Li Zhengdao, 95, is still concerned about basic research in China and is still publishing research papers before retiring at the age of 86

"Basic research is the embodiment of a country's comprehensive strength ... I sincerely wish that the motherland's high-energy physics cause will flourish and develop healthily, and Chinese scientists will make more world-class important original achievements. On October 10, 2021, Mr. Li Zhengdao, nobel laureate in physics, wrote a few words of encouragement at the seminar "Celebrating the 95th Birthday of Mr. Li Zhengdao" held by the High Energy Physics Branch of the Chinese Physical Society.

From proposing the principle of non-conservation of cosmology in weak interactions to winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957, it took only 13 months, and the speed of winning the prize set by Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning has not been broken. This is also the first time that Chinese has won the Nobel Prize.

[Taylor looks at his problem-solving ideas, which are better than his own methods]

"Lee Jeong-do had never obtained a formal junior high, high school, or college diploma before he received his ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and was considered a 'three-no-man' at the time, so he was just a probationary student at the University of Chicago at the beginning." Ye Minghan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering who has known Li Zhengdao for many years, recalled many past events at the seminar.

Li Zhengdao was born in Shanghai on November 24, 1926. Due to the war, he has been studying to and from time to time. At the age of 16, through self-study, he was admitted to Zhejiang University, which was then running a school in Guizhou, where physicist Shu Xingbei gave free discussion classes for first-year students of the Physics Department, and Li Zhengdao was the only student. Li Zhengdao later recalled that the first enlightenment source he received was from Teacher Shu Xingbei. In 1972, when Li Zhengdao first returned to China, the first teacher he wanted to see was Shu Xingbei.

After the Japanese invasion of Guizhou, Li Zhengdao transferred to the Department of Physics of Southwest United University. Wu Dayu, then head of the Physics Department of Southwest United University, had the impression that Li Zhengdao was still "a fat child less than twenty years old", but "his degree of quick thinking was very unusual". In the autumn of 1946, Wu recommended Li Zhengdao, who was still a second-year student, to study at the University of Chicago. Afraid that others would not be convinced, Wu Dayu found Ye Qisun, who was the dean of the College of Science at the time. "My uncle also thought that Li Zhengdao was a suitable candidate, he had given a lesson to Li Zhengdao, Li Zhengdao read 'Electromagnetic Science' in class, my uncle told Li Zhengdao that the content taught in the class was not as deep as 'Electromagnetism', you can not go to his class, and pass the year-end exam." Academician Ye Minghan said.

After entering the University of Chicago, Lee Had the privilege of taking a quantum mechanics course taught by Taylor, the "father of the American hydrogen bomb." Once, Taylor came up with an extremely difficult problem, and Lee Zhengdao quickly made it. When Taylor saw that his solution was better than his own method, he praised him and showed his papers to the professors in the department. In that year, in this quantum mechanics class, Li Zhengdao took the first place in the class. Due to his outstanding academic performance, he also successfully transitioned to a regular student.

Li Zhengdao promised Bell Physics Laureate Fermi that his doctoral dissertation was evaluated for "special insights and achievements" and won the University of Chicago President's Award.

In 1956, Lee was only 30 years old when he was promoted to professor at Columbia University, setting a record for the youngest professor in the school's more than 200 years since its founding in 1754.

In 1957, at the age of 31, Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Despite his "extraordinary talent," Lee was also known as "hardworking, and he was still publishing research papers at the age of 86. His research areas are extensive, and he has made many achievements in quantum field theory, elementary particle theory, nuclear physics, statistical mechanics, fluid mechanics, astrophysics, etc., and has made outstanding contributions to contemporary physics, especially high-energy physics.

"In some ways, it's more meaningful than his Nobel Prize work."]

"Mr. Lee Jeong-do once said that the Sino-US joint graduate recruitment of physics (CUSPEA) program is, in some ways, more meaningful than his Nobel Prize work." Zhang Jie, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who li Zhengdao called "forgetting his friendship," said at today's seminar.

