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Professor Tsung-Dao Lee, a Chinese-American physicist, passed away at 2:33 a.m. on August 4 in San Francisco, USA, at the age of 98.

Lee Tsung-Dao and Yang Zhenning proposed the theory that parity is not conserved in weak interactions, and won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics and the Einstein Prize in Science. His research work has had a profound impact on the development of particle physics and quantum field theory. He spared no effort to promote the progress of China's scientific education and made irreplaceable contributions.

Outstanding physicist

The official Weibo account of the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said: "As one of the physicists who pioneered the history of Chinese people winning the Nobel Prize, Mr. Tsung-Dao Lee has been rigorous in his academic career for more than 60 years. He has made breakthroughs in many fields such as quantum field theory, elementary particle theory, nuclear physics, statistical mechanics, fluid mechanics, and astrophysics, constantly climbing to the peak of science, seeking truth and facts, and has made lasting and clear contributions to the development of physics."

According to the website of the School of Physics at Peking University, Tsung-Dao Lee has done a series of milestone work in the fields of particle physics theory, nuclear theory and statistical physics.

In 1954, the "Lie model" was proposed, which played an important role in exploring the basic problems of quantum field theory.

In 1956, he and Yang Zhenning proposed the theory that parity is not conserved in weak interactions. After experimental verification, they jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physics and the Einstein Science Award the following year.

Since the 1960s, systematic research has been conducted on non-conservation issues under the combined transformation of positive and negative particle transformations and space reflection.

Since the 1970s, he has made pioneering contributions in establishing and developing the quantum theory of solitons, proposing the concept of anomalous nuclear states, establishing and developing random lattice gauge theory, and using time as a discrete dynamical variable to establish discrete dynamical theory.

He has published a large number of scientific papers and written scientific monographs such as "Field Theory and Particle Physics".

Spare no effort to promote the progress of China's scientific education

The website of Peking University's School of Physics said that since 1972, Tsung-Dao Lee has returned to China many times to give lectures and offer suggestions. After the reform and opening up, he has spared no effort to promote the progress of China's scientific education. He has made irreplaceable contributions to China's strategic layout of scientific education, frontier exploration of high-energy physics, cultivation of high-level talents, and international exchanges and cooperation.

It advocated the establishment of the National Natural Science Foundation system and the establishment of the National Natural Science Foundation Committee, which played a leading and driving role in promoting basic research in my country and enhancing the country's original innovation capabilities.

It advocated the establishment of a joint committee mechanism for China-US high-energy physics cooperation and the construction of my country's first high-energy accelerator, the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider (BEPC), and facilitated the development of the Beijing Spectrometer (BES) and Daya Bay Neutrino Experiment international collaboration groups, providing overall guidance and dedicated assistance for my country to achieve a series of breakthrough results at the forefront of world high-energy physics.

It advocated the establishment of the Beijing Center for Modern Physics, the China Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the Zhejiang Center for Modern Physics, the Peking University Center for High Energy Physics, etc., to advance cutting-edge scientific research, promote international exchanges and cooperation and the growth of young scholars, and strived for policy support for the construction of an open teaching and research base and an environment for educating and gathering talents.

From 1979 to 1989, Tsung-Dao Lee initiated and participated in the implementation of the China-U.S. Joint Training Program for Physics Graduates (CUSPEA), selecting and recommending 915 people to study in the United States. He cultivated a group of leading scholars and pillars of society, and created a new paradigm for the cultivation of high-level talents that my country urgently needs.

In 1985, he advocated the establishment of the postdoctoral system and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and continued to build hundreds of thousands of new forces for my country's scientific and technological innovation.

In 1998, the Qin Hui-yi and Tsung-Dao Lee Chinese Undergraduate Internship and Further Education Fund was established to select and cultivate thousands of reserve talents in basic science in my country, and it has become an important vehicle for cultivating innovative talents in my country.

