1945 When the Anti-Japanese War was won, Deng Jiaxian graduated from the National Southwest United University and joined the "People's Youth", a peripheral organization of Kunming's * * * production party, and devoted himself to the struggle for democracy and against the Kuomintang's traitorous dictatorship. The following year, he returned to Peiping, was employed as a teaching assistant in the Department of Physics of Peking University, and served as the chairman of the Peking University Staff Union in the student movement. With the ambition of learning more skills to build a new China, he passed the postgraduate examination in the United States on 1947 and entered the graduate school of Purdue University in Indiana the following autumn. Because of his outstanding academic performance, he finished all the credits in less than two years and passed the doctoral thesis defense. At this time, he was only 26 years old and was called "Doctor Doll".
1950 In August, nine days after receiving his doctorate in the United States, Deng Jiaxian declined the detention of his tutor and friends at the same school and decided to return to China. In the same year 10, Deng Jiaxian came to the Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences as a researcher. In the following eight years, he studied China's nuclear theory. 1953, he married Xu Luxi. Xu Luxi is the eldest daughter of Xu Deheng, an important student leader in the May 4th Movement and later vice chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC). 1954, Deng Jiaxian joined the China * * * production party.
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/958, Qian Sanqiang, vice minister of the Second Machinery Department, found Deng Jiaxian and said that "the country is going to enlarge firecrackers" and asked him if he would like to take part in this work that must be kept strictly confidential. Deng Jiaxian agreed without hesitation. After returning home, he only told his wife that he wanted to transfer his job. He can no longer take care of his family and children, and communication is difficult. The wife, who has been influenced by patriotic thoughts since childhood, understands that her husband must engage in work of great significance to the country and expresses her firm support. Since then, Deng Jiaxian's name has disappeared in publications and foreign exchanges, and his figure only appears in the heavily guarded deep courtyard and the Gobi Desert.
After Deng Jiaxian became the director of the Theory Department of the Ninth Research Institute of the Second Machinery Department, he first selected a group of college students to prepare relevant Russian materials and atomic bomb models. 1in June, 959, the Soviet government suspended the original agreement, and the central government made up its mind to make atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and satellites by itself. Deng Jiaxian served as the head of the theoretical design of the atomic bomb, and at the same time deployed colleagues to study and calculate separately. He also took the lead in tackling key problems. Faced with an atmospheric pressure figure left by Soviet experts, with the help of Zhou, Deng Jiaxian overturned the original conclusion with rigorous calculation, thus solving the key problem of the success or failure of China's atomic bomb test. Mathematician Hua later said that this was the result of "a masterpiece of mathematical problems in the world".
Deng Jiaxian not only works hard in secret research institutes, but also often goes to the Gobi proving ground where sand and stones fly. 1964 10, China successfully exploded the first atomic bomb, and finally he signed the design scheme. He also led the researchers to quickly enter the explosion site to take samples after the test to confirm the effect. He studied hydrogen bombs with Yu Min and others. According to the "Deng Yu Plan", the hydrogen bomb was finally built and successfully tested two years and eight months after the atomic bomb exploded. Compared with 8 years in France, 7 years in the United States and 4 years in the Soviet Union, this has created the fastest speed in the world.
1972 Deng Jiaxian was the vice president of the nuclear weapons research institute, and 1979 was the president. 1984, China successfully conducted the second generation of new nuclear weapons test in the deep desert. The next year, his cancer spread beyond saving, and his request on National Day was to visit Tiananmen Square. On July 6th, 1986, Li Peng, then Vice Premier, went to the hospital to award him the National May 1st Labor Medal. On July 29th of the same year, Deng Jiaxian passed away. His last words are still about how to work hard on cutting-edge weapons and exhort: "Don't let others leave us too far away ..."
Yang Zhenning told his story.
In China, Yang Zhenning's name is a household name, ranging from intellectuals to ordinary people. A natural science scholar has such a wide popularity, not only because he was one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957 (the other winner was Professor Li Zhengdao, who was also a Chinese-American scholar), but also because he was the first Chinese-American scholar who successfully returned to China after the founding of New China in 1949.
