When it comes to the Chinese-American physicist and Nobel Prize winner in physics Ting Zhaozhong, people will say: He is a strange person and a weirdo.
Speaking of "strange", Ting Zhaozhong did have an amazing life experience. His ancestral home is Rizhao, Shandong. His grandfather followed Sun Yat-sen in the revolution and later died. His parents graduated from the University of Michigan. Due to premature birth, he was born on February 4, 1936 in University City, Michigan, USA. His parents returned to China two months later. After a lot of wandering, 20-year-old Ting Zhaozhong came from Taiwan to his parents' alma mater, the University of Michigan, to study mathematics and physics. In just over five years, he obtained a double bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics and a doctorate in physics. Some American classmates They all called him "a strange man". After that, he taught at Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then engaged in scientific research. Calculated in this way, it takes an average person more than ten years to go from college to get a doctorate and then to engage in scientific research, but it only took him six years.
In August 1974, after 10 years of vector meson experiments, he discovered a new particle called the "November Revolution in Physics" - J particle. He told people: "I did vector meson experiments for 10 years before I found a J particle from tens of billions of various particles. It was like a heavy rain in the north. I found a J particle from countless It is so difficult to identify a colored raindrop among the raindrops, and there is no room for laxity and sloppiness." Because of this epoch-making new discovery in physics, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics on October 18, 1974. This is the third Chinese scholar to win this honor after Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning. At the award ceremony, he ignored the obstruction and insisted on speaking in his native language, Chinese. Such strange people and strange things are rare in Chinese and foreign history.
When it comes to Ding Zhaozhong's "weirdness", it is more breathtaking than his "strangeness". Two "no's" stand out:
One is "unsociable". American classmates commented on him: He was a poor student, but he just didn't fit in with others. From studying to working, his life trajectory has always been the library-laboratory-canteen-dormitory. In the United States, extracurricular life in universities is colorful, but he hardly participated in any of it. So, he has no friends in school. After entering the society, I spent all day immersed in the laboratory, sometimes for two days and two nights, three days and three nights, or even five or six days and five or six nights without going home. The children all complained that they couldn't see their father all the time. You will almost never see him in various social situations. It is said that for so many years, except for having dinner at any professor's house, he has not written any inscriptions for any school or scientific research unit, including his hometown of Rizhao. The reason is, on the one hand, the unwillingness to waste precious time and energy on useless social activities and affect scientific research activities, and on the other hand, the special respect for the art of calligraphy. He has told people more than once that the art of calligraphy is more mysterious than physics. He said: "Almost every country and every nation in the world has its own language and characters. Only the characters of the Chinese nation are a broad and profound art in calligraphy, giving people a variety of beautiful enjoyments." For this reason, He would never write an inscription on anyone. When giving a lecture to teachers and students at Xinjiang University, the principal repeatedly asked him to inscribe the name of the school. He flatly declined, saying that my handwriting was not good and would damage the art of calligraphy. Later, his hometown Shandong Rizhao University and Qufu University asked him to inscribe the names of their schools, but he refused them both for the same reason. Many people find it incomprehensible that he does not do such an elegant thing that can bring fame and profit at the same time, saying that he is a stupid weirdo.
The second is "don't know". This is the well-known "weird temper". A few days ago, he came to Nanjing to give a report to the teachers and students of China Southern Airlines. One student asked: "Do you think humans can find dark matter and antimatter in space?" He answered frankly: "I don't know." Another student asked: "Do you think you can find dark matter and antimatter in space?" Is there any economic value to the scientific experiments?" He said: "I don't know." Another student asked: "Can you talk about the development direction of physics in the next 20 years?" He still said: "I don't know." Many people are confused by this. In their opinion, the questions asked by the students of China Southern Airlines were extremely ordinary and definitely not tricky. Not to mention a master like him, even ordinary people could deal with them. Even if he really doesn't want to tell lies, he still has to take his own face and influence into consideration! How can we "ask three questions and not know three things"?
According to insiders, "not knowing" is a normal thing for Ding Zhaozhong. He has always kept in mind the ancient adage "Knowing what you know, and not knowing what you don't know". On any occasion and for any matter, he will never "take ignorance as knowledge". When he was interviewed by the host of CCTV's "Son of the East" program, he said "I don't know" several times to reporters' questions. On other important occasions, including high-level academic exchange meetings, he calmly answered "I don't know" to questions that he was unclear or not very clear about. This is actually a scientific attitude that seeks truth from facts. Not only does it not damage the brilliance of a master, it also reveals the secret of why a "master" becomes a "master" from one aspect. That is extraordinary strength of character. In fact, having the courage to say "I don't know" to questions that you don't understand is not only a kind of magnanimity, a kind of character, but also a kind of state.
Just imagine, if a person, especially a scientist with great influence in the world like Ting Zhaozhong, does not have a serious scientific attitude in academics, and expresses random opinions on some issues based on "taken for granted", or in order to take into account his own face and so-called influence, If you don’t pretend to understand, and use some vague or even mysterious answers to fool people, what serious consequences will there be? It is conceivable. In that case, not only face will be lost, but also more valuable qualities and personality, and it will also bring irreparable losses to human science. This is also what makes Ding Zhaozhong valuable and respectable. No wonder he said "I don't know" three times in a row when faced with questions from teachers and students at China Southern Airlines. After a few minutes of silence, the venue erupted into stormy applause.
Isn’t this an affirmation and reverence for this master’s character and knowledge? They can feel the master's academic spirit and personality charm from the master at close range, and the effect is no worse than listening to an academic lecture!
(Source: Hong Kong Dagong Network Author: Xu Hengzu)