Long Yiming never dreamed of becoming a mathematician. When he was in middle school, China's first atomic bomb exploded successfully, which influenced his interest. At that time, he was an active member of the radio extracurricular group, and his best skill was to assemble radios by hand.
The ten-year Cultural Revolution deprived Long Yiming and his peers of the opportunity to choose and go to college. 1972 was admitted to Tianjin Normal University to train middle school teachers and return to the classroom.
Long Yiming, who studied in Nankai Middle School, was especially influenced by the school spirit of "fairness and justice, changing with each passing day". During her working days in Tianjin Normal University, Long Yiming went to work during the day and taught herself mathematics at night. Undergraduate courses such as advanced algebra and mathematical analysis were all completed in the earthquake shed at that time.
1978 after resuming the college entrance examination, Long Yiming got the first place in the Department of Mathematics of Nankai University. Under the guidance of his tutor, Professor Deng, he began to receive formal mathematical training and conducted research in the field of partial differential equations. After years of neglect, Long Yiming picked up books. "I can't wait to make up for the loss of the past 10 years with three years of study. "The documents he extracted from the library were filled with more than ten pieces of paper.
In the study of mathematics, Long Yiming, who is cool-headed, sometimes gets excited. He said that "there is no doubt that there is no way out, there will be another village in the future" and that he woke up last night and found that his ideas were wrong often happened in mathematics research. When I find a solution to a difficult problem, I often stay up all night excited ... 1983, Long Yiming was sent to study in the United States, and his tutor was Professor Rabinovich, an academician of the American Academy of Sciences. Because Long Yiming solved a difficult problem in the research of nonlinear Hamiltonian system in his doctoral thesis completed in 1987, the Sigma-Kose Research Association of the University of Wisconsin awarded the 1987 Excellent Doctoral Thesis Award to Long Yiming, a 39-year-old China student for the first time. He was one of the three winners among thousands of graduate students who graduated that year.
After returning to Nankai at the end of 1988, Long Yiming discovered the relationship between the exponential iteration theory of Hamilton system and several major topics, so he devoted his main energy to the study of exponential iteration theory. At that time, the research of this topic was unpopular, and no one thought that its research would have an impact on several major topics of Hamilton system. But Long Yiming insisted on completing the research on this subject. He started from studying the most basic symplectic linear algebra and made steady progress step by step. Finally, he took the lead in systematically establishing the exponential iteration theory of symplectic path in the world, and successfully applied it to the study of periodic solution orbits of nonlinear Hamiltonian systems.
For these works, the American Mathematical Review pointed out: "Long Yiming and his collaborators made a decisive contribution to the development of this index in a series of articles." In 2004, the Third World Academy of Sciences awarded the Mathematics Prize to Long Yiming. In his acceptance speech, he specifically mentioned: "Long Yiming's Xinlu index iteration theory is an extremely powerful and useful tool, which gives many interesting and basic applications;" Long Yiming has pushed the work in this field to a shocking new level. "
Zhu Chaofeng, a professor at Chen Shengshen Institute of Mathematics of Nankai University, found a strange thing when he was in college: Long Yiming's borrowing records were left on the borrowing cards of a large number of mathematics books. The young man decided to apply for postgraduate study in Long Yiming.
Later, this master-apprentice cooperation paper made an important breakthrough in the research of a major topic of Hamilton's system theory, and was published in the authoritative mathematical magazine "American Mathematical Yearbook". This is the first time since the founding of New China that the journal published the results completely completed by mathematicians in Chinese mainland. "Teacher Chen has always been far-sighted and set an example, encouraging me to go my own way and do a good job in mathematics research." In Long Yiming's mind, Chen Shengshen, the late international master of mathematics, was one of the people who had the greatest influence on his studies.
In the 1980s, Long Yiming decided to return to Nankai after learning that Bobby Chen had returned to Nankai to set up a mathematical research institute. On the eve of returning home, he met Chen Shengshen in Zurich. Hearing Long Yiming's plan, the old man was very happy.
In his later years, Chen Shengshen greatly promoted the development of Finsler geometry. Shortly before Long Yiming's death, important progress was made in the closed geodesic research in this field. After learning this news, Chen Shengshen listened to Long Yiming's academic report with great interest and spoke highly of it. A few days later, the two men had another long talk on this issue.
10 days later, Chen Shengshen left, and he never heard from his disciples again. Long Yiming, who has always been calm, burst into tears.
Three years later, two mathematicians from Chen Shengshen Institute of Mathematics were elected as academicians of China Academy of Sciences. "The happiest person at this time should be Mr. Chen," said. "He has always wanted to see young and middle-aged mathematicians in Nankai Institute grow up and contribute to the development of mathematics in Nankai and China."
The teacher's hope is also Long Yiming's expectation. In order to cultivate the younger generation and promote the sustainable development of mathematics research, Long Yiming has strict requirements for young students. It needs to focus on helping them lay a good foundation and teaching them to identify which problems can be the direction of long-term research. He also pays special attention to protecting students' enthusiasm, curiosity and problem consciousness.
Long Yiming, a national model teacher, was elected twice, and the herdsmen on the grassland became Bole in the provincial building. Long Yiming particularly emphasized that there is still a considerable gap between China and the mathematical powers in Europe and America. Only when several generations of young mathematicians grow up can China become a powerful mathematical country; A powerful mathematical country should at least achieve the following goals in most branches of mathematics: first, there are many international advanced posts, and second, there are a considerable number of world-class mathematicians.