Source | Mathematical humanities
Academician Wang Yuan (1930.4.29--2021.5.14) Photo taken in the office of the Elder on February 5, 2021, Tianfu
An hour ago, the professor at the Institute of Mathematics informed me, saying, "The Patriarch has gone." The elder was ninety-one years old, and his health had not been very good lately, but he was still very surprised to hear this news. After all, just a month ago, the Elder enthusiastically wrote one of my articles in his beautiful calligraphy, which may be the Elder's last calligraphy. After his retirement, he liked calligraphy and studied art with Mr. Ouyang Zhongshi. I remember more than ten years ago, I wanted to find a calligrapher to write a couplet that I praised Mr. Chen Shengshen. Yang Le suggested looking for the Elder, and the Elder introduced Mr. Ouyang to Yang Le and me. Mr. Ouyang is very cheerful, and the couplet written is now hanging in the Chen Provincial Institute of Mathematics of Nankai University, and Mr. Chen should be happy to know about it. He liked the couplet and insisted that I write, but I was self-aware, and the calligraphy was too poor to get out of the stage. I hope that I will have time to practice calligraphy in the future and fulfill my husband's last wish. But now with Master Ouyang's brilliant pen, there is finally an explanation.
In fact, the elder and I can go back more than forty years ago, when I was invited by Mr. Hua Luogeng to visit Beijing for the first time, and everything was very fresh and exciting.
The Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences entertained me with professors such as Yang Le, Wang Yuan and Lu Qiheng. I have given many speeches and responded well. The Elders were members of the Faculty and were extremely insightful about learning, especially number theory. The research team led by Professor Hua Luogeng is the most outstanding in analytic number theory. Elder Yuan was the chief disciple of the group, and he spent a lot of time communicating with this team member, and his achievements were remarkable. The best of these is Chen Jingrun's famous work.
Later, President Lu Yongxiang invited me to set up the Morningside Mathematics Center in the Academy of Sciences, and Yang Le was the main person in charge. From the beginning, I paid special attention to the development of number theory. The Elder had been helping, directing his friends and former students to study and help. Among them, Zhang Shouwu, who was influenced by him and had outstanding learning, also inherited the heart of the elders and continued to introduce the important achievements of European and American modern number theory. The Chinese mathematical community has finally developed a large space for modern number theory in the field of analytic number theory, and these young leaders have buried their heads in research, and now that they think back, they have to admire the mind and leadership of the elders.
While studying number theory, the elders also found that the uniform distribution of values can be effectively handled by the method of analyzing trigonometric sums in number theory. His collaboration with Mr. Hua has completed an important literature on numerical integration in high-dimensional spaces, which has made extremely important contributions to applied science and can be said to be one of the most important works of applied mathematics in China for more than one hundred years. Even today, the work of numerous Chinese applied mathematicians has not reached their level.
The elder is gentle and pure, takes pleasure in helping others, and gets along with him like a spring breeze. After he retired, he practiced calligraphy diligently, and he always helped me when I needed it. Three years ago, I led the team to visit Dunhuang, and I felt that I wrote a "Chinese Endowment", which was very long, and I did not expect that the elders volunteered to spend a long time to complete the long text, words are better than text, and I am grateful. I would like to write a couplet in honor of our great Chinese mathematician, our loyal friend and teacher.
In the country for the old, in the industry for the sect, to raise the waves to promote public development,
Adults in Wen, fame in the number, HuaLin wood fell I hurt God.
Qiu Chengtong respectfully
May 14, 2021
"Chinese Endowment" (partial), by Qiu Chengtong, Wang Yuanshu. It will be published by higher education presses