Preface.
Peking University is one of the top universities in China.
There are many talents on campus, and many mathematical geniuses who are famous all over the country and even the world have emerged: Liu Zhiyu, who is a monk, Xu Chenyang, who went abroad, and Wei Dongyi, who is from a humble background.
However, in addition to these young mathematicians, there are many unknown, little-known but capable geniuses at Peking University, such as Dr. Zhang Zhusheng, No. 001 of Peking University.
As the first doctor of Peking University, Zhang Zhusheng is naturally a veritable genius. In the immediate aftermath of graduate school, he solved a famous conjecture that had plagued the global mathematical community for decades.
But alas, God is jealous of talents. Zhang Zhusheng's ** era, he was sentenced to "death" and was found to have cancer, and his time was destined to be short.
In the face of such misfortune, Zhang Zhusheng did not surrender. On the contrary, despite his illness, he led the Chinese Olympiad team to win five consecutive championships and won five world firsts for the country!
However, it is regrettable that Zhang Zhusheng, who has made so many contributions, was still unable to obtain a title when he died. He can't even afford a house or a car.
So what happened?
First Ph.D. degree. From Peking University.
In 1940, Zhang Zhusheng was born in a poor rural family in Guiyang. He had a difficult life since he was a child. Parents are constantly running around for life, and life is very hard.
Unfortunately, Zhang Zhusheng, who was already frail and sickly, suffered from meningitis when he was 2 years old.
Although the parents took their child to the hospital as soon as possible and successfully saved Zhang Zhusheng's life, they also left very serious sequelae, and the cerebellum was permanently damaged.
Fortunately, Zhang Zhusheng's intelligence was not affected by this. In the fifth grade, he made a wooden figure that could climb walls, and won the first prize of the National Children's Science and Technology Invention Award.
This made his parents feel genuinely proud. Zhang Zhusheng himself fell in love with scientific inventions and aspired to become a great inventor in the future.
But God doesn't seem to intend to let Zhang Zhusheng go. When he was 13 years old, Zhang Zhusheng accidentally fell and fractured.
This was not a big deal, but in the process of hospital**, a very serious medical accident happened for some reason. This caused the muscles in Zhang's entire left arm to atrophy and make him unable to move.
But even in the face of such misfortune, Zhang Zhusheng did not give up on himself. He is stubborn and wants to prove that he is no worse than others.
Although he was unable to continue on the path of invention due to his physical disability, Zhang Zhusheng soon found another goal - mathematics.
Zhang Zhusheng soon immersed himself in the fun of learning mathematics, which enabled him to achieve good results and was successfully admitted to the Department of Mathematics of Sichuan University, becoming a very rare "college student" at that time.
This not only made the parents ecstatic, but also made the whole village proud.
Zhang Zhusheng's saga did not end with entering college. Even on the nation's talent-filled college campuses, he remains the brightest math genius.
When he was only a sophomore, Zhang Zhusheng had already studied the advanced course of topology in advance and directly obtained the highest score.
After graduating from university, Zhang Zhusheng chose to stay at his alma mater to teach. But unfortunately, after 14 years of work, Zhang Zhusheng still failed to be rated as a lecturer, which made him disappointed.
It wasn't until 1978, the year after the college entrance examination was resumed, that all that changed......
After the 1978 college entrance examination, many professors at Peking University were attracted to a unique candidate. On his test paper, the words "This question is wrong and cannot be solved" are written directly below the question.
This question was really done wrong because of a mistake, and there was no correct answer. But the other candidates, without exception, answered seriously. Only this candidate is very confident that the question is wrong.
This is enough to show that this candidate has a deep foundation and confidence in mathematics, and has a deep understanding of mathematics, and this candidate is Zhang Zhusheng who came to take the postgraduate examination.
Eventually, Zhang Zhusheng successfully entered the campus of Peking University and began to study for a graduate degree.
I must make my own contribution to China's mathematics catching up with and surpassing the international level. ”
At the entrance ceremony, Zhang Zhusheng, who had the best grades, spoke as a representative and said his life's vows and goals very seriously.
Even among the many graduate students, Zhang Zhusheng is still as dazzling as ever. His supervisor, Professor Liao Shantao, said directly: "He can even graduate directly, and his knowledge can be taught to graduate students without any problems." ”
This is not Professor Liao Shantao's preference for students, but a point that all students at Peking University agreed with at that time. Zhang Zhusheng's classmates often asked Zhang Zhusheng for advice when they encountered problems that they did not understand.
Soon, Zhang Zhusheng successfully graduated from graduate school, but he did not stop there, but decided to challenge for a doctorate that had never been produced by domestic universities.
