Written by | Youyu Zhang (Department of Mathematics, Shaanxi Normal University), this article was originally published in Science, No. 01, 1997
Source: Hele Mathematics
In May 1996, the famous mathematicians Chen Shengshen and Wu Wenjun were invited by the Guizhou Provincial Mathematical Society to visit And give lectures. I had the privilege of being invited to listen to the lectures of the two masters. He also took this opportunity to continue his interview with Professor Chen Shengshen at Tsinghua University last year when he attended the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Mathematical Society. On the afternoon of May 23, after the two masters met with the teachers and students of Guiyang No. 1 Middle School, Elder Chen stayed in the lounge to rest, and due to extremely strict control, I squeezed in front of Elder Chen in the crowd, but after saying a few words, I was stopped. Elder Chen saw my mood and decided to let me go with the car to the hotel where he was staying. The interview was conducted in the hotel's parlor, and the atmosphere was casual and harmonious, including Master Zheng Shining and Yan Yu, a member of the editorial board of "Biography of Modern Chinese Mathematicians". Elder Chen was very interested in my question, pondered carefully, and recounted the past events of more than half a century ago, and the topic of our conversation was the historical achievements of Mr. Yang Wuzhi and the study of the history of Chinese mathematics.
Zhang Youyu: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yang Zhenning's father, Mr. Yang Wuzhi. Yang Wuzhi is your teacher, and you have mentioned him many times in the past. In order to commemorate the deceased ancestors, I would like to ask Elder Chen to introduce Yang Wuzhi's relevant situation and his contributions in more detail.
Mr. Yang Wuzhi (1896~1973), a native of Hefei, Anhui Province. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1928. He was the famous American algebra and number theory expert at the time, L.E. Dixon. Dickson, 1874~1954), a student of Mr. Yang who specialized in stacking problems in number theory, was the first doctoral degree recipient in the field of algebraic number theory in China. Mr. Yang returned to China after receiving his postdoctoral fellowship, teaching at Xiamen University first, and then coming to Tsinghua University. When I arrived at Tsinghua, he was already a professor there. In the early days of Tsinghua University, the courses on algebraic number theory were all taught by Mr. Yang, and after I entered the graduate school, I chose to read his "group theory" course. Hua Luogeng came to Tsinghua, the earliest is to learn and study elementary number theory with Mr. Yang, published more than a dozen papers of such content, Mr. Yang saw that Hua Luogeng was a promising young man, and soon encouraged him to study the new development of analytic number theory at that time, encouraged him to attack in a new direction; later supported and helped him to go to Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, to follow the famous teacher Hardy (1877 ~ 1947) for further study. At that time, Cambridge University was one of the centers of analytical number theory research in the world, and Hua Luogeng went to Cambridge for two years to study, and under the guidance of world famous teachers, he made rapid progress. Unsurprisingly, a few years later, he wrote the world's advanced level of "Stacked Prime Number Theory".
Zhang: In 1941, Hua Luogeng's "Theory of Stacked Prime Numbers" was sent to the Ministry of Education for a state award. The two review experts have now identified one as Xiong Qinglai and the other is likely to be He Lu. Yang Wuzhi is a doctor specializing in number theory, why didn't he directly participate in the review?
Chen: My guess is that because Yang Wuzhi is from Tsinghua, is in the same department as Hua Luogeng, and belongs to the recommended unit, the reviewers may need to invite experts other than their own unit. At that time, Xiong Qinglai was the president of Yunnan University, and He Lu was a professor at Chongqing University. After Hua Luogeng won the award, our New Chinese Mathematical Society held a small celebration meeting for this purpose at Southwest United University, and I remember that Mr. Yang seemed to have participated in this celebration meeting, when he was the head of the Department of Mathematics of Southwest United University.
Zhang: What kind of help has Mr. Yang mainly helped you?
