This precious archive reveals the deep connection between Tsung-Dao Lee and Zhejiang
2024-08-08
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
Chao News Client Reporter Wang Luyi Sharing Alliance Provincial Archives Zeng Kexin
Report of Tsung-Dao Lee's application for transfer to the Department of Physics (Collection of Zhejiang Provincial Archives)
"I, Tsung-Dao Lee, was originally admitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering of the College of Engineering. Now, as I am particularly interested in physics, I plan to transfer to the Department of Physics of the College of Science. I hereby submit a letter in accordance with the student transfer procedure. I respectfully request your consideration and approval."
On a yellowed piece of paper, the handwriting is neat. This is the application for transfer written by 17-year-old Tsung-Dao Lee shortly after he entered Zhejiang University.
In the early morning of August 4th, local time in the United States, Zhejiang University alumnus, famous Chinese physicist, and Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Tsung-Dao Lee, passed away in San Francisco, USA at the age of 98.
The death of Tsung-Dao Lee has attracted global attention and deep mourning. He was the first Chinese Nobel Prize winner. He has been engaged in physics research for a long time and has made a series of milestone works in the fields of particle physics theory, nuclear theory and statistical physics.
This precious transfer application, currently kept in the Zhejiang Provincial Archives, records Li Zhengdao's passion for physics and also reveals the deep connection between this physics giant and Zhejiang.
Tsung-Dao Lee was born in Shanghai in 1926. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese invaded Shanghai and occupied the school. Tsung-Dao Lee and his second brother left Shanghai and came to Zhejiang.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and good friend Ye Minghan published an article in "Modern Physics Knowledge" in 2022, introducing Li Zhengdao's academic path.
The article wrote: When they arrived in Zhejiang, the Japanese army had occupied Hangzhou and the Qiantang River Bridge had been blown up. They took a small boat to sneak across the river at night. They had no plan to leave their parents for a long time. They didn't have much money with them, just enough to buy a train ticket. The second brother decided to let Li Zhengdao go first, and the two brothers separated from then on.
When Li Zhengdao got off the train, he couldn't wait for his second brother, had no money, and couldn't contact his parents in Shanghai, so he had to follow the refugee group.
He trekked hundreds of kilometers and arrived in Changshan, Quzhou in February 1942, where he entered the Changshan Temporary Middle School, which housed exiled students, and studied in the second year of high school.
The full name of Changshan Temporary Middle School is the Third Department of Zhejiang Provincial Temporary Middle School. According to the report of the Provincial Administrative Conference of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education in 1945, in 1941, due to the invasion of Japanese invaders, Zhejiang Provincial Temporary Middle School was established, which was divided into four departments. They were located in Chongren, Shengxian County, Ganlin, Shengxian County, Xiuxi, Changshan, and Lishui, and different departments accommodated different students. The third department where Li Zhengdao was located accommodated students from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau.
But the peace did not last long. Only three months after he entered school, in May 1942, the Japanese army attacked Quzhou, Changshan Temporary Middle School was disbanded, and students moved to Fujian and Jiangxi. Li Zhengdao also went to Ganzhou with the teachers and students of Jiaxing Xiuzhou Middle School, and studied at Ganzhou United Middle School, which was founded by Gu Huiren, the then principal of Jiaxing Xiuzhou Middle School, and others.
It was at Ganzhou Lianzhong that Tsung-Dao Lee first realized his potential and talent in physics. Here, he was hired as a substitute teacher of physics and mathematics for lower grades with excellent grades. He once recalled: "Reading a university series in the library of Ganzhou aroused my interest and thinking in physics, and I knew my ability."
In 1943, the 17-year-old Li Zhengdao traveled hundreds of kilometers to Guiyang in the midst of war, in order to pursue Zhejiang University, which had moved west to Zunyi and Meitan in Guizhou Province. He took the college entrance examination in Guizhou that year and was admitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering of Zhejiang University with high scores.
One month before the start of the school year, he came to Meitan from Guiyang. Through the introduction of his friend Shu Wei, he visited his uncle, Shu Xingbei, a famous physics teacher at Zhejiang University at the time. Soon, through Shu Xingbei, he met another physics professor, Wang Ganchang. In the process of contacting the two professors, he often listened to the two physicists explain and discuss physics problems, and his understanding and interest in physics became stronger and stronger.
Li Zhengdao later recalled this period of time and wrote in the preface to "Shu Xingbei Archives", "Gradually, I had more contact with the two physics professors Shu Xingbei and Wang Ganchang, which made me gradually understand the significance and importance of physics, and it had a strong appeal to me," and thus "decided to switch from chemical engineering to physics."
So, in October, not long after he entered the university, Tsung-Dao Lee took the initiative to apply to the then Dean of Academic Affairs, Shao-Zhong Zhang, to transfer to another department. This is also the origin of this precious transfer application file.
Zhang Shaozhong was also the founder of the Department of Physics at Zhejiang University. He quickly instructed, "Do as instructed," "Allow him to change to the Department of Physics and notify the registration group," and Li Zhengdao entered the Department of Physics as he wished.
National Zhejiang University's approval form for student Tsung-Dao Lee's application to transfer to another department (Zhejiang Provincial Archives)
Shu Xingbei was regarded as an enlightenment teacher by Tsung-Dao Lee. Shu Xingbei taught a free discussion class for first-year students in the Department of Physics, and Tsung-Dao Lee was the only student. Under such a close one-on-one teaching relationship, Tsung-Dao Lee established his knowledge, understanding and confidence in overall physics. In the preface to the book "Shu Xingbei Archives", Tsung-Dao Lee said: "For my lifelong physics research, the initial help and influence of Teacher Shu was very important."
Studying at Zhejiang University opened a door for Tsung-Dao Lee's physics career. In 1956, when he was promoted to professor at Columbia University at the age of 30, he set a record as the youngest professor in the university's 200-year history since its founding in 1754. In 1957, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, who were only 31 years old, jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physics. It took only 13 months from proposing the principle of parity non-conservation in weak interactions to winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. The speed of winning the prize set by Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang has not been broken to this day.
Because of the war, Li Zhengdao did not study at Zhejiang University for a long time. In 1945, he transferred to the Department of Physics of Southwest Associated University and later went to the United States to study. Although he only studied at Zhejiang University for one year, he had a deep affection for his alma mater.
According to the Zhejiang Daily, Tsung-Dao Lee sent congratulatory letters on the occasion of the 100th, 110th, and 120th anniversaries of Zhejiang University. In his congratulatory letter on the 100th anniversary of his alma mater, he wrote affectionately: "Although I studied at Zhejiang University for only one year, it took me three years to trace the westward migration of Zhejiang University. I was closely connected with Zhejiang University for four years of my youth. From this point on, physics became my way of life. One year of the school motto of 'seeking truth' initiated the joy of studying physics for decades. My alma mater celebrates a hundred years, and I have spent one year, one of a hundred, and have benefited a lot."
Lee Tsung-Dao devoted his life to physics and scientific education. He continued to publish research papers until his retirement at the age of 86. His research fields were wide-ranging, and he made many achievements in quantum field theory, elementary particle theory, nuclear physics, statistical mechanics, fluid mechanics, astrophysics, etc. He made outstanding contributions to contemporary physics, especially high-energy physics.
As he said in his Nobel Prize speech: "It is a never-ending process for us to understand the infinite mysteries of the universe with limited human wisdom."
Although the superstar is gone, his spirit lives on.
"Please indicate the source"
