Who is more successful in mathematics, Chen Shengshen or Hua?
Hua:' s "The Hundred Pagodas" struggled independently, got rid of the shackles of tradition and authority, integrated the idea of topology into differential geometry, and finally created a new field of differential geometry: large-scale differential geometry, thus becoming another landmark figure in the history of geometry after Euclid, Gauss, Riemann and Gadang. Not only that, when Chen Sheng was 80 years old, he was also criticized as "finding another way and being active in the forefront of mathematics". This is really a miracle in the history of mathematics, because according to Weil, the most famous mathematician in this century, mathematicians will be around 35 years old. In sharp contrast, it is another outstanding mathematician, Hua. Whether smart or diligent, Hua is not under Chen Sheng. Graduated from junior high school, promoted three times, and was hired as a full professor at the age of 28. I'm afraid this example will never be found in China. After studying in Cambridge for two years, I wrote a high-quality paper on 18 in one breath. With such high quality and high yield, it is no wonder that even Chen Shengshen, who is not confident, has to admire "he is indeed a mathematical genius" and "he works hard". Even a recognized genius, such as Weiner, the founder of cybernetics, who is called a prodigy, should be afraid of China's talent. 1935- 1936, Weiner came to Tsinghua to give an academic report. According to the memory of the class at that time, as long as Hua had some strange expressions, such as coughing, Weiner would ask him, "Am I wrong?" And so on, to name a few. However, such cleverness and diligence still can't save China's academic decline in his later years. The theory of heap prime number in 1940s and the theory of complex variable function in 1950s are its most brilliant peaks. Originally, Hua could continue to create on multivariate complex function and walk out of a broad road like the same. However, the domestic political movement began, and Hua's mathematical life ended. Although he also did some excellent work in applied mathematics, such as high-dimensional numerical integration (in fact, this is the only commendable work), these works can no longer influence the world trend. China's cleverness and diligence were not under Chen Sheng, and finally she fell under Chen Sheng. Although it is acknowledged that "He (Hua) has made important contributions to number theory, algebra and the theory of multiple complex variables", most of these contributions are problem-solving, and Hua's contribution to creating a wide range of fields and leading the world trend is not available. Faced with this gap, which is obviously not caused by intellectual factors, how should we explain it? The environment is certainly an important aspect. For example, some foreign researchers think: "If China stayed in the United States like many of his compatriots after World War II, there is no doubt that he will make more contributions to mathematics." However, other mathematicians, such as Chen Jingrun, Feng Kang, Yang Le, Zhang Guanghou and others, still made outstanding contributions in that era. They were all attacked and persecuted to some extent. For example, Feng Kang was beaten as an international spy, once fled back to his hometown, and was later arrested and imprisoned. However, Feng Kang's mathematical achievements in this period are still endless: in the 1960s, he invented the finite element method independently of the West and laid its theoretical foundation first; In 1970s, the natural boundary element method was put forward, which was praised as one of the three schools of boundary element method internationally. Shortly after the end of the Cultural Revolution, he pioneered the Hamiltonian algorithm based on symplectic geometry, thus creating a new field of computational mathematics. These achievements are all international.