Three Chinese physicists join forces to study parity non-conservation

In 1951, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang collaborated on research and in 1956 jointly proposed the law of "parity non-conservation in weak interactions", that is, in weak interactions, the motion of mirror-image substances is asymmetric.

Previously, the scientific community believed that parity conservation means that the mirror image of a particle has exactly the same properties as itself. After in-depth research, Li and Yang proposed that in the environment of weak interactions, the motion laws of the two may not be exactly the same.

They found Columbia University physicist Chien-Shiung Wu and asked her to design an experiment to prove it.

In late 1956, Chien-Shiung Wu collaborated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to conduct an experiment using the radioactive isotope cobalt-60 at temperatures close to absolute zero, demonstrating that the decay of identical nuclear particles does not always behave identically.

Wu Jianxiong's experiment shocked the entire physics community. Now, this experiment is considered one of the most impressive experiments in the history of modern physics. On January 16, 1957, The New York Times reported this experiment with the title "Basic Concepts of Physics Claimed to Have Been Overturned by Experiments".

Yang Zhenning was born in Hefei, Anhui in 1922, and Wu Jianxiong was born in Taicang, Suzhou, Jiangsu (some say Shanghai) in 1912. She and Li Zhengdao are from the same hometown. Under such circumstances, the three major Chinese physicists in the United States joined forces and made such extraordinary achievements.

There is a story that in October 1957, Oppenheimer held a dinner to celebrate Yang Zhenning, Li Zhengdao, and Wu Jianxiong, and said that these three people made the greatest contributions to the violation of parity conservation.

In 1957, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang won the Nobel Prize in Physics together. That year, Tsung-Dao Lee was 31 years old and Chen-Ning Yang was 35 years old.

In December of that year, the magazine Physics Today published a manuscript of Tsung-Dao Lee on its cover. It is said that this manuscript has a history:

In June 1956, Tsung-Dao Lee was invited by Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States to be a two-month summer visiting scholar. It is reported that every desk at Brookhaven National Laboratory has a "paper pad" for scientists to make drafts, record ideas and discuss calculations. It is about the size of four A4 sheets of paper. Tsung-Dao Lee tore up the paper he wrote every day and threw it into the wastebasket.

It is said that there was a professor named Church in the office next door who paid close attention to Tsung-Dao Lee's research and collected his drafts from the wastebasket every night and saved them. After Tsung-Dao Lee won the Nobel Prize, Professor Church donated the collected manuscripts to the American Physical Society.

Tsung-Dao Lee's Path to Education

Ye Minghan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, once wrote an article published in "Modern Physics Knowledge" in 2022, introducing Li Zhengdao's academic path.

Savings Award

Li Zhengdao's ancestral home is in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He is from a scholarly family. His great-grandfather, grandfather and great-uncle were members of the founding team of Soochow University. His father, Li Junkang, was the first graduate of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry of Nanjing Jinling University, and his mother, Zhang Mingzhang, graduated from Shanghai Qiming Girls' Middle School. His father graduated from university and worked in a German fertilizer factory in Shanghai to make fertilizers. Later, he joined the Shanghai Ocean Bank to do business. His family was well-off.

Li Junkang and his wife had five sons and one daughter. Li Zhengdao was the third child. He was born in Shanghai on November 24, 1926.

Each child in the Li family had a tutor who taught them Chinese, arithmetic and English. Li Zhengdao's eldest brother Li Hongdao graduated from Shanghai Chongguang Taxation School, his second brother Li Chongdao graduated from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of Guangxi University, his younger brother Li Dadao dropped out of Datong University, his youngest brother Li Xuedao graduated from the Department of Naval Architecture of Shanghai Jiaotong University, and his younger sister Li Yayun graduated from the Department of Naval Architecture of Shanghai University.

There is a story that says that a mother deposited prize-winning savings in the bank for her children, the eldest brother got one share, the second brother got half a share, Tsung-Dao Lee got a quarter of a share, and so on. As a result, Tsung-Dao Lee won a 500 yuan grand prize. He was in the fourth grade at the time, and from then on he used this money to pay for his daily expenses. He only used 1/10 of the money when he went out to study.

