1937 after the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University jointly established a university in Changsha, Hunan Province: Changsha Temporary University, which moved to Kunming the following year and was officially renamed Southwest Associated University (hereinafter referred to as National Southwest Associated University, the same below). Yang Wuzhi, a professor in the Department of Mathematics of Tsinghua University, went to the National Southwest Associated University to teach and served as the head of the Department of Mathematics after the establishment of the United University.
Born in such a family of mathematicians, Yang Zhenning has laid a solid mathematical foundation since childhood, which is of great significance to Yang Zhenning's future take-off in the field of physics.
1938, Yang Zhenning was admitted to the National Southwest Associated University where his father taught. But he didn't choose his father's math major, but finally chose his father's physics major and studied under him. The father of physics in China? Wu Dayou.
After graduating from undergraduate course, he continued to study for a master's degree in this school. 1944 After graduation, the following year, that is, 1945, went to study in the United States at public expense. He entered his father's alma mater, the University of Chicago, and studied under Edward, the "father of hydrogen bombs". Tyler. 1948 After graduating from Ph.D., he entered the Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies the following year for research work. And began to become close friends with Li Zhengdao. He also went to study in the United States at public expense under the recommendation of his mentor Wu Dayou, and discussed and studied physical problems together.
1956, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao both published a subversive theoretical hypothesis: parity is not conserved under weak interaction, which was later confirmed by many experimental physicists such as Wu Jianxiong through different experiments.
The second year after the theory was put forward and confirmed, both of them won the Nobel Prize in Physics with 1957, becoming the fastest winners in history. This theory subverts the past belief in parity conservation (about the spatial symmetry of physical laws). Personally, I think this subversion can be compared with Einstein's special theory of relativity's subversion of the classical concept of time and space in Newtonian mechanics.
However, in the field of physics, there is a saying that parity non-conservation is not Yang Zhenning's most important theoretical contribution. His more important theoretical contribution is that he and a graduate student Robert? Young-Mills theory put forward by Mills * * *, and now the standard models of quantum physics are based on this theoretical framework. Some people think that the position of Jan-Mills theory can be compared with Newton's classical mechanics, Maxwell's electromagnetic theory and Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Unfortunately, not long after winning the Nobel Prize, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao gradually broke up, from 1+ 1 >: It's a pity that our best friend has grown old and died. More than half a century has passed, so far no one can figure out whether they are right or wrong. Both of them are nearly 100-year-old men and masters of physics, but there is still no sign of reconciliation. Perhaps the reason will become an eternal mystery in physics. Now I can only look at the old photos of these two once harmonious families.
The woman next to Yang Zhenning in the photo is his wife Du Zhili. They got married in Princeton on August 26th, 1950. Du Zhili was a student of Yang Zhenning when he was in the middle school attached to National Southwest Associated University. She is the daughter of Du, a senior Kuomintang general. His father was captured in the late period of the liberation war. After the founding of New China, he stayed in China, but was pardoned in 1959.
It is generally believed that Yang Zhenning did not have a good friend in the early days of the founding of New China. It is quite possible that the marriage had something to do with the return of Deng Jiaxian with two bombs and one satellite. The year when Deng Jiaxian returned to China was also the year when Yang Zhenning got married.
Contrary to many people who stay at home all their lives, Yang Zhenning still cares about the motherland even after becoming an American citizen. 197 1 year, he returned to China as the first well-known overseas scholar and was cordially received. The first person he asked to meet was his good friend Deng Jiaxian. At this time, Deng Jiaxian and a group of scientists engaged in two bombs and one satellite were being beaten by P, and Yang Zhenning's meeting request successfully rescued them. Yes, it is them, not him.
This year, Yang Zhenning was 49 years old. In the following 49 years, Yang Zhenning never stopped contributing to the motherland. Yang Zhenning used his prestige and influence to make suggestions for domestic education and scientific research projects and spare no effort for the international status of the motherland. Yang Zhenning's promotion of scientific research education in the motherland includes: proposing to strengthen popular science, introducing excellent foreign popular science magazines, proposing to establish a juvenile class of the Chinese University of Science and Technology, promoting the establishment of an advanced research center in Tsinghua University, using his influence to help introduce top talents, and building a bridge between education and academic exchanges between China and the United States. These are just his contributions to education and scientific research.
In 2003, Yang Zhenning returned to China and settled in Tsinghua, and devoted himself to promoting the construction and development of Tsinghua Higher Academic Research Center. On April 1 day, 2005, Yang Zhenning formally gave up American citizenship and returned to the motherland completely.
Yang Zhenning expressed his patriotic feelings with his half-life actions. Patriotism is not spoken, not typed by keyboard, but practiced by action.
China is fortunate to have Yang Zhenning, and the world is fortunate to have Yang Zhenning. Yang Laoru is a treasure. Please send your best wishes! Nozzle, please detour.