The greatest influence on Yang Zhenning's early years was his good family environment and good education in The National SouthWest Associated University. Yang Zhenning's father, Yang Kechuan, was originally a middle school teacher. Later, I came to the University of Chicago to study for five years and returned to China after receiving my doctorate in mathematics. Yang Zhenning was only two years old when his father left. Yang Zhenning is talented. He started reading when he was three years old. Under the guidance of my mother, I learned 3000 Chinese characters in just one and a half years.
From 65438 to 0937, Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. Soon, Beiping fell. Yang Zhenning's family fled to Hefei and then to Kunming. At that time, Yang Zhenning was only 16 years old and a sophomore, but in the second year, he was admitted to the National Southwest Associated University with the same academic qualifications. In the war-torn National Southwest Associated University, the conditions are extremely poor, but the teachers are extremely strong. Because Peking University, Tsinghua and Nankai jointly run schools, there are many famous professors. Zhu Ziqing, Wen Yiduo, Wang Li, Luo Changpei and other famous teachers have taught him Chinese. Zhao Zhongyao, Zhou Peiyuan and other physics celebrities also personally taught them. His bachelor's thesis was completed under the guidance of Professor Wu Dayou, and his master's thesis was studied by Professor Wang Zhuxi.
Professor Wu Dayou led him to study group theory and symmetry principle, and Professor Wang Zhuxi led him into the field of statistical mechanics. In the future work, these aspects have always been Yang Zhenning's main fields, and the influence of two famous teachers on him should not be underestimated.
When studying for a master's degree at National Southwest Associated University, Yang Zhenning highly praised the research styles of Einstein, Fermi and Dirac. The three of them have one thing in common: they can extract substantive things from very complicated physical phenomena, and then express them with mathematical formulas through in-depth research and thinking. All three of them go straight to the point and never talk big or empty words.
Yang Zhenning secretly vowed to go to America to learn from one of the three of them. However, it is not easy for an ordinary China person to learn from a world-famous physicist. When Yang Zhenning and his teacher talked about this idea, they both thought it was unrealistic. However, Yang Zhenning still refused to give up easily.
After coming to the United States, he went directly to Columbia University to find Fermi, but the secretary of the physics department of the school said that their school had never heard of such a person. In desperation, Yang Zhenning had to go to Princeton to ask his former teacher Professor Zhang Wenyu for help. After repeated efforts and recommendations by Professor Zhang, he finally got his wish and entered Fermi's research class in June 5438+0946 65438+ 10. When he directly offered to do a doctoral thesis with Professor Fermi, Fermi told him: "I can't direct your doctoral thesis because I am engaged in a highly confidential research work. But I can introduce you to a very talented professor at the University of Chicago. " This professor is Edward, who was later called "the father of the hydrogen bomb" by Americans? Tyler.
Edward? One of the characteristics of Professor Taylor's physics course is that he likes to call a spade a spade and express his views. He believes that even if more than 90% of this view is wrong, as long as 1% is right, it is of reference value to students. This teaching method is very helpful to develop students' thinking.
When Yang Zhenning first came to America, he wanted to be an experimental physicist. He believes that only in experiments can we find the real pleasure of learning physics, and only in experiments can we have real innovation. When he told Fermi this idea, Fermi thought it was impossible for a foreigner to enter Argonne's laboratory. So Fermi introduced him to Professor Ellison's accelerator laboratory.
However, Yang Zhenning is not successful here. He always looks clumsy in the laboratory. At that time, there was a joke circulating in the laboratory: "Where there is an explosion in the laboratory, there must be Yang Zhenning!" After Taylor knew the situation, he decided to let him give up and turn to theoretical physics.
After staying in the laboratory for nearly 20 months, Yang Zhenning decided to give up after careful consideration. Although this period of laboratory life was not very successful, it laid the foundation for his later work. When he and Li Zhengdao put forward the conclusion that parity is not conserved under the condition of weak interaction, they once designed an experiment to test the correctness of their theory from the perspective of experimental physicists. It can be said that his life in the laboratory laid a solid foundation for him to combine theory with experiment.
After years of hard work, Yang Zhenning's efforts finally paid off. 1956, he and Li Zhengdao discovered "parity is not conserved under the condition of weak interaction", 1957, and this conclusion was proved by the experiment of Chinese American scientist Ms. Wu Jianxiong. This year is an unforgettable and historic year for Yang Zhenning. His achievements have been recognized by the world. Together with Li Zhengdao, he won the highest honor in the Hall of Science-the Nobel Prize in Physics.
After winning the prize, Yang Zhenning was still not satisfied and continued to work selflessly. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, he visited China many times, which promoted the exchanges between China and the United States and the development of science in China.