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It is reported that Professor Tsung-Dao Lee, a Chinese-American physicist and Nobel Prize winner in Physics, died in San Francisco on August 4, 2024, local time in the United States, at the age of 98.

Image source: CCTV News

Upon hearing the sad news, Wang Yusheng, a columnist for the Popular Science Times and former director of the China Science and Technology Museum, who is over 80 years old, was deeply saddened and called the editorial office to express his condolences. He said that seeing the humorous and illustrated New Year's cards sent by Mr. Tsung-Dao Lee every year reminded him of the bond they had formed in academic reports and popular science exhibitions over the years, and he could not help but feel deeply moved.

The "Interesting Stories about the Rest of Your Life" column of "Popular Science Times" published articles related to Tsung-Dao Lee written by Wang Yusheng on January 22, 2021 and November 19 of the same year.

Tsung-Dao Lee was born in Shanghai on November 24, 1926. He is a Chinese-American physicist from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. In 1957, he and Chen-Ning Yang jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the non-conservation of parity in weak interactions, setting a precedent for Chinese scientists to win the Nobel Prize in Science. When they won the prize, Tsung-Dao Lee was only 31 years old and Chen-Ning Yang was 35 years old.

In 1957, Tsung-Dao Lee (left) and Chen-Ning Yang (right) at Princeton. Image source: CCTV News

In 1957, I was only 14 years old and had just entered the first year of high school. One day after school, I passed by the street bulletin board and saw that there were crowds of people there. The people who squeezed out had serious expressions, and some could not hide their joy. I squeezed in and saw that everyone was paying attention to a short message in the People's Daily. It was only a small piece of tofu, with a total of only a few dozen words, plus a photo of the two of them, of course in black and white, very conspicuous. From then on, I remembered the names of Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, the two Chinese who won the Nobel Prize in Science for the first time.

Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang went to the United States to study in the mid-1940s and returned to China in the early 1970s. They were received by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, and made great contributions to the country's science and education.

Tsung-Dao Lee is teaching. Source: Tsung-Dao Lee Library, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

In 1979, I attended an academic report by Tsung-Dao Lee at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. What impressed me most was that he warned us that those who study science should also study ancient Chinese classics, especially the "Three Classics": "Book of Changes", "Mojing" and "Classic of Mountains and Seas", because the "Book of Changes" contains many original scientific concepts, such as the yin and yang lines of the Eight Diagrams, which have the prototype of binary in mathematics; "Mojing" contains geometry, mechanics, and optics; "Pangu created the world", "the world is chaotic like a chicken egg", "Kuafu chased the sun", "Nuwa repaired the sky" in "Classic of Mountains and Seas", mythology and fantasy are also the essential attributes of science.

I also accompanied Tsung-Dao Lee and Qin Hui-yi to the National Art Museum of China to see the exhibition of Li Keran, the "Master of the Bull School". Tsung-Dao Lee explained the principle of the electron-positron collider to Li Keran and asked him to create scientific paintings based on it. Li Keran said that after listening to Tsung-Dao Lee's talk about the huge energy released by ion collisions, he felt the infinite power of science, so he changed his traditional style of painting bulls in a leisurely posture and used all his energy to paint two bulls with horns on top, titled "Nucleons are as heavy as bulls, collisions create new states". He could even hear the sound of his heart beating violently when he was writing. Tsung-Dao Lee and Li Keran, science and art, really have a tacit understanding.

Li Keran, "Nucleons are as heavy as cows, collisions create new states." Image source: Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University

Since 2000, Tsung-Dao Lee has visited the China Science and Technology Museum many times to participate in science popularization activities for young people. He visited the China Science and Technology Museum's "20th Century Scientific and Technological Achievements and 21st Century Scientific and Technological Prospects" science popularization exhibition and wrote an inscription for the exhibition: "The waves behind push the waves ahead, and the future of science lies in the youth." He met with young people and popularized science to the children. I was the director of the China Science and Technology Museum at the time, and we talked a lot. Mr. Lee praised me for my good memory, and he also remembered me.

In June 2000, Tsung-Dao Lee (center) visited the popular science exhibition at the China Science and Technology Museum (Zhang Yutai, then secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the China Association for Science and Technology, is on the left). Photo courtesy of the author

Later, he also gave a science lecture to young people in the circular conference hall of the dome theater of the China Science and Technology Museum. The words that impressed the children deeply were: "Learning is learning, and there is learning and asking; to seek knowledge, you must learn first, and if you don't learn, you are not learning."

