A student of the famous mathematician Hua, he is currently an academician of China Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics, mainly engaged in the study of number theory. For decades, his research achievements are numerous and have been highly praised by the international mathematics community. How did he become a famous mathematician from an ordinary student?
Wang Yuan was born in an intellectual family and received early enlightenment education. He is not particularly clever, let alone a child prodigy, but like most successful people, he succeeded through hard work. Wang Yuan's primary and junior high schools were spent in war and hardship. He went to school at the age of four At that time, he was still an innocent and lively child, and he just wanted to play. As a result, he failed for two years in a row. When I was in middle school, my academic performance was just average.
Such a student with medium grades has a very prominent feature: wide interests and strong thirst for knowledge. He is willing to spend time studying hard wherever he is interested. At first, he liked reading novels, and no matter how thick the book was, he would try his best to finish it. He watched others play the erhu, and he was moved and became an erhu lover. Because he spent time practicing hard and was willing to think about his playing skills, he soon became an excellent erhu player. Later, he liked painting and swimming. He often goes out to sketch with his sketchpad. Tired of painting, I took off my clothes and jumped into the lake to swim happily. His extensive interests have cultivated his fear of difficulties and strong enterprising spirit. As long as he is interested in the project, he always studies better than others.
From 65438 to 0948, Wang Yuan graduated from high school and was admitted to the Mathematics Department of Zhejiang Yingshi University. Zhejiang University is a place where the older generation of mathematicians in China, Chen Hesu, have taught for many years, and mathematics education is very traditional. The two professors have been offering reading discussion classes for senior students since 1930s, which is very helpful to cultivate students' ability of independent scientific research. The teaching environment of Zhejiang University stimulated Wang Yuan's real interest in mathematics. In the fourth year of college, he reported A·E· Ingham's theory of prime number distribution in reading discussion class. 1952, Wang Yuan graduated from Zhejiang University and was recommended to the Institute of Mathematics of China Academy of Sciences for his excellent performance. A year later, he was assigned to the number theory group of the Institute.
Fortunately, he started his research career under the direct guidance of Professor Hua. He went to the number theory group selected by Hua himself. I have studied and worked in the research group in China. In order to climb the peak of world mathematics, Hua held a seminar on number theory and took part in this class. When Hua teaches in a discussion class, he always gives the lecture notes to everyone first, and then asks everyone to report the discussion. There is also a rule that after the speaker has finished speaking, he must answer questions raised by others. If you can't answer, let you write the question on the blackboard and stand on the stage to think. Students call this situation "hanging the blackboard".
Hua predicted at that time that Selberg sieve method and Lenique method might be developed in number theory, which might be an effective way to solve Goldbach's conjecture. The seminar also discussed this issue. One day, it was Wang Yuan's turn to give a talk on Selberg screening. This is actually a quadratic minimization problem, which is related to the square. When Wang Yuan posed on the blackboard, he suddenly became nervous, and he couldn't put everything together. His problem hung on the blackboard for a whole hour before it was solved.
After being hung on the blackboard, he firmly remembered Hua's words. At present, there are many people engaged in this field in the world, so it is of great significance to master and study the screening methods. Wang Yuan's goal is clear. He boldly chose Goldbach conjecture related to screening methods as his main direction. He gave up all rest days and recreational activities and concentrated on his studies. Soon, he and a foreign scientist wrote two papers on the study of sieving, which was his first appearance in mathematical research. Later, Wang Yuan wrote several papers on the same issue. After reading it, Hua severely criticized it. He said earnestly, "Your speed is good, but you have to speed up. If you just work at the original level, you will never get better results. "
I soon understood the truth of Hua's words. He knows that an object needs external force to accelerate; To speed up scientific research, we need to be brave in pioneering. Wang Yuan's research on Sieve Method and Goldbach conjecture established his position as a famous number theorist. Goldbach Conjecture, edited by Wang Yuan, comprehensively summarizes the development and present situation of Goldbach Conjecture research, including his own work. Later, Hua and I started the cooperation between teachers and students for 20 years, and achieved brilliant results. His representative works include Application of Number Theory in Approximate Analysis, Goldbach Conjecture and Popularizing Mathematical Methods in People's Republic of China (PRC) (in cooperation with China). Wang Yuan made an in-depth study of Goldbach's conjecture. He first proved that every even number large enough is the sum of integers with a prime factor of no more than 2 and a prime factor of no more than 3. This achievement won the first prize of national natural science1984; Together with Hua, he put forward a new method for calculating multiple integrals, which is called "Hua-Wang method" internationally.
He is a generation of mathematicians who grew up under the personal training of Professor Hua after the founding of New China. He is also an internationally recognized important member of the China School of Number Theory headed by China. "Diligence makes genius" is Wang Yuan's motto. He believes that scientific research, especially basic research, depends largely on accumulation. Wang Yuan's reading notes reach 3,400 pages, which shows his efforts in scientific research. Wang Yuanye is a humble scholar. The experience of studying Goldbach's conjecture made him deeply realize that scientific research is like climbing infinite steps. No matter how high a person reaches, he always advances on the basis of his predecessors. Therefore, he said: "properly estimate yourself not to be too intoxicated with what you have done, but always have a sense of crisis, so that there will never be the possibility of complacency." He believes that this attitude comes from an objective understanding of the whole ocean of mathematical knowledge.
Wang Yuan has become a famous mathematician in the international mathematics field. His road to success is inseparable from his diligence, hard work, humble attitude and the spirit of constantly forging ahead to the peak of science.