A woman who only studied in a private school for a few years taught her son to recognize 3000 words before he was 6 years old. This woman must be very clever. Yang Zhenning was inspired by such a mother. A 78-year-old scientist recalled his mother who had not received any new school education, which was touching.
"My mother 1896, from Hefei, Anhui. She wrapped her feet when she was young. In the Republic of China, she released them again, so her feet were not three inches golden lotus, but deformed feet. Every time I see her feet, I feel sad. She studied in a private school for several years. The first 3000 words I knew were taught by my mother. At that time, my father was studying at the University of Chicago, and only my mother and I lived together. I have met many old-school women like my mother, and I admire them very much. They are influenced by China's traditional ethics and have a firm belief in these ethics. Today, some people will think that this belief is foolish, loyal and filial, but if we abandon this value, the power of this so-called foolish, loyal and filial piety is endless.
"So, for a man or woman younger than her, I think this strong will is gradually disappearing, because the whole world is developing in another direction. So you have to ask me, what did my mother leave me besides raising me and teaching me 3000 words? I think what she left behind is the belief that I understand a strong will, which is an unparalleled force. "
12-year-old "teenage maniac": I want to win the Nobel Prize in the future.
Yang Zhenning came to Tsinghua campus at the age of seven and lived here for eight years. At that time, the affiliated primary school was called Chengzhi Primary School. There are two "big heads" in it, one is Yang Zhenning and the other is Yu Pingbo's son Yu Datou.
When Yang Zhenning was a child, at least he was not the most disciplined child. According to himself, he climbed every tree in Tsinghua.
The middle school is in Maofang Hutong, which is now Beijing 3 1 Middle School. There are less than 300 students in that school. At that time, Yang Wuzhi, the father of a Peking University mathematics professor, already knew that his son had a strong mathematical learning ability. If he teaches his son to analyze geometry and calculus, his son will learn quickly, which will make him very happy. But he didn't do it. On the contrary, he asked Professor Lei Haizong to introduce a history student to Professor Yang Zhenning's Mencius during the summer vacation between grade one and grade two. So in middle school, Yang Zhenning could recite the full text of Mencius.
Yang Wuzhi likes Go and Peking Opera, but he didn't cultivate his son's interest in these aspects. Playing chess can make my son play 17 pieces, and only teach him to sing some songs in the early years of the Republic of China, such as "Up and down for thousands of years, a continuous vein", "China men, China men ..." and so on.
Yang Zhenning often looks through many English and German math books on his father's bookshelf. Because the foreign language foundation is not enough, I can't understand the details. Every time I ask, Yang Wuzhi always says, "Take your time, don't worry."
When studying in class, Yang Zhenning likes to look around. He once read The Mysterious Universe written by Eddie, which talked about some phenomena and theories of some new physics discovered from the 20th century to that time. He was immediately aroused great interest, so when he got home, he joked with his parents and said that he would win the Nobel Prize in the future.
In the summer of 1945 after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Yang Zhenning left home to study in the United States. The details of that morning are still vivid: "My father accompanied me to take a rickshaw from the northwest corner of Kunming to Tuodong Road in the southeast suburb to Wujiaba Airport. When I left home, my four siblings were reluctant to go, but my mother was very calm and did not cry. "
"When I arrived at Tuodong Road, my father said something encouraging, and both of them were very calm. After saying goodbye, I got on a crowded bus. At first, I could see my father waving to me from the window. A few minutes later, he was pushed into the distance by the crowd. There are many students going to America on the bus. When I spoke, my attention shifted to issues such as flight routes and climate change. After waiting for more than an hour, the car never started. Suddenly an American next to me motioned me to look out of the window, and suddenly I found my father still waiting there! He is thin, wearing a robe, and his hair on his forehead has turned gray. Seeing his anxious face, I endured tears all morning, and I couldn't help myself. "
"1928 to 1945 this 17 years, is my father and I often together, is my childhood stage. The ancients said that parents have the grace to raise their children. I won't talk about it now, but I think its philosophy is of eternal value. My father introduced me to the spirit of modern mathematics and left an indelible impression on me. "
Forty years later, Yang Zhenning wrote, "Most of my physics colleagues have a utilitarian attitude towards mathematics. Perhaps because of my father's influence, I appreciate math better. I appreciate the values of mathematicians, and I praise the beauty and power of numbers; It has tactical originality and flexibility, as well as strategic talent and foresight. Moreover, the miracle in the miracle, some of its wonderful concepts, is actually the basic structure that dominates the physical world. "
In any case, the difference between father and son is the most logical, melancholy and unforgettable difference in life.