Hefei boy walks into Tsinghua campus from Xiamen.
On the afternoon of October 29th, 2006 1, 10, Yang Zhenning gave a speech on "Science and Technology in the 20th Century" at Shanghai International Conference Center in Pudong, followed by an impromptu speech on the topic of "Self-report in 1980s". He said to everyone in a friendly tone: "According to the algorithm of China's old calendar, I am eighty years old today!"
The audience burst into warm applause. ...
From 65438 to 0922, Yang Zhenning was born in a typical intellectual family in China. When he was less than one year old, his father, Mr. Yang Wuzhi, went to the famous University of Chicago to study abroad at public expense. For six years, he has never seen his father, or even knew his father.
Six years later, my father returned to China with a doctorate from the University of Chicago and was employed by the Department of Mathematics of Xiamen University. My mother's family set off from their hometown in Hefei and rushed to Xiamen to reunite with their father. They traveled by land and water, passing through Shanghai. When he stood on the main road of Shanghai, an oriental metropolis, and looked at the Mercedes-Benz car he saw for the first time in his life, his consternation was absolutely no less than that of Mr. Wu who had just arrived in Shanghai from the countryside at midnight! Then, where he stayed, he saw for the first time the toilet that would gush out at the touch of a finger. This imaginative child vaguely felt the unparalleled power of modern technology for the first time!
Xiamen, where his father taught, left a deep impression on Yang Zhenning. The small building where their family lives is located by the sea. In those beautiful years, he saw the endless changes of the blue sky and the sea and the endless mystery of the world. In Yang Zhenning's mind, this vast expanse world has planted deep feelings for nature, the rivers and mountains of the motherland, and endless interest in exploring the mysteries of nature.
Later, my father was hired by Tsinghua University and the family went to Beiping.
Yang Zhenning lived in Tsinghua campus for eight years, which is the most important youth in a person's life. Yang Zhenning has said many times that the eight years on campus in Tsinghua left a deep impression on his life. After a lapse of half a century, after 70, he readily applied for the post of honorary professor of Tsinghua University. In recent years, after he retired from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he focused more on the improvement and development of Tsinghua University Advanced Research Center.
Of course, in these eight years, Yang Zhenning, like all the people in China, witnessed the Japanese militarism invading the three northeastern provinces of the motherland and the Xi Incident that shocked China and foreign countries. For a China person, this period of history is naturally unforgettable.
Two weeks after the Lugouqiao Incident, Yang Zhenning and his family returned to Hefei. I thought the Japanese would retreat, just like after the "1.28" incident in Shanghai. However, it backfired. A few months later, the Japanese plane began a large-scale bombing, and the dream of returning to Peiping became a bubble.
The National SouthWest Associated University's emotional chain
1937 65438+In February, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing, which was followed by the brutal and bloody "Nanjing Massacre" in human history. This is a shameful history that Yang Zhenning and the whole Chinese nation will never forget.
During the bonfire years, my father and his family came to Kunming from Hefei via Hankou. Yang Zhenning went to National Southwest Associated University, which was a famous university in wartime. Father also teaches in that university.
National Southwest Associated University was formed by the merger of three most prestigious universities in China before the war, namely Nankai University, Tsinghua University University and Tianjin University in Peking University.
Yang Zhenning studied at National Southwest Associated University for four years, and then, from 1942 to 1944, he also studied at National Southwest Associated University, where he completed his postgraduate studies.
Yang Zhenning is studying physics at National Southwest Associated University. At that time, most of the professors who taught in the National The National SouthWest Associated University were young doctors who returned from studying in Europe and America. He admits that in The National SouthWest Associated University, the most successful professor is the Department of Mathematics, and the most impressive three-digit professors are Hua, Xu.
Speaking of physics teacher, Yang Zhenning's brow is full of an irresistible nostalgia. Those who personally introduced him to the hall of science in those days were all rare outstanding talents in Chinese physics!
