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Amusing Remarks about Nobel Prize
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Chen Ning Yang -Versatile Physical Scientist
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2007-9-19
On December 10th, 1957, Chen Ning Yang, 35 years old, together with 31-year-old Tsung-Dao Lee was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Chen Ning Yang was born in Hefei, Anhui Province on October 1st, 1922 (which was mistaken to be Septermber 22nd, 1922 on his passport issued in 1945). When he was less than one year old, his father went to USA for study at the public expense. When he was 4 years old, his mother started to teach him the Chinese characters and he learnt more than 3 thousand words in one year. Chen Ning Yang recalled that, at his 60 year age, 'All characters that I know at present time would be less than duplicate quantity of that time.'
In 1928 when Chen Ning Yang was 6 years old, his father was back from USA. The moment when his father saw Chen Ning Yang, father asked whether Chen Ning read book or not. Chen Ning said, 'Yes, I do.''Then which book did you learn?' 'The book of Longwenbianying.' Then his father asked him to recite the articles in the book, and Chen Ning successfully recited appointed articles. Chen Ning Yang latterly recalled that, 'Father asked me if I understood the book or not. Actually, I did not understand the book at all. However, I remembered that my father award me a pen, which seemed rare to me at that time.'
When Chen Ning Yang was at his preliminary school, he scored good marks in Mathematics and Chinese courses. He passed the entrance examination to Southwest Associated University in 1938, when he was 16 years old and unfinished his high school courses. In 1942, 20-year-old Chen Ning Yang graduated and accessed to graduate school of Southwest Associated University for further study. Two years later, he was awarded the Master's Degree with excellent marks, and selected as the abroad student for study in USA at the public expense; in 1945, he went to Chicago University and received his PhD degree in 1948.
In 1949, Chen Ning Yang went to Princeton Institute for Advanced Study for postdoctoral research, and cooperated with Tsung-Dao Lee to research on elementary particles, during which, they encountered with many puzzling and unsolvable issues. However, based on the spirit of doubt, they carefully testified their conjectures and finally solve all issues by pushing over the P conservation law. On the occasion of Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in 1957, Chen Ning Yang said,
'At that time, physical scientists found they were exploring in a dark house. They knew there was a escape door for them on a certain direction, but what was the direction?'
For Chen Ning Yang, the direction was that the P conservation law was not applied for week interaction.
Chen Ning Yang contributed a wide range of theories to physical science, including Particle Physics, Statistical Mechanics and Condensed Matter Physics, etc. Besides the discovery of non-conservation of parity with Tsung-Dao Lee, Chen Ning Yang also initially discovered the Yang- Mills Field with R. L. Mills, and created the Yang-Baxter Equation with R. Baxter. The Nobel Laureate E. Segre, American Physical Scientist once praised Chen Ning Yang highly and described he was one of the three versatile physical scientists of the world in the recent decades of years.
Keeping Wuzhi Yang, his father's will in mind, Chen Ning Yang always remembered he was a Chinese. In the summer of 1971, Chen Ning Yang became the first American scientist who visited China. He said, 'As an American scientist of Chinese origin, I am responsible for establishing ties of understanding and friendship between the two countries which are both important to me. And I feel that I should endeavor to help China in its scientific development.'
And so did Chen Ning Yang. In the recent twenty years, he frequently traveled between China and USA and did lots of effective liaison work concerning science and research. He once wrote a poem to express his feeling, 'There always be a sudden change of world situation; and we have to fight against the severe natural selection.'
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Organizer:
Beijing Municipal Association for Science & Technology
Undertaker: Beijing Science & Technology
Consulting Center,
Information Center of Beijing Municipal Association for
Science & Technology |
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