Author | Fish lambs
Source | "New Century Intelligence and Creators", co-published from July to August 2020, and the fun math is authorized to be reprinted.
In the gray-walled principal's office, a teenager was standing in front of the principal nervously. He was faced with the most important choice of his life.
"The school can provide scholarships to support your studies, but..." The principal looked at him kindly and handed him a document, "We hope you will go to the mathematics department of Jiaotong University." Would you like to? ”
"I..." The teenager thought for a moment, and quickly made a choice, taking the principal's escort document, "I do!" ”
This teenager is Wu Wenjun, a great mathematician in china.
► By chance, embark on the path of mathematics
In fact, Wu Wenjun was most interested in mathematics when he was a teenager, but in physics.
In a physics exam, the questions were particularly difficult, but Wu Wenjun still achieved excellent results, which attracted the attention of teachers and schools. Teachers believe that Wu Wenjun's good physical performance is because of his strong mathematical ability. Therefore, they wanted to award Wu Wenjun a special scholarship to apply for the mathematics department of Jiaotong University.
Wu Wenjun
At that time, Wu Wenjun's family was not rich, and there were no conditions for him to go to college. So Wu Wenjun agreed to the request of the school and was escorted to the Department of Mathematics of Jiaotong University, starting his path of mathematics.
After graduating from university, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wu Wenjun worked as a teacher in several middle schools until 1946, when he met his life-changing mentor, Chen Shengshen.
Chen is a well-known differential geometrist at home and abroad. At that time, he returned to China to establish the Institute of Mathematics and brought back new theories about topology. Under his guidance, Wu Wenjun chased a "new wave" and studied the topology at the forefront of the academic community at that time, and he did not expect that this research would make him a hit!
Chen Province
Since his exposure to topology, in less than a year, Wu Wenjun has simplified the proof of the dual law of the famous American topology master Whitney, and with the help of Chen Shengsheng, published the results in the world's top mathematical journals, causing a sensation in the academic community. Whitney's original proof process was so complex that he had intended to write a book to illustrate his proof process. However, after seeing Wu Wenjun's only a few pages of proof, Whitney had to admire the young man from China and said, "My proof can be thrown into the wastepaper basket." ”
► Climb the mountain and trigger a "topological earthquake"
In 1947, under the recommendation of Chen Shengsheng, Wu Wenjun went to France to study. During his study abroad, he focused on the important content of topology, published a series of mathematical achievements, and was later named "Wu Zhi Sex Class" and "Wu Formula" by his surname. Only at that time, these mathematical achievements were so groundbreaking that many mathematicians could not understand them, thus triggering a "great earthquake" in the mathematical topology community. Hopfu, a titan in the mathematical world, personally led students to Wu Wenjun to "ask questions about the guilt of the teacher" because he questioned Wu Wenjun's research results. "Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers", 28-year-old Wu Wenjun talked and conquered everyone with wisdom, and eventually he not only won the approval of Hopf, but also was invited to switzerland to lecture.
Wu Wenjun played a key role in topology, which was recognized by the mathematical community. At that time, some people even called him one of the "four heavenly kings of the topological world". In the 1950s, several mathematicians who won the Fields Medal for their work on topology cited his work.
Wu Wenjun, who has made such great achievements, was invited to join the French National Center for Scientific Research, and the future can be described as bright. However, in 1951, Wu Wenjun resolutely gave up the preferential treatment abroad, returned to the motherland, and threw himself into the construction of new China. Later, a French friend of Wu Wenjun said that if Wu Wenjun did not return to China in 1951, but continued to stay in France to study topology, then the Fields Medal must have been in his pocket. Wu Wenjun did not care about this, he said: "You go to study abroad, study and return to China, this seems to be a matter of course, nothing, everyone is like this." Moreover, he believes that it is not a pity that he did not win the Fields Medal, and if he did not return to China, it would be impossible to come into contact with ancient Chinese mathematics, which is really what he regretted for the rest of his life.