Yang Zhenning is a very nostalgic person. For him, the kindness of the teacher will never be forgotten. He has great respect for the late Professor Zhao Zongyao. In the 1980s, he wrote an article together with his domestic counterparts in physics, praising Mr. Zhao's important achievements in physics research and education. And Professor Wu Dayou and Professor Wang Zhuxi. In Yang Zhenning's view, the education of these two teachers had a great influence on his life.
When Yang Zhenning was a senior in college, he asked Professor Wu Dayou for his graduation thesis. At that time, Wu Dayou gave him a topic: "The application of group theory in molecular spectroscopy", which belonged to Wu Dayou's own research scope at that time. Under the guidance of Wu Dayou, Yang Zhenning finished this paper. In the process of completing this paper, Yang Zhenning entered the magical valley of group theory research for the first time. The important position of group theory in the future research space of physics and the amazing beauty displayed by group theory have left a deep impression on the future Nobel Prize winners in physics. Since then, Yang Zhenning's research all his life has been related to group theory.
Wang Zhuxi, a Shanghainese, is a professor who came back from the United States and is engaged in the research of statistical mechanics. The influence of an excellent teacher on students' future academic development is immeasurable. One third of Yang Zhenning's life research is statistical mechanics.
Han Yu said that teachers don't have to be superior to disciples, and disciples don't have to be inferior to teachers. I have heard of Taoism, and I specialize in it. Yang Zhenning's later career has been proved by history to be more than just his teacher. However, for him, without these excellent teachers who are willing to be ladders, there would be no Yang Zhenning today. The kindness of the teacher is unforgettable!
From 65438 to 0944, Yang Zhenning received a master's degree from National Southwest Associated University. In the same year, Tsinghua stayed in the United States at public expense, and Yang Zhenning was on the list.
Passports and visas and things like that, going back and forth for a whole year. Although my father was a professor, inflation continued during the war, making ends meet, which can be said to be stretched. Forced by life, Yang Zhenning became a teacher in the middle school attached to The National SouthWest Associated University in the year when he was waiting to go abroad. Naturally, he didn't expect that this year's teaching contributed to a happy marriage in his life.
Today we all agree that she saw me first.
Yang Zhenning said that he was very grateful for the life of middle school teachers that year, because that life made him really understand the lives of middle school students and middle school teachers. In particular, in the class where he taught, he met his later wife, Du Zhili, who was still a student.
1945, Japan surrendered and World War II ended. Yang Zhenning decided to take a troop ship to the United States in Calcutta, India. After waiting for two months, I finally got a bed. So, across the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar ... finally arrived in the United States.
"I have been ashore for 56 years." 200 1 10, in the lecture hall of Shanghai International Conference Center in Pudong, in front of thousands of listeners and compatriots, he said this sentence with great emotion.
Like his father, Yang Zhenning chose the University of Chicago. He hoped that the famous physicist Felmy would be his mentor, and he got it.
At that time, Felmy was recognized as one of the greatest theoretical physicists and experimental physicists in the 20th century. This extraordinary scientist made first-class work in two fields at the same time.
Yang Zhenning studied at the University of Chicago for two and a half years and got a doctorate. Later, he stayed at school and taught for another year. Yang Zhenning's mechanics teacher at the University of Chicago was Professor Taylor, when he was less than forty years old. Taylor was later called the father of the hydrogen bomb. Yang Zhenning remembers that Taylor had a very unusual personality. Sometimes, he will hold you in the corridor and talk happily about a new idea that he has just sprouted. Shortly thereafter, he corrected himself without fear. Perhaps, nine and a half of Taylor's 10 new ideas are wrong. But it has a very important enlightenment to Yang Zhenning's scientific research all his life. Because, scientific research, discovering and revealing the truth really needs an unusual frankness and courage, and in this courage, it naturally contains the confidence and courage to dare to recognize and correct your mistakes.
After leaving the University of Chicago, Yang Zhenning went to Princeton Research Institute. This independent study has more than 20 full-time professors, no students, and 100 researchers from all over the world.
