On July 28, 1997, at the International Mathematics Olympiad, An Jinpeng, a senior high school student from China, won his first International Mathematics Olympiad championship by defeating many opponents with outstanding results.
At the same time, he also helped the Chinese Olympiad team create two consecutive championships in the competition. As a coach who led the Chinese Olympic team to win two consecutive championships in this event, Zhang Zhusheng also accepted blessings and praise from everyone at this moment.
You may not think that this famous teacher who has produced many Olympiad champions is actually a professor who cannot be rated as a doctoral supervisor in a university. What's even more surprising is that this "winner in life" who received flowers and cheers with the students on the championship podium is actually a cancer patient who has been sentenced to "death" by fate.
Zhang Zhusheng, a mathematical genius who left a deep mark on the history of Chinese mathematics, a great monument regarded as "our role model" by later generations of education practitioners, and at the same time, he was also a poor professor who could not afford to buy a house, a car, or a professional title.
Today, let's take a look at Zhang Zhusheng's extraordinary life.
Peking University No. 1"More than 100 experts and scholars in the field of mathematics from all over the country gathered to witness the birth of the first Ph.D. since the founding of Peking University.
The protagonist of the defense meeting was a young man named Zhang Zhusheng, who deliberately wore a more decent dress today to show the importance he attached to the defense meeting.
Although his short-sleeved shirt was a little shabby in the eyes of others, more than 100 people had only one purpose at this time, and that was to witness with their own eyes whether Zhang Zhusheng's knowledge was really as Zhang Longxiang said"God's God"。
Zhang Longxiang, an outstanding biochemist and molecular biologist in China, served as the president of Peking University in the early 80s of the 20th century. Today's large-scale defense meeting was initiated and presided over by him, because he had serious doubts about whether Zhang Zhusheng's doctorate should be awarded a "doctoral" degree.
Therefore, he specially invited mathematics experts from all over the country to participate in this defense meeting and jointly review Zhang Zhusheng's **. On the defense table, Zhang Zhusheng cleared his throat steadily and began his ** statement: "Leaders, teachers, hello everyone, my name is Zhang Zhusheng, and today I will introduce to you my ** topic "Invariant Set of Differential Semi-Dynamic Systems" ......Zhang Zhusheng's content not only solved some difficult problems in the research of differential semi-dynamical systems at that time, but also broke through one of the four conjectures of the famous mathematician Stevens Meyer, which is amazing.
Zhang Zhusheng's talent amazed everyone present, and the members of the defense committee unanimously agreed that his ** was highly creative. Therefore, they decided to award Zhang Zhusheng a doctorate.
The news was quickly reported in the news, and Zhang Zhusheng was praised as the first graduate student in China to pass the doctoral defense. Although he succeeded in obtaining his doctorate, he passed by the honor of "China's first doctor".
As early as a year ago, he participated in the school's doctoral ** defense, which was highly recognized by the defense committee. However, due to the excessive caution of President Zhang Longxiang, in March 1982, the honor of "China's first doctor" was snatched by Ma Zhongqi, a high-ranking disciple of Hu Ning, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Whether he is "the first in history" or not, Zhang Zhusheng is not moved by fame and fortune, and his long-term hard study is just to realize a great dream: through his own efforts, he will improve China's mathematics level to be in line with international standards, and even surpass the international leading level, and become the world's pinnacle.
As an outstanding graduate, Zhang Zhusheng was selected by Peking University to go to the United States for academic exchanges. Soon after he returned to China, his superiors at Peking University gave him an important task: to write a new lecture on mathematical analysis.
The development of teaching materials is of a very different nature from the teaching of teaching. Compilers need to have deep knowledge in the field they are studying and are able to present complex scholarship in a way that is easy to understand, so writing textbooks is often time-consuming and laborious.
In addition, the compilation of textbooks was not considered a scientific achievement at the time. So, Zhang Zhusheng, who is in the prime of his career development, will choose to accept this job? At that time, many of Zhang Zhusheng's friends advised him to abandon this task and concentrate on scientific research results.
However, Zhang Zhusheng did not hesitate, he did not hesitate to accept the instructions of his superiors and devoted himself to the compilation of new textbooks.
In Zhang Zhusheng's heart, it is the highest pursuit to make China's mathematics level catch up with the world. Compared with titles such as "professor" and "doctoral supervisor", he pays more attention to the compilation of new teaching materials.
A good new textbook is not only a great boon for students, but also helps countless mathematics educators to better impart knowledge. He believes that the development of new textbooks can promote the progress of mathematics in China more than the study of esoteric scientific research results.