►First person in ancient mathematics research in China
In the 1970s, a fortuitous opportunity brought Wu Wenjun into contact with ancient Chinese mathematics. He had only borrowed a friend's book out of curiosity to read it, but he did not expect this look, but it made him completely immersed in it. Since then, Wu Wenjun's research enthusiasm has been mobilized. He went to the library and read all the books related to ancient Chinese mathematics. Finally, he understood that the path of ancient Chinese mathematics was not the same as that of the Western axiomatic system.
Ancient Chinese mathematics has ancient geometry, systems of equations, matrices, etc., which do not have an axiomatic system, but an algorithmic encyclopedia. Ancient Chinese mathematics is also part of the world mathematics and has made great contributions to the development of mathematics. But unfortunately, the value of ancient Chinese mathematics has long been forgotten by the world, but Wu Wenjun "justified" it through his own research, so that the world can once again understand China and understand the glorious history created by ancient Chinese mathematics.
Famous pieces of ancient Chinese mathematics
At the same time, Wu Wenjun also has insight into the unique mechanized ideas contained in it. Simply put, it is to program and let the computer help us prove the mathematical problem, that is, to use the computer to liberate the human brain.
Wu Wenjun believes that it is very necessary to take the road of ancient Chinese mathematics, which is related to whether the "mechanization of mental labor" can be realized. China has missed the "mechanization of physical labor" and paid a heavy price for it, and the future "mechanization of mental labor" can no longer be missed. In recent years, the rapid development of artificial intelligence seems to confirm Wu Wenjun's words.
► Mathematical mechanization, go your own way
"Mathematical research is very painful, it takes a lot of calculations, and later I thought that ancient Chinese mathematics is the most suitable for computers, so I used computers to consider some problems."
The algorithmic ideas of ancient Chinese mathematics inspired Wu Wenjun, and in 1976, Wu Wenjun was keenly aware that computer programming could be used to carry out new mathematical research, so he caught up with the "new wave" again and began to learn computer programming languages.
Wu Wenjun learned programming, but he made a "stupid effort" and took a lot of detours. Computer programming languages are updated quickly, at first, he learned basic language, hard to write four or five thousand lines of code, as a result, the BASIC language was eliminated; he had to change to ALGOL language, start over, the result is that he is familiar with the ALGOL language, algol language is abandoned, he had to change to another programming language.
Although the process of learning new knowledge makes Wu Wenjun full of passion, as the "first person to eat crabs", he will also face a lot of incomprehension and criticism, and some peers think that he has embarked on the wrong path of mathematical research.
Wu Wenjun did not stop his research, and the research work could not be understood by domestic counterparts, which actually aroused his fighting spirit. Wu Wenjun worked selflessly, often before 8 o'clock in the morning, waiting outside the machine room to open the door, and even the 24-hour continuous shaft rotation situation also occurred from time to time. It is this effort, which took ten years of effort, that Wu Wenjun successfully opened up a new mathematical field of mathematical mechanization.
"Mathematical mechanization" is called "Wu method" by later generations. This approach has a profound impact on the scientific research and development of artificial intelligence. Bledsoe, president of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, said Wu "single-handedly brought China into an international leading position in this field."
Wu Wenjun has a unique view on the development of Chinese mathematics, he believes, "to engage in mathematics, we should have our own things, we can't follow what foreigners do, we should let foreigners run after us, this can be done." "Chinese mathematicians are not weaker than people, fully capable, and it is necessary to open up new research fields, create new research methods, and propose new research problems."
In Wu Wenjun's view, old age does not mean that he cannot innovate, at the age of 90, he is still studying world-class problems and has never stopped climbing to the peak of mathematics.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the late Academician Wu Wenjun was awarded the national honorary title of "People's Scientist". The world will never forget his pioneering spirit of innovation!
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