Yang Zhenning stayed in Princeton for 17 years. This is a very important year in his life (17), where he met Du Zhili, a student who taught in the middle school attached to The National SouthWest Associated University, and later became his wife.
It was an unexpected encounter of 1949.
"Today we all agree that she saw me first." Yang Zhenning said. Maybe my wife is not around, and I seem to be around when I say this.
We met at a hotel in Princeton
"Teacher Yang, do you still know me?" On that day, Du Zhili suddenly appeared in front of Yang Zhenning and asked with a smile.
The change of life sometimes begins with an ordinary and simple greeting. Like all men and women, the young couple soon fell in love. Eight months later, they tied the knot.
In Princeton Research Institute, the academic holy land, the most famous figures are Einstein, who is recognized as the pride in the history of human science in the 20th century, and Oppenheimer, a master of science who is also beyond the reach of the world.
On the green lawn of Princeton Research Institute, young Yang Zhenning can often see Einstein coming on foot. He never drives a car. His colleague is his excellent assistant Gordon.
Drinking a pool of water with the great predecessors allowed Yang Zhenning to enjoy the "opening up" and benefit for life.
1957, Yang Zhenning, who was only 36 years old, and his colleague Dr. Li Zhengdao from China won the Nobel Prize in physics in the United States, and became one of the first-class scientists in the world for putting forward the important theory that parity is not conserved under weak interaction.
After living in Princeton for 17 years, Yang Zhenning received an invitation letter from new york. New York State is building a new university: State University of New York at Stony Brook. With the heart of recruiting talents, the president of this university warmly invited Yang Zhenning to join us and help him contribute to the development of the new school.
Yang Zhenning was happily hired and went to Xi Shi campus to take office. The year is 196 1.
"Ping-pong diplomacy" opens the door to returning home
197 1 year, in the history of Sino-US relations, Mao Zedong invited his old friend and famous American journalist edgar snow to Tiananmen Square for "ping-pong diplomacy", which shocked China and foreign countries. This series of important signals indicates that Sino-US relations are about to thaw.
After 1949, Yang Zhenning kept in touch with his parents, brothers and sisters in Shanghai. He met his family four times in Geneva, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Facing the picturesque scenery of these world-famous cities, the joyful moment of reunion with family after a long separation cannot eliminate the bitterness and sadness after a long separation.
When he learned the information of "ping-pong diplomacy", he immediately wrote to his father and asked to return to China to visit relatives. Nervous, my father reported the matter to the relevant parties for instructions. Soon, Professor Yang Wuzhi received a reply from the State Council: "Welcome! Let your son go to the Chinese Embassy in France to apply for a visa. " There was no diplomatic relationship between China and the United States at that time, and many important diplomatic negotiations between China and the United States were held in Paris.
In this way, Yang Zhenning, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957, became the first Chinese-American scientist who made outstanding achievements after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.
Yang Zhenning met his father Yang Wuzhi in Shanghai Huashan Hospital. At that time, my father was already ill in hospital, but he looked good, especially when his beloved son came back.
Two years later, Professor Yang Wuzhi died in Huashan Hospital. When the old man leaves, his mood should be peaceful and comfortable, because he has dedicated an excellent son to the society, the motherland and the world. In his lifetime, he can finally reunite with his son who is far away from the other side of the ocean in the motherland.
The "food stamp storm" of pancake fritters stand
Yang Zhenning returned to China for the first time on 197 1, and Shanghai was his first stop. He lives in Jinjiang Hotel.
When he checked into the hotel early the next morning, he was awakened by the propaganda horn. He walked out of the hotel with a camera. He saw a pie stand across the street. It smells good! Pancakes, fried dough sticks, soybean milk, glutinous rice balls, how many childhood joys, how many young memories! He approached the fritters stand and reached into his trouser pocket, which contained some RMB change that his brother Yang had given him the night before. He saw a middle-aged woman scooping soybean milk.
"How much is a bowl of soybean milk?"
"Two cents."
Pay for it. Reach for soy milk.