In his eyes, "New Lectures on Mathematical Analysis" is no longer a simple textbook, but a torch that ignites the fire of mathematics, and he is the messenger who passes this torch to thousands of students.
When he thinks of this, he is full of strength, and he feels that although this job seems boring, it is full of joy and meaning, and he enjoys this happiness very much.
After five years of hard work, Zhang Zhusheng finally completed his most proud work - "New Lectures on Mathematical Analysis". In this book, Zhang Zhusheng cleverly arranges the learning order of theorems, so that the logic, correlation and context between each theorem are clearly visible.
Just like writing **, he weaves the relationship between theorems very neatly. For example, "The Relationship between Several Theorems of the Completeness of Real Numbers" and "The Relationship between the Necessary Conditions of Extreme Points and the Rolle Theorem that Are Not Obvious", Zhang Zhusheng sorted out these seemingly complex knowledge points at a glance.
Such an achievement not only requires the compilers themselves to have profound knowledge, but also requires them to be able to re-summarize and summarize the knowledge when arranging the textbooks, so that the knowledge points can be displayed more clearly.
It is conceivable how much effort and sweat Zhang Zhusheng put into the process of compiling this book. His efforts have made "New Lectures on Mathematical Analysis" a must-read book for mathematics lovers.
Why did Zhang Zhusheng put so much effort into this non-scientific research work? His belief is to share the joy of mathematics with more people, so that everyone can swim in the ocean of mathematics.
And "New Lectures on Mathematical Analysis" is exactly what he wants.
Shortly after Zhang Zhusheng was diagnosed with cancer, the head coach of the Chinese Olympiad team fell to him. The International Mathematics Olympiad is the world's most valuable mathematics competition, and the participants are all high school students.
As the head coach of the national team, Zhang Zhusheng is faced with the task of teaching obscure advanced mathematics to high school students in the form of "lower mathematics", which is not only intense, but also responsible.
In such a situation, how will Zhang Zhusheng, who is suffering from cancer, choose?
Zhang Zhusheng, the legendary coach of the Chinese Olympiad team, took over the coaching whip of the national Olympiad team in 1995 and led the top middle school students in China to attack the crown of the international Olympiad competition.
Although the title of head coach of the National Olympiad team may seem glamorous to outsiders, only those who have actually held this position can understand the bitterness. Zhao Chunlai is Zhang Zhusheng's colleague at Peking University and has also served as the head coach of the National Olympiad team.
He thinks the job is a lot of work and doesn't count as a "teaching workload". At Peking University, the "teaching workload" is equivalent to the "working hours" of the professor, and if the "teaching workload" is not up to standard, then the year-end assessment will not be passed.
Therefore, Zhao Chunlai resigned from this position after serving as the head coach of the Olympiad team for one year, and no matter how persuaded by his superiors, he did not take over the coaching whip.
Although healthy people can hardly bear the hardships of this job, Zhang Zhusheng, who is suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer, accepted this challenge without hesitation. As soon as he took office, he began training the players.
The daily training of the Olympiad team members is to solve all kinds of complex mathematical problems, and these problems are carefully designed by Zhang Zhusheng alone. These questions are not simply selected from the math workbook, because the difficulty of the Olympiad is increasing year by year, and only by increasing the difficulty of training can you achieve excellent results in the competition.
However, these teenage high school students face a huge challenge: understanding advanced math, which is difficult for them. This requires the head coach to be able to simplify this advanced mathematics knowledge and make it more suitable for them to understand.
This process requires a lot of time and effort, and it took about a week for Olympiad teachers to compile a qualified exercise. However, Zhang Zhusheng makes up dozens of such exercises every year, and he puts all his heart and soul into them.
His dedication paid off, and from 1995 to 2000, he led the Chinese team to an unprecedented five consecutive championships, and on three occasions all the participants won gold medals.
Zhang Zhusheng has undergone painful radioactivity in Beijing for five years for the normal competition of the Olympiad team. This kind of dedication and dedication made the Chinese team almost invincible in the competition.
On February 6, 2002, Zhang Zhusheng's battle against cancer finally failed, but the pleasure of thinking left behind was far more noble than material comfort. After his death, the BBS of Peking University's campus network was full of mourning and nostalgia for him.
Professor Zhao Bin, a colleague in the field of education, spoke highly of Zhang Zhusheng: "He is a true mathematical doer, pouring all his emotions into his students, and his contribution far exceeds his academic **."
Although Zhang Zhusheng did not get the title at Peking University, and although he has left us for 20 years, he will always be so majestic, kind and immortal in the hearts of Peking University students.