Chen: When I was a graduate student at Tsinghua University, the two most active professors in the Department of Mathematics were Sun Guangyuan and Yang Wuzhi, and I mainly studied geometry with Mr. Sun and chose to read Mr. Yang's classes. The most contact with Mr. Yang was in the first half of 1934, when my supervisor Sun Guangyuan was invited away by the Central University in Nanjing, the head of the department, Xiong Qinglai, was studying in France, and Mr. Yang was acting as the head of the mathematics department at Tsinghua University. I often consulted Mr. Yang on issues such as my graduation and choice to go abroad. I was the first graduate of the Tsinghua Institute of Mathematics and probably the first master's student in mathematics awarded in China, and Mr. Yang helped me with the graduation and degree conferring procedures. After graduation, I received a two-year grant from Tsinghua university to study abroad at public expense, which is generally sent to the United States, and I hope to go to Germany and continue to talk to the familiar Braschik (w. Bushik). Blaschke, 1885~1962) studied. Bryde was invited to lecture at Peking University in 1932 and was a very creative geometrist, a professor of geometry at the University of Hamburg at that time, and a leader of German geometry. The idea of me going to Germany was actively supported by Mr. Yang, I had no experience going abroad for the first time, and Mr. Yang helped a lot in applying for reassignment and going through the procedures for going abroad, and he was my most reliable friend in school at that time.
The decision to go to Hamburg, Germany, to study for a PhD had a great influence on my later academic development and was a wise choice. In 1962, Mr. Yang and his master and mother went to Geneva and Zhenning to stay, and I made a special trip from the United States to visit them, and Mr. Yang gave me a poem:
Break through the smoke and swim, and sure enough, you will take the lead.
The sages of the past and the present are many, and they have ascended the Hundred Zhanglou building alone.
Hamburg Paris visiting master, art forest learning sea planting deep foundation.
Pucheng passed on Gao Qi, and the history of the domain added a new athlete.
The poem mentions going to Hamburg, Germany, in 1934, and then moving to Paris, France, two years later to continue his research, laying a solid foundation for my later development.
In addition, Mr. Yang also promoted my marriage to Shi Ning, which enabled me to have a happy family in my life and became an important guarantee for my achievements in mathematical research.
Zhang: You and Hua Luogeng are both world-famous mathematicians, and the young generation of world-renowned Chen Jingrun is a student of Yang Wuzhi, Hua Luogeng and Min Sihe, and it can be said that there is an indirect relationship with Yang Wuzhi's education. His son Yang Zhenning was a Nobel laureate. Therefore, I think that Mr. Yang Wuzhi is a mathematics educator with outstanding achievements in the 20th century in China.
Yang Zhenning and Chen Shengsheng
Chen: Mr. Yang has indeed cultivated many outstanding talents, including Ke Zhao and Duan Xuefu, who have achieved achievements in algebra and number theory, all of whom are students of Yang Wuzhi. From the end of the 20s to the end of the 40s, almost all the students of the Mathematics Department of Tsinghua University were educated by Mr. Yang, he taught very well, his popularity was good, he was very responsible for the students, not only in academics, but also in all other aspects, the students regarded him as a reliable friend, and were willing to go to him for consultation or help.
Mr. Yang was the first to study elementary number theory and published valuable papers. His later work was more educational. In the environment of China at that time, this choice was natural and reasonable. He is very insightful, good at guiding students to innovate, encouraging and supporting them to go to the forefront of world research to further their studies and use their talents. In taking this step, many young people have received his guidance and help, and many of the students who have been trained and educated by him have made outstanding achievements later.
On the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, Xiong Qing came to Yunnan University as president, and he succeeded as the head of tsinghua's mathematics department until 1948, and also served as the director of tsinghua institute of mathematics. In his work, he is good at uniting colleagues and making good use of people. Especially during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served for many years as the head of the Mathematics Department of the Southwest United University, which was relocated to Kunming, which gathered more than a dozen professors from Tsinghua, Peking University, and Nankai, and most of the best mathematics professors in China at that time gathered here, with a group of very smart and capable lecturers and teaching assistants. In the war environment, the conditions are extremely difficult, and Mr. Yang, the head of the department, skillfully brings everyone together. Let the older professors take basic courses, control the quality of teaching; support several young professors who are in the development and pioneering period, just returned from studying abroad, and are about 30 years old, leading a group of lecturer assistants and some senior students, organizing various academic seminars to study the world's cutting-edge mathematical problems. Although the information in Kunming during the war was blocked, with the latest information we had just brought back from abroad, we gave full play to the role of the human brain's thinking, and people gave full play to their talents, and everyone's enthusiasm for mathematical research was still very high. The scientific research achievements achieved in the past few years are the most prominent of the various disciplines of Southwest United University, and some of the achievements have exceeded the pre-war level, and Hua Luogeng and Xu Baolu are among the best, and under their leadership, a number of young people have also been trained.