"Comrade, food stamps-"
"Food stamps, what food stamps?"
He looked shocked. The other party looked puzzled.
As soon as he felt bad, he turned away. I can't drink soybean milk.
He continued to walk aimlessly, a little uneasy. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a little boy in the middle of a long row of manicured French buttonwood trees not far ahead. I must be learning about it-it's like my childhood! Yang Zhenning's childlike innocence, raised his camera to record this touching scene.
"Don't move!"
Suddenly, he heard a voice exclaim. His hands trembled and the camera almost fell off.
Looking up, it was an alert face. He was very serious and persistent and was told to stay where he was.
It was an era when many people were highly vigilant about many things. Standing in front of Yang Zhenning is a citizen who has tightened the string of class struggle.
The man called a PLA man on duty on Maoming Road. The PLA understands discipline. He said to Yang Zhenning, "You stand first and I'll ask for instructions."
"Misunderstanding, this is our guest!"
Fortunately, a staff member of Jinjiang Hotel watched Yang Zhenning walk out of the hotel gate. Seeing that he didn't come back for a long time, he walked out of the hotel and looked around, not wanting to just relieve Yang Zhenning.
A false alarm.
After the storm, Yang Zhenning's parents insisted that his brother and brother live together to avoid any strange things happening again.
He reads Chairman Mao's poems 10 days.
Yang Zhenning returned to China that year and went to many places. He found that although China was backward at that time, urban residents could barely make ends meet, but they lived with confidence.
In Beijing, Yang Zhenning revisited his hometown and stayed for 10 days.
He lives in Beijing Hotel on Chang 'an Avenue. On the wall of his room, President Mao Zedong's watermarked woodcut ink hangs: "What an ambitious victim you are, dare to teach the sun and the moon to change the sky."
Yang Zhenning looked at these two poems and thought a lot. His children are Americans, and he and his parents are from China. He can't avoid such a very realistic and sensitive problem, and he can't help but face these lingering problems.
He came to the conclusion that there is no irreconcilable contradiction between China and America.
He, Yang Zhenning, will do his best to promote the improvement of Sino-US relations. Although he is just an ordinary scientist.
After the Nobel Prize winner in physics returned to the United States, he made many speeches everywhere and personally campaigned for the improvement of Sino-US relations.
1973 In the summer, President Mao Zedong met with Yang Zhenning in Zhongnanhai.
In this meeting, Yang Zhenning was very surprised to find that busy Mao Zedong had a strong interest in natural science. That day, he and Yang Zhenning discussed the structure of elementary particles with great interest.
Mao Zedong approached Yang Zhenning, smiled excitedly and told each other with a strong Hunan accent: In China, those ancient philosophers also tried to explain the structure of matter. The wise old man also wittily quoted some words from classic works, which aroused the great interest of Nobel Prize winners.
Mao Zedong held out a finger and gesticulated to ask Yang Zhenning, "How do you use the words' theory' and' thought' in your field?"
Yang Zhenning was obviously stumped. He never considered the difference between the two words. He paused for a long time and gave the other party an unsatisfactory answer. Then, the topic turns to the meanings of these two words in Chinese and English, and compares them in specific fields of physics in order to find the subtle differences between these two words. Yang Zhenning believes that this discussion on the meaning of "theory" and "thought" seems to have not reached any specific conclusions, but it left a deep impression on him.
China is expected to win the Nobel Prize in 10.
It has been 30 years since Yang Zhenning first returned to China in 197 1.
In the golden autumn of 200 1, on the floor of Hengshan Hotel 1 1 in the southwest corner of Shanghai, the octogenarian gently lifted the curtain of the south window and was filled with emotion: in just a few years, the city of Shanghai has changed beyond recognition for all those who know her!
Yang Zhenning hasn't been to Shanghai for seven or eight years. He wanted to see the city and arouse his memories many years ago, but he couldn't find the impression it gave him. What he saw was a brand-new city!
Yang Zhenning believes that the new China is the new China.