His father, Li Junkang, moved to Nanshi, Shanghai in 1925, and Tsung-Dao Lee was born the following year. In 1937, he attended elementary school in Nanshi for two years. When Japan began to attack Shanghai, his elementary school was bombed, and his family moved to the concession. Tsung-Dao Lee attended Guoguang Middle School for two years, then entered the Affiliated Middle School of Soochow University, and was promoted to high school in 1940.

Avoid chaos

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out. In Shanghai, the Japanese army invaded the concession, drove away teachers and students, and occupied the school. Li Zhengdao and his second brother Chongdao, who was studying in the Department of Physics at Soochow University, decided to leave Shanghai and go to Zhejiang. Their father was afraid that they would clash with Japanese soldiers on the street due to their hot temper, so he supported their decision.

On the 22nd of that month, 15-year-old Tsung-Dao Lee fled south with his 18-year-old second brother.

When they arrived in Zhejiang, the Japanese army had occupied Hangzhou and the Qiantang River Bridge had been blown up, so they secretly crossed the river in a small boat at night.

They had no plan to stay away from their parents for a long time, and they only had enough money to buy a train ticket. Li Chongdao decided to let his younger brother go first, and the two brothers separated from then on.

exile

After getting off the train, Li Zhengdao could not wait for his second brother, had no money, and could not contact his parents in Shanghai, so he had to follow the refugee group. At that time, the meals for exiled students were paid by the government, and they could join.

After trekking hundreds of kilometers, he arrived in Changshan, Quzhou in February 1942, and entered the Changshan Temporary Middle School, which accommodated exiled students, to study in the second year of high school.

In May 1942, the Japanese army attacked Quzhou and the Changshan Temporary Middle School was disbanded. Li Zhengdao went south to the mountainous area of ​​Fujian, relying on the arrangements of the exile school and the help of kind people. On the way, he contracted severe malaria and scabies. When he arrived in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, he was taken in and treated by the homeless refugee and student relief organization.

At that time, Japanese planes often came to bomb, and people had to leave the city to "escape the alarm". Li Zhengdao told the teahouse owner, "When the enemy planes come to bomb, you hide away, I will take care of the teahouse for you, as long as I eat the leftovers of the guests." Li Zhengdao would clean up the teahouse, and later he also let him take care of the teahouse next door. In his spare time, he went to the New Gannan Library to read books and found a set of "General Physics" written by Sa Bendong, the president of Xiamen University, when he was a professor at Tsinghua University. Li Zhengdao laid the foundation of physics with this book.

In the autumn of 1942, when Li Zhengdao was 16 years old, he was able to enter the newly merged Ganzhou Middle School. Because he did not neglect his studies during exile, he went straight to the third year of high school. The school hired him as a substitute teacher of physics and mathematics in the lower grades, and he earned enough money to go to Guizhou to apply for Zhejiang University.

At Zhejiang University

At that time, the School of Engineering and the School of Science of Zhejiang University were located in Meitan County, Guizhou. In July 1943, he was admitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering with the first place, which was the most popular department at that time. However, he transferred to the Department of Physics at the beginning of the semester and became a student of theoretical physicist Shu Xingbei. Li Zhengdao was the only student who could discuss with Shu Xingbei.

In his later years, Tsung-Dao Lee recalled: "I would chat with Professor Shu and learn from him. His ideas inspired mine. I didn't necessarily agree with all his ideas, but he listened to what I said. Professor Shu helped me build my understanding and confidence in overall physics, which benefited me throughout my life. When I arrived at Southwest Associated University, I did the same with Professor Wu Ta-you, and later with Professor Fermi."

In 1944, my mother moved from Shanghai to Chongqing. Li Zhengdao went to visit her during the summer vacation. When this rich kid saw his mother, she looked like a beggar, with messy hair, skinny body, and clothes full of patches.

