known as the "three musketeers" of the Department of Physics. At that time, they were all in their early twenties, and the three of them had very different styles of learning and thinking, but they were all extremely intelligent people, always liked to discuss the world and debate with each other, while Huang Kun, who loved more really, often led the topic to the extreme, causing endless arguments. "It's these debates that give me the feeling of scientific research." Yang Zhenning said.
In addition to arguing, there is mutual encouragement between them.
In 1951, Huang Kun, who was revising the manuscript that Born had given him, received a letter from his mentor Rao Yutai inviting him to become a professor in the Department of Physics at Peking University. Eager to return home, he immediately decided to return home, although Born repeatedly retained him and failed to keep him. After returning to China, Huang Kun immediately went to Peking University as a professor in the Department of Physics, and began a 26-year teaching career.
The bigger factor in Huang Kun's return to China was his love for his motherland. He felt that if China wanted to develop science, integrate into the world track and go to the forefront, it must have a figure like Mott who is "ten thousand enemies".
He once wrote in a letter to Yang Zhenning: "Every time I see all the influence that Mott has, I have feelings. It is really the so-called 'enemy of all men', and he has not taken full advantage of it for a moment from morning to night. "We still sincerely feel that China has us and without us, making a difference."
Huang Kun believes that if there are a few scientists like Mott in China, it will be very different. It is impossible to achieve "ten thousand enemies", but it can be "ten thousand people". Huang Kun is doing these two things - learning the world's advanced science, while teaching and educating people.
Text: Collection Engineering Project Office/Innovation Strategy Research Institute of China Association for Science and Technology
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