This time, I went to Yangguan three times and sang all over Qian Qian. Yang Zhenning, 23, probably didn't expect that he really realized his joke at the age of 12 and won the first Nobel Prize from China people.
Marry her student, the daughter of Du, a Kuomintang war fighter.
1944, Yang Zhenning studied in National Southwest Associated University for six years and taught in middle school for one year. As a result of teaching, I got to know a female student in my class named Du Zhili. That year, Du Zhili 17 years old, and later she became Yang Zhenning's wife.
When Yang Zhenning went abroad, she did not fall in love with Du Zhili. But her beauty and elegant manners left a deep impression on me. Two years later, Yang Zhenning and Du Zhili met unexpectedly in the only China restaurant in Princeton, and both of them felt "electrocuted". They later thought, this is probably the marriage of a previous life.
This marriage not only gave Yang a lifetime of happiness, but also unexpectedly brought her parents-in-law who seemed to be separated for life together in the spring and autumn period of 14. Become a love song at dusk of the national war.
/kloc-at the end of 0/948, Du, then the deputy commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Xuzhou "suppression general", went to the battlefield with the feelings of going to the execution ground, was defeated and captured, hit his head with bricks twice, and attempted suicide. When Chiang Kai-shek got the news, he couldn't help crying. But unexpectedly, General Du entered the prison of the * * * production party. It was completely "red" in a few years and was released by the first batch of Amnesty in 1957. Chiang Kai-shek was humiliated and furious, and DUZH's wife and children were not allowed to enter and leave Taiwan Province. Cao Xiuqing, with her mother-in-law and five children, is embarrassed to live in Taipei. In order to realize the promise of Chiang Kai-shek's letters, Cao Xiuqing found Song Meiling, Zhang Qun and others to reflect the situation, but they all failed.
1957, Cao Xiuqing suddenly received letters from her daughter Du Zhili and her son-in-law Yang Zhenning. He said, "Your old friend wrote to me. He cares about you very much and misses the safety of your mother and son. " Cao Xiuqing suddenly realized that "an old friend" was her husband Du Yu Ming, and she missed him very much.
Cao Xiuqing knew that she could only go to America to meet her "old friend". So she asked Taiwan Province Province to visit her daughter in the United States. But Chiang Kai-shek "cares": "Du's wife and children must not leave Taiwan again!"
/kloc-one day at the beginning of 0/958, Song Meiling suddenly sent a car to send Cao Xiuqing to Qiu Guan Shilin. When they met, Song Meiling held her hand and said, "Mrs Du, congratulations on your son-in-law winning the Nobel Prize. You should go to America to see him! " Cao Xiuqing was overjoyed. Song Meiling went on to say, "Mrs. Du, I hope that when you come back from the United States, you will take Yang Zhenning back to Taiwan Province Province and ask him to help President Jiang counterattack the mainland." At this time, Chiang Kai-shek also came into the room and asked, "What happened to the children? How is your body? "
Thanks to her son-in-law, Cao Xiuqing was finally allowed to visit relatives in the United States for half a year. If he doesn't return after the deadline, he will be fined a lot of money. In order to prevent accidents, Taiwan Province Province did not allow her to take care of children, and specially found two people with quite high positions as guarantors. From 65438 to 0959, Ms. Cao came to the United States and never returned to Taiwan Province Province.
Du's wish after his release is that his wife can come to the mainland to reunite with him. However, Cao Xiuqing has always had doubts. Her husband is a loser and still supports others. What good days can there be? She didn't believe that according to her husband's personality, he would really stay in the mainland. So she wrote to her husband and advised him not to force himself. When she finally realized that it was not an expedient measure to let her husband take root in the mainland, she returned to Beijing on June 1963 and was willing to live a poor life with her husband. Before returning home, she heard that the mainland was short of materials and wrote to ask her husband what he needed. The husband wanted to know what kind of refrigerator could store food, so Duff brought back a luxurious household appliance from America. Du, who has been fighting in the sea of blood and smoke for most of his life, never imagined that the isolation between husband and wife caused by political reasons at home would be resolved by a Nobel Prize for physical reasons.
Being an American makes my father sad.