In 1972, when Lee Returned to his long-lost homeland, Premier Zhou Enlai received him hoping that he would help solve the problem of the Chinese fault. Since then, he has begun a half-century-long campaign.

In 1974, when Li Zhengdao was received by Chairman Mao, he submitted a proposal for cultivating talents, suggesting that outstanding young people be selected for systematic scientific training, which was the prototype of the "junior class." In March 1978, the University of Science and Technology of China created a junior class.

On April 2, 1979, Li Zhengdao gave the first class to more than 1,000 teachers and students from more than 100 scientific research units and colleges and universities across the country, and the lectures for more than two months since then have aroused strong repercussions in China. On June 11, 1979, Li Zhengdao participated in the first meeting of the Sino-US Joint Committee on High-Energy Physics, which he promoted, and took the lead in opening up Sino-foreign cooperation and exchanges in the field of physics.

Witnessing the crisis of talent disconnection in the motherland, Li Zhengdao initiated and personally organized the Sino-US joint recruitment of physics graduate students. From 1979 to 1989, the project trained more than a thousand young scientific and technological talents. "In the ten years that CUSPEA was implemented, it is roughly estimated that I spent about a third of my energy every year. Although this is a heavy burden on me, I feel that it is entirely right to repay the mother and teachers of my motherland who have created opportunities for my growth and development. Lee Jung-do once wrote in "Me and CUSPEA".

On December 22, 1981, Deng Xiaoping gave instructions on the report submitted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the construction of the Beijing electron-negative collider: I am in favor of approval and will no longer hesitate. Behind this decision, Lee's positive advice played a key role. China's first large scientific device was built, and China's high-energy physics research has also ranked among the forefront of the world.

In 1983, Li Zhengdao put forward the preliminary idea of setting up a postdoctoral research mobile station in China, and in 1985, The postdoctoral system in China officially began. "Even the emblem of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation was designed by Mr. Li Zhengdao himself." Zhang Jie said.

Li Zhengdao pushed the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and as an honorary adviser, he proposed at the beginning of the establishment of the fund that the rights must be handed over to scientists.

In 1998, Li Zhengdao invested $300,000 to set up the "China University Students Research Assistance Fund" in the name of his wife Qin Huixuan, which supported undergraduate students from Peking University, Fudan University, Lanzhou University, Soochow University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to engage in scientific research support work.

【Special love affair with Shanghai】

"The Li Zhengdao Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been completed and is expected to be able to move in around the end of this year." Zhang Jie revealed.

Li Zhengdao was born in Shanghai, and he also has a special love affair with Shanghai. In 1987, Li Zhengdao was appointed visiting professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University. In 2011, Li Zhengdao donated his Nobel Medals, certificates, and precious materials such as research manuscripts, correspondence letters, calligraphy and painting works to Shanghai Jiaotong University, which were displayed in the Li Zhengdao Library.

The Lee Jung-do Institute, which focuses on tackling the most important scientific problems of the 21st century, began with a letter from Lee Jeong-do. In 2014, Li Zhengdao wrote a letter to the central leadership, proposing to establish a world-class research institute in China with reference to the Bohr Institute, which has had a great impact on the development of science in the world. This proposal has been highly valued by the leaders of the party and the state. The Lee Jung-do Institute was established in 2016 and attracted nearly 100 researchers from 16 countries.

"Carefully pushing physics must be happy, how to use floating names to stumble on this body", this is a poem by Du Fu that Li Zhengdao particularly admires. Until his retirement at the age of 86, Lee Zhengdao had a lifelong relationship with "physics" and was publishing research papers before retiring. Today, at the age of 95, he loves life and paints tirelessly, and he also shared his recent "paintings" at this seminar.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Huang Haihua Text Editor: Huang Haihua Caption Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Su Wei

Source: Author: Huang Haihua