At that lecture, the most impressive part of Li Zhengdao's speech was about the relationship between basic research, applied research and development research. He said: "Basic, applied and development can be likened to the relationship between water, fish and fish market. Obviously, without water, there will be no fish; without fish, there will be no fish market. In this regard, different countries have different historical backgrounds and different development paths." Then he talked about how Japan, Europe and the United States did it.

Li Zhengdao (center) attended the "Professor Li Zhengdao and Beijing Youth Enthusiasts Exchange Meeting" at the China Science and Technology Museum. Zhang Yutai is on the right and the author of this article is on the left. Photo provided by the author

I served as the vice president of the China Youth Science and Technology Counselors Association and was a member of the editorial board of the association's journal, Science and Technology Counselors. In 2001, Tsung-Dao Lee wrote the title for the journal.

Tsung-Dao Lee (right) at the China Science and Technology Museum, with the author on the left. Photo courtesy of the author

In 2002, Tsung-Dao Lee gave me a book called Science and Art. On the title page, he wrote: "Science and Art: Two sides of a coin." He also said: "Science and art are inseparable. Both are seeking the universality of truth. Universality must be rooted in nature, and the exploration of nature is the most noble expression of human creativity."

Li Zhengdao believes that art and science are two sides of the same coin. They originate from the noblest part of human activities and both pursue profundity, universality, eternity and significance. "Science and art are two sides of the same coin." They are both based on human creativity, and they both seek the universality of truth by exploring the beauty of heaven and earth and the principles of all things.

Over the past 20 years, Tsung-Dao Lee has sent me New Year cards almost every year. They are richly illustrated with pictures of spring flowers and zodiac animals, all of which are lifelike and show great skill.

In January 2019, he wrote in the New Year’s card he sent me: “The Tsung-Dao Lee Science and Art Competition, cultivates morality, educates people and nurtures talents.” to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tsung-Dao Lee Science and Art Foundation and the 5th anniversary of the Tsung-Dao Lee Science and Art Foundation.

A New Year's card sent by Tsung-Dao Lee to the author of this article in January 2019. Photo provided by the author

In December 2019, Tsung-Dao Lee sent the author of this article a New Year's card with a red plum tree and a little squirrel. Photo courtesy of the author

In December 2020, Tsung-Dao Lee sent the author of this article a New Year's card with a magnolia pattern. Photo provided by the author

It turned out that on November 29, 1996, Li Zhengdao's wife Qin Huiqi passed away. In 1998, Li Zhengdao donated money to establish the "Qin Huiqi Li Zhengdao Chinese University Student Internship and Further Education Fund" (abbreviated as "Zhengzheng Fund"), which is specifically used to support outstanding undergraduate students in China to use their vacations or spare time to practice scientific research and get in touch with scientists. According to Qin Huiqi's will, half of the college students who receive the funding each year must be female.

On January 23, 1998, the signing ceremony of the "Tsung-Dao Fund" was held. The signatories in the photo are, from right to left, Qian Peide (President of Soochow University), Chen Jiaer (President of Peking University), Tsung-Dao Lee, Yang Fujia (President of Fudan University), and Li Fashen (President of Lanzhou University). Image source: Tsung-Dao Lee Library, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

In 2013, he founded the Tsung-Dao Lee Science and Art Fund and held the Tsung-Dao Lee Science and Art Competition to inspire young students' enthusiasm and interest in creating science and art works, broaden their thinking and horizons, help improve their comprehensive qualities, and effectively promote the popularization of the concept of the integration of science and art, making the collision, fusion and innovation of science and art a hot topic for joint discussion and research in the scientific and artistic communities.

On November 28, 2020, 94-year-old Tsung-Dao Lee sent a congratulatory letter to the opening ceremony of the 7th Science and Art Series. In the letter, he sent a message to all science and art enthusiasts: "Travel between science and art, use creativity and skills to make abstract scientific concepts come alive before your eyes, be seen by more people, and be more widely understood." He encouraged scientists and artists to work together, integrate and communicate, break down prejudices and professional limitations, think in a broader space, and meet future challenges with stronger arms.

Li Zhengdao pursued the combination of science and art, as he said: "Seek truth with one heart, seek goodness with one mind, and seek beauty throughout one's life."

(Original title: "In Memory of Tsung-Dao Lee: Pursuing Truth with All His Heart, Seeking Goodness with All His Mind, and Pursuing Beauty Throughout His Life")