1957, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao won the Nobel Prize in Physics, and Dr. Yang Wuzhi flew to Geneva with a weak body. Yang Wuzhi came to China with a sense of father's mission. He felt that he should persuade Yang Zhenning to return to China. On the one hand, this may be a hint from the United Front Work Department, and on the other hand, this is Yang Wuzhi's deep desire. His mood is really ambivalent. He really wants his son to go back to serve his country, but as an older generation of doctors studying in the United States, he clearly knows the academic significance of his son staying in the United States. The contradictory old man wrote two sentences to his son and daughter-in-law: "Don't forget your relatives at every meal, and be grateful to the country when you are alive." Seeing his parents three times in Geneva had a great influence on Yang Zhenning.
1957, 12, 10 In the evening, Yang Zhenning gave an impromptu speech at the Nobel Prize banquet in Sweden. He said, "I am proud of my China origin and background." However, in the spring of 1964, Yang Zhenning still became an American citizen. He said: "From 1945 to 1964, I lived in America for 19 years. However, it is not easy to decide to apply for American citizenship. It is especially difficult for a person who grew up in China's traditional culture to make such a decision. On the one hand, China's traditional culture has no idea of immigrating to China for a long time. Moving to another country would be considered a complete betrayal. On the other hand, China has a splendid culture. The humiliation she suffered in the past 100 years has left a deep imprint on the hearts of everyone in China. No one in China can forget it. "
Yang Zhenning witnessed the tragicomedy of American society and the situation of foreign immigrants or "second-class citizens" here. You know, until the 1920s, the United States still had Chinese exclusion laws.
When Yang Zhenning himself has become an influential scientist, he is still discriminated against when renting a house. What makes Yang Zhenning feel most painful and confused is that his favorite scientific research career is often constrained because he is not an American (for example, he can't go to the American National Laboratory). At the beginning of 1964, Yang Zhenning finally made the choice to join the United States when "many factors made me shrink back, and American society gave me the opportunity to develop my potential ... my roots here have been deeply rooted almost unconsciously".
Yang Wuzhi was a professor of mathematics in Beijing and Shanghai until his death in 1973. He didn't complain about his son's decision, but Yang Zhenning knew that until his death, his father never forgave him for giving up his motherland in a corner of his heart.
The beauty of great scientists is the beauty of speculation and theory.
Yang Zhenning's profound knowledge of Chinese and Western cultures, especially the ancient culture of China, gave him a profound insight into nature. The beauty of nature and the charm of thought are the driving force for him to climb the physical ivory tower. He especially appreciated william blake's words 200 years ago: There is a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity is a moment.
Yang Zhenning told the students in Tsinghua about the higher beauty in nature with the simplest example: "I think everyone here will say that when I was a child, I felt beautiful when I saw rainbows and neon lights. When you are older enough to do experiments, you will find that the rainbow is 42 degrees, that is, its angle is 42 degrees and the neon is 50 degrees. After you continue to observe, you will know that the rainbow is red outside and purple inside. If you go further, you will understand why there are rainbows and neon lights. Because sunlight can be totally reflected in water droplets, once it is totally reflected, it is a rainbow, and twice it is a neon. You can calculate by total reflection, one is 42 degrees, and the other is 50 degrees. This is the beauty of phenomenological theory. I think it's really wonderful that any student can't work out these 42 degrees and 50 degrees for the first time without very deep feelings. But even this would not be enough Why is there total reflection and refraction? These must be within the theoretical framework. After Maxwell's equation appears, you can understand why there is total reflection, and you can know why there is refraction in water and find out its root. This is a higher level of beauty. "
Yang Zhenning even thinks that even the most beautiful poems cannot perfectly express the beauty of physics. He said that when Newton died, a great poet Pope wrote two words, "Nature and its laws are dark and hidden. God said, let Newton come and everything will be really bright." These descriptions of the beauty of physics in the poet's language are certainly good, but I think they are not enough. When we know that the basic structure of a physics can accurately explain so many complex phenomena, there are still some beautiful feelings that poets have not written. What are your feelings? It was a sense of solemnity, a sense of sacredness, and a sense of fear when I first saw the secrets of the universe. Just like architects of Gothic architecture, when they design Gothic architecture, they should praise the sublime beauty, the soul beauty and the religious beauty, which is the ultimate beauty.
When Yang Zhenning tried to finish the interview with 2000 people, the excited students flocked to ask the master to sign or take a photo with them. But I didn't expect the police and security guards to be faster than them. Willy-nilly, they pushed the crowd away and dragged their master away like a kidnapping, like a rotating electron.