Yang Zhenning also believes that China made great scientific and technological progress in the 20th century, and continues to make such progress now. In another 30 or 40 years, China will definitely be at the forefront of science and technology in the world.
When talking about his parents' education in those years, Yang Zhenning frankly admitted that his parents' education in those years was very wise. He was good at mathematics when he was a child, but his father didn't deliberately instill mathematical knowledge in him. In the second day of the first grade, he was also taught by a famous history professor.
Yang Zhenning's view on the phenomenon of studying abroad at a young age is dialectical: one's goal is to achieve academic and scientific achievements, and the best way is to study in good middle schools and universities in China and go abroad for graduate studies; If you want to live a comfortable life in the future, the success rate of going abroad at a young age is relatively high.
He also believes that there are more opportunities in China than abroad.
He said, "The students in Tsinghua are better than those in American universities. I didn't say this casually, I seriously thought about it. There are four times as many students in China as in the United States, while there are far fewer universities in China. So I said, Harvard students are not as good as Tsinghua. China students who study for graduate students in the United States suffer a lot at first. This is because China's education system pays too much attention to slowness and stability, which leads to students' boldness. At first, they couldn't let go. After a long time, they adapted and the rhythm was faster. "
When talking about when China scientists can win the Nobel Prize in China, the Nobel Prize winner confidently replied: "20 years is no problem, and 10 is promising!"
He said that he fully agreed with Feng Youlan's theory of "old country, new life" in his later years.
"This is because today's China is a new country in 2 1 century, a new country that grew out of an old country. For the world of 2 1 century, this is a very, very important thing! "
Yang (1922) was born on September 22nd in Hefei, China. Originally from Fengyang County, Anhui Province. His father, Yang (word Wu Zhi), is a doctor of mathematics at the University of Chicago. After returning to China, he served as the head of the Department of Mathematics in Tsinghua University and The National SouthWest Associated University for many years. Yang Zhenning studied in the Physics Department of Southwest Associated University in China from 1938 to 1944, and obtained a bachelor's degree and a master's degree successively. Yang Zhenning's tutor for bachelor's thesis is Wu Dayou, and his tutor for master's thesis is Wang Zhuxi. 1945 went to study in the United States, and 1948 received a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago. From 1958 to 1979, he obtained Ph.D. degrees in physics from Princeton University and six universities including Poland and the United States. He was a researcher at Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies and a professor at Princeton University. He is a member of the American Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society. Since 1966, he has been Professor Albert Einstein and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. 1999 officially retired on May 2 1 day. On the same day, Xi Shi Branch named the Institute of Theoretical Physics "Yang Zhenning Institute of Theoretical Physics" and was awarded the first-class honorary doctorate by the school in the same year.
1956, Yang Zhenning and Professor Li Zhengdao put forward the principle of parity non-conservation in weak interaction, so * * * won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. This principle has completely changed people's understanding of symmetry and opened up a new world for people to correctly understand the world of microscopic particles. The theory of non-Abelian gauge field has greatly promoted the study of four basic interactions. A lot of pioneering work has been done in particle physics. In addition, Yang Zhenning is also the pioneer and founder of important research directions in statistical physics, condensed matter physics, quantum field theory, mathematical physics and many other fields.
Since 197 1, I have visited relatives, visited and lectured in China for many times, and at the same time, I have worked hard to help China scholars and overseas students to conduct scientific research and study in the United States, which has played an important role in promoting scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States. 1In June 1998, Tsinghua University awarded Yang Zhenning honorary professor of Tsinghua University.1In June 1994, he was elected as the first batch of foreign academicians of China Academy of Sciences.
His wife Du Zhizha (deceased) is Du's daughter. She was a student of Yang Zhenning when she was teaching in the middle school affiliated to The National SouthWest Associated University. They got married on 1950, and have two sons and one daughter: the eldest son Yang Guangnuo, the second son Yang Guangyu and the daughter Yang Youli.
On February 24th, 2004, at 65438, Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan, a Chaoshan woman, went through the marriage registration formalities at the foreign marriage registration office of Shantou Civil Affairs Bureau.