Mr. Yang has been a professor and head of the Department of Mathematics at Tsinghua University and Southwest United University for decades, and through his academic level, educational ability and organizational skills, he has cultivated many students who have surpassed him in academics and teaching, and his students have played a great role in the development of Chinese mathematics. Yang Wuzhi is an outstanding mathematics educator, indeed worth remembering!
Chen Shengshen and Yang Zhenning
Zhang: In the past, there was little publicity about Yang Wuzhi's deeds, most people only knew that he was Yang Zhenning's father and a mathematics professor, and not many people knew about his performance. On the occasion of commemorating the 100th anniversary of Yang Wuzhi's birth, we hope to see a collection of essays commemorating Yang Wuzhi published to summarize his educational experience and promote the development of mathematics education in China in the 21st century.
Chen: This is a good thing, I will meet Zhenning recently, I can talk to him about this. Who is the right editor-in-chief? I don't know what is the body of Mr. Duan Xuefu? If Mr. Duan can take the lead, it is more appropriate to find others to help do specific work. Studying the content and object of the manuscript, I can also write a little.
Fan Zeng painted "Chen Shengshen and Yang Zhenning", which was hidden in the provincial building of Nankai University
Zhang: In the past ten years or so, you have repeatedly suggested to china's mathematical community that we should attach importance to the study of the history of mathematics. The 20th century is coming to an end, and I would love to hear your advice on conducting research on the history of Chinese mathematics in the 20th century.
Chen: The study of the history of mathematics is an important task, and it is not easy. An important condition for it is that the worker must have a wide range of knowledge, such as the next. Example 1, why is Hilbert great? In addition to his expertise, such as integral equations (hilbert space), algebraic number theory, geometric foundations, etc., he can solve other aspects of the most basic problems, such as dirichlet principle (the basic existence theorem of elliptic equations), Waring problems, etc. Example two, Hardy likes to ask the following question: Who is great comparing Lagrange to Laplace? This is an interesting question because the author needs to understand the work of the two men.
Everything develops in a historical program, and understanding historical changes is a step in understanding the discipline. Mathematics is also like this, Chinese should engage in mathematics with Chinese characteristics, do not always follow others. To develop Chinese mathematics, I think the most critical point is how to cultivate China's own high-level mathematical talents, world-class talents. Summarizing the 20th century, understanding the growth path of Chinese mathematicians in this century, the successful experience of the development of modern mathematics in China, writing a biography of mathematicians is an important aspect, and you can also choose some good topics for research. For example, the experience of cultivating talents in the early days of the Department of Mathematics of Tsinghua University, the contributions of students studying in France to the development of Mathematics in China, etc., can also consider compiling a list of papers. It is not necessary to write everything, and typical special topic research will have a good reference effect. There are now some outstanding young mathematicians who have returned to China to serve, and there are a few in Nankai, and their work is excellent. There is a Chen Yongchuan, after returning to China, ran a magazine called "Combinatorial Yearbook" (in English), published by Springer Publishing House in Germany, with high quality, which will help Chinese combinatorial mathematics to go global. There is also Zhang Weiping, all good. They are in their early 30s, very young, and the hope of China's mathematical development in the 21st century.
(During the conversation, Master Zheng Shining sometimes added a few words, occasionally accompanied by two laughs, which were happy and harmonious.) Unconsciously, after the stipulated interview time, the receptionist entered the house and signaled. In the face of this silver-haired elder who has worked tirelessly to develop the cause of Mathematics in China, I can't help but add a few words. ）
Zhang: Elder Chen, you and Master Zheng Shining are both in their 80s, and in recent years your legs and feet have not been very convenient, for the development of China's mathematical cause, you still run between the United States and China every year, do a lot of work, cultivate many talents, and your patriotism and affection have set a good example for us. I think that future generations of China will not forget it, and your merits will forever be recorded in the annals of history.
Chen: Every year, there seems to be a lot of things waiting for me to come back and do. I am willing to do my best to do more practical things for the development of mathematics in China. Math work is done separately, and competition is part of the effort. But there is a principle: to appreciate the good work of others, to see it as an encouragement to yourself, to eliminate jealousy. Chinese mathematics is Chinese. China's emergence as a mathematical power in the 21st century is promising!
This article is reprinted with permission from the WeChat public account "Hele Mathematics", and the picture is added by the editor.