On July 6, 1983, in a classroom at Peking University, more than 100 of the country's best experts in the field of mathematics gathered at the invitation of Zhang Longxiang, president of Peking University, to prepare for a very special defense meeting. 。
Soon, Zhang Zhusheng, the protagonist of the conference, appeared with his own achievement "Invariant Set of Differential Semi-Power System".
The meeting went well. Zhang Zhusheng's ** successfully broke through one of the four conjectures of the famous mathematician Steven Smale, and conquered everyone present with his talent.
In this way, Peking University produced the first doctor, No. 001 Zhang Zhusheng.
It is a pity that Zhang Zhusheng still missed the honor of "China's No. 1 Doctor". Professor Ma Zhongqi became the first doctor in China before him.
However, this is not Zhang Zhusheng's own fault, because he actually passed the defense a year ago, but there were no self-trained doctors in China at that time, so Zhang Longxiang chose to postpone it for the sake of safety.
Of course, Zhang Zhusheng doesn't care about any of this. What he really cares about is the goal he set when he was first admitted to graduate school - to contribute to the development of mathematics in China.
The first of five games.
After becoming a doctor, Zhang Zhusheng once again chose to stay at his alma mater to teach and became a teacher at Peking University. The first task he received from his leadership was very difficult - to write basic textbooks.
This is undoubtedly a thankless task. For university teachers, scientific research results are the most important, but the development of teaching materials often takes a lot of time and is not counted as scientific research results.
After learning the news, many friends came to persuade Zhang Zhusheng to resign.
But Zhang Zhusheng's own attitude is very resolute. He believes that this task is exactly what he wants, to better inherit mathematical knowledge and contribute to the development of mathematics in China.
In the next five years of Zhang Zhusheng, he completed the task of compiling textbooks day and night.
Finally, in 1990, the three-volume New Lecture Notes on Mathematical Analysis was published, which became recognized as the best textbook at the time. Even today, it is still a textbook used by many universities.
What is contained in this is not only Zhang Zhusheng's rich knowledge and diligent efforts, but also his "thankless" and selfless dedication to contribute to the development of national mathematics.
However, God always seems to be so unfair to Zhang Zhusheng. Not long after the textbook came out, Zhang Zhusheng was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma ......
In 1995, Zhang Zhusheng had been battling cancer for four years and was very weak, but he didn't care. Instead, he offered to be the head coach of the Chinese Mathematical Olympiad team.
This is not a bad thing, in fact, on the contrary, not only is the work intensive and heavy, but it is also not counted in the "teaching workload", so it can be said that it is in vain.
Therefore, after Zhao Chunlai became the head coach for a year, he chose to resign in one sentence: "After doing it for the first time, I don't want to do it for the second time, and the hardships are incomprehensible to outsiders." ”
But Zhang Zhusheng, who was suffering from cancer, took the initiative to take on this job that ordinary people could not bear.
As the head coach of the Olympiad, the most difficult thing is to come up with practice questions, which must be novel and moderately difficult. As the Olympiad continues year by year, the questions are becoming more and more difficult.
It usually takes a long time for a coach to ask a new question, and it can take as little as a week.
And Zhang Zhusheng can put forward dozens of such new questions every year, which is shocking, and it also makes people realize that Zhang Zhusheng, who is weak, can do this, which can be said to be all-in.
Subsequently, Zhang Zhusheng's whole body was swollen and his mouth was ulcerated. He can only survive on liquid food, but he still does not slack off in his work.
God has been rewarded. In the five years that Zhang Zhusheng has coached, the Chinese team has won the first place in the World Mathematical Olympiad for five consecutive years, achieved an unprecedented five consecutive championships, and even won the gold medal for the whole team three times.
In addition, Zhang Zhusheng has taught students in Haidian District free of charge for many years.
You must know that the professor's hourly salary at that time was at least 150 yuan, and his savings were basically enough to buy a car and a house, and his life was extremely comfortable. However, Zhang Zhusheng still lives in that dilapidated old house, and his only means of transportation is an old car. Old bikes.
At the same time, Zhang Zhusheng's body was indeed getting weaker and weaker at this time. He has been battling cancer for many years, and he can't even eat, so he can only survive on nutrient solutions.
But even so, Zhang Zhusheng is still positive and optimistic in front of the students, and teaches with the best attitude. Although Peking University has always advised him to practice, Zhang Zhusheng refused:
If you don't let me go to class, I'm really going to die. ”
Finally, on February 6, 2002, Zhang Zhusheng passed away on the way to fight cancer. The genius who was willing to contribute to the obscurity of the national level of mathematics died.
All of his students burst into tears when they heard the news. This teacher, who has made countless contributions but could not buy a car or a house during his lifetime, shed tears.
Zhang Zhusheng's life is a life dedicated to mathematics education, and it is an admirable life. This Peking University 001 doctor is worth learning from all of us!