Li Zhengdao expressed his idea of ​​joining the Youth Expeditionary Force to Shu Xingbei. Shu Xingbei was anxious and said that there were so many young people in China, and anyone could join the army, but Li Zhengdao could not. He also sent a telegram to Wang Ganchang, a physicist in Meitan, Guizhou: "Keep an eye on Li Zhengdao."

When Tsung-Dao Lee was in a car accident, Wang Ganchang took him to his home in Meitan to take care of him. Later, Shu Xingbei took him to Chongqing and gave him a book called "Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism" by British scientist James Jeans to read while recovering from his injury. Tsung-Dao Lee wrote a book called "Complete Solutions of Kings' Electromagnetic Problems", which later became a reference book for Southwest Associated University.

Study in the United States

In the summer of 1945, Tsung-Dao Lee applied in Kunming and transferred to Southwest Associated University. He was admitted as a sophomore in the Department of Physics and chose electromagnetism.

One day, he was reading a book during class. After class, his electromagnetics teacher Ye Qisun asked him what book he was reading. He answered that it was King's electromagnetics. Ye Qisun said, "The book you read is more profound than the lectures I give. You don't have to take my class. You can just take the final exam. But you must do the electromagnetics experiment, which accounts for 40 points."

In the winter of 1945, when Tsung-Dao Lee was still a sophomore, he went to study in the United States with Zhu Guangya and physicist Wu Dayou.

Li Zhengdao encountered difficulties: he had no diploma, not only did he not have a university diploma, he did not even have a primary school or high school diploma, so he could not enter the school. Later, he found out that the University of Chicago could apply without a university diploma, but he had to study the famous works of Western literature and philosophy. Li Zhengdao said that he had not read these, but he had studied Chinese literature and philosophy. The admissions office gave him a trial student qualification, and fortunately he entered the world's top physics department.

Edward Teller, a teacher who taught quantum mechanics, once asked a tricky question, but Tsung-Dao Lee answered it concisely. Soon he became a regular student. He ranked first in the final exam on quantum mechanics. The University of Chicago awarded him the title of "School Scholar" and "School Scholarship", exempting him from tuition and providing him with a scholarship of $1,500. He also became a doctoral student of physicist Enrico Fermi and embarked on the path of studying physics. In June 1950, Tsung-Dao Lee married Qin Hui-yi, a fellow villager from Shanghai.

Resume of Tsung-Dao Lee

Born on November 24, 1926 in Shanghai, China, his ancestral home is Suzhou, Jiangsu.

From 1943 to 1945, he studied at Zhejiang University and Southwest Associated University.

In 1946, he entered the Graduate School of the University of Chicago in the United States and received his doctorate degree in June 1950.

From 1950 to 1953, he conducted research at the University of Chicago, the University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton Graduate School.

From 1953 to 1960, he served as assistant professor, associate professor and professor at Columbia University.

From 1960 to 1963, he was a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and a professor at Columbia University.

In 1964, he was elected Fermi Professor of Physics at Columbia University.

Since 1983, he has been a full-time professor at Columbia University.

In 1984, he was appointed Honorary Professor of Peking University, and served as Director of the Beijing Center for Modern Physics and Director of the Center for High Energy Physics of Peking University.

In November 2016, the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute was officially established at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In 2018, Tsung-Dao Lee was appointed as the honorary director of the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute.

Selected honors received by Tsung-Dao Lee

1957 Nobel Prize in Physics

Won the Albert Einstein Science Award in 1957

Won the G.Bude Medal in 1969

1979 Galileo Medal

In 1986, he was awarded the highest Italian Knight's Medal

Won the China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award in 1995

1997 New York City Science Award

Won the Chinese Government Friendship Award in 1999

Won the Medal of the Rising Sun in Japan in 2007

In 2009, he was selected as one of the most influential overseas experts in China in the past 30 years of reform and opening up.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, the Italian National Academy of Sciences, and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Comprehensive report by Chengshi Interactive and Metropolis Express

Edited by Cheng Jiayi

Reviewed by Mao Di and Wang Chenyu

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