Zhou Peiyuan: The greater the greater the reverence

During the "Cultural Revolution", Zhou Peiyuan's two shakes and one call were particularly enjoyable. One was to criticize Nie Yuanzi. He was not accustomed to Nie Yuanzi's perverse behavior, and first posted a 10,000-character poster to her, and then served as the first core group leader of the anti-Nie faction mass organization "Jinggangshan Corps". Although Zhou Peiyuan later obeyed the arrangement to leave Peking University under the personal intervention of Premier Zhou, his taking over the position itself was enough to prove his courage. It should be known that those who opposed Nie Yuanzi at that time must have the spirit of sacrificing their lives for righteousness - there is an old acquaintance of everyone, in order to overthrow Nie, the front foot "desperately fights for his old life" to go to "Jinggang Mountain", and the back foot is caught in the cowshed. who? Ji!

Once again, on October 6, 1972, he published an article in Guangming Daily entitled "Some Views on the Revolution in Science Education in Comprehensive Universities". In the era of ultra-leftist thought, basic theoretical research has become a little daughter-in-law who is angry, and even the laws of thermodynamics and relativity are not in a safe position, and from time to time they are knocked to the ground and step on a foot, and the entire Chinese science and education circles are in a state of confusion. Zhou Peiyuan could not contain his anger and wrote the article with a stroke of his pen, negating the shallowness and falsehood of the ultra-left forces from the perspective of the source of science and the law of development, and giving a shot in the arm of the Chinese scientific community. After the fall of the "Gang of Four," he was invited by the China Association for Science and Technology to give a report entitled "Line Struggle on The Problem of Basic Theoretical Issues in Natural Sciences" at the Beijing Exhibition Center Theater, and the venue was full of 2,700 people. Yang Zhenning later praised: "Everyone admires Mr. Zhou very much, because he is not afraid of pressure. ”

Zhou Peiyuan

In fact, Zhou Peiyuan was a hot-blooded person when he was young. When he was studying at St. John's High School in Shanghai, he once walked on the lawn of the Bund when he was blown out by a caretaker. Zhou Peiyuan was extremely angry, and the guard said, "When China is strong, you can go on this." This was seen by him as a great insult and became the motivation for his efforts. Later, he participated in the anti-imperialist parade and was expelled from St. John's High School, but he was also blessed by misfortune, and was admitted to Tsinghua through the transfer student examination, and became the youngest full professor at Tsinghua in 1929, thus beginning a career of more than 60 years of higher education.

He lectures seriously, energetically, speaks quickly, is infectious, and pays great attention to inspiring and inducing students to use their brains. In a theoretical mechanics class, he once threw a question to his students: "Can Newton's three laws boil down to two laws?" The students were dumbfounded, this is a move to challenge the cornerstones of classical physics! But Zhou Peiyuan is to inspire students' thinking in this way. He hates "almost" the most. Students write papers based on experiments, and Zhou Peiyuan pays great attention to the key factors affecting the accuracy of experiments, and always asks students to say how much it affects the experiment with higher accuracy and what the basis is. Whoever accidentally said "almost" would be scared back by Zhou Peiyuan.

He not only carefully guided his students academically, but also paid attention to caring, supporting and protecting them politically and ideologically. After the "12.9" Movement, his graduate student Yu Guangyuan was unable to concentrate on writing his thesis because he participated in the Party's Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement, and Zhou Peiyuan sympathized with him and tried his best to help him complete the thesis. During the Liberation War, some of his students, who had originally performed well in school, suddenly became "60 points doctrine", and he knew that the students were participating in progressive activities, so he tacitly and silently protected them. During the decade of turmoil, an assistant was put on four hats, including "opposing the Cultural Revolution," and was in a very isolated position. Zhou Peiyuan let people say: "Don't be pessimistic! In the future, just pay attention to your speech, and welcome to continue to visit my house. The man, who had not shed a tear at dozens of criticism meetings, suddenly cried like a wronged child.

Zhou Peiyuan is the only Chinese who has worked with Einstein for a long time, and the only Chinese who has taken pictures of Einstein, but he himself has not taken pictures with Einstein. His daughter Zhou Ruling once asked him why, and Zhou Peiyuan replied: "He is such a great scientist, how can I be qualified to take pictures with him?" Coincidentally, in 1982, Zhou Peiyuan led a delegation to Cambridge, England to attend the World Federation Conference, and visited Trinity College, Cambridge, where Newton once worked. There is a bronze statue of Newton in the chapel of the college. Zhou Ruling said to Zhou Peiyuan: "This is the originator of mechanics, you are also engaged in mechanics, let me take a picture of you, right?" Zhou Peiyuan shook his hand again and again: "He is Newton, where am I qualified to take a photo with him?" ”

Some people lamented that the reason why he did not want to take a group photo was because these great scientists would always occupy an extremely sacred place in his mind. In fact, to extend it, this is not only a great scientist, but also a very sacred place for science and truth in his heart. When a person's gaze can see through the universe and mankind, what must rise in his heart must not be arrogance, but humility and awe. This is the case with Zhou Peiyuan, who is wise and courageous.

Reporter Gao Yizhe

Editor Fang Yunwei (Intern)

Source: China Education News, July 10, 2017, 08th edition