Wen Wei Po Gu Chaohao

For more than 60 years, he traveled on the rugged mountain road of mathematics. From differential geometry to partial differential equations, and then from partial differential equations to mathematical physics, Gu Chaohao has tasted the profundity and abstraction of mathematics all his life. But from beginning to end, he never felt boring, and he said that he got the greatest pleasure in life from it.

Today, Gu Chaohao is 80 years old and still works more than 8 hours a day. "I’m thinking about some new math problems recently." Speaking of specific projects, the old man made a naughty "secret" gesture: "Things haven’t been done yet, and I’ll tell you when there are results."

In this computer age, he still likes to use a pen and a blank sheet of paper to solve difficult problems tirelessly-mathematicians’ brains are far better than computers. Of course, computers are also important tools. Gu Chaohao proudly said, "As early as the 1970s, we used a 719 computer in the Department of Mathematics to calculate national defense issues. That machine is big and heavy, occupying a whole room! "

"All the time", Gu Chaohao used this sentence to describe his nostalgia for mathematics. During the interview, he also revealed three "80-year-old wishes": the country develops better; Fudan can successfully enter a world-class prestigious school; I can easily do it for many more years.

Plus: Gu Chaohao+Hu Hesheng = Academician couple.

A study with two desks, the husband’s desk facing the sun and the wife’s desk wall. "Obviously, my position is better than hers." There is a little satisfaction between Gu Chaohao’s words. Various documents, conference notices, newspapers and books are piled up in the study room, where the two academicians study side by side every day and never stop moving forward.

After 48 years of marriage, Gu Chaohao still clearly remembers their first meeting: "It was in 1950, when I was in the library of the Department of Mathematics, I ran into Hu Hesheng. She said that Mr. Su Buqing had given her a paper, and some places were unclear, so she wanted me to help her read it. I said, OK, where’s the paper? She said the paper was in the dormitory. Her dormitory is more than 10 minutes away from my office. It was already autumn, but it was still very hot. She panted and ran to get it back. I think this little girl is very nice and willing to study hard. We discussed it together, and then she made all the contents of the paper clear. This is the beginning of our discussion on mathematics, and she also has a good impression on me. "

Mathematics made Gu Chaohao’s dream of love come true. The classmates and teenagers of that year are now white-haired. During the interview, the photojournalist wanted to take pictures of the couple, and Hu Hesheng immediately brushed her hair shyly: "Today, my hair was not properly arranged, and my clothes were not right." Gu Chaohao added a note beside him with a smile: Having studied mathematics all his life, Hu Hesheng, who came from a family of calligraphy and painting, just cares about the color matching and the harmony of styles. "Every time I attend an important event, Hu Hesheng should pay attention to my wardrobe. As long as you give her a hand like this, it is always quite spiritual. "

It is said that there is a woman behind a successful man, but Hu Hesheng "overturns" this theorem: she is not only sympathetic to her husband in life, but also hand in hand in career-she is the only female academician in China’s mathematics field, and she has become the first China woman to walk on the NOETHER platform of the International Mathematicians Conference.

Ask two academicians, have you ever thought that when you get married, you should sacrifice one person’s career so that the other half can have more energy to make greater contributions? Gu Chaohao replied firmly: "Never! Both of us hope to do well in our careers. " Hu Hesheng said that she was willing to give up her love for music and literature for mathematics; For math, she can get up at 4 am to study.

From falling in love to staying together, the 55-year emotional accumulation is as immeasurable as the problems and equations that the couple have done. Usually, their research fields have their own emphases, and when it comes to cooperation, the high efficiency brought by tacit understanding often gets twice the result with half the effort. Gu Chaohao described: "I can tell her what I did, and she can tell me what she did. We understand each other, and we can also ask questions and check each other. This is the greatest pleasure in life! "

Less: Daily life-housework = more working hours.

Get up at 6: 30, cook some rice and boil an egg. Start work at 8 o’clock on time and have to attend many meetings. In the evening, I wrote back and read graduate students’ papers-at the age of 80, Gu Chaohao’s life is still busy and simple for decades.

For academician couples, daily life is a subtraction problem, and the time squeezed out is spent on learning. "As early as the wedding, I told Hu Hesheng that we should not spend too much time on housework." Gu Chaohao said that when they lived in a humble house of 12 square meters, the couple hired an hourly worker. Aunt is from Anhui, very capable, thoughtful, well-cooked and beautiful in needlework, which helps the couple save a lot of time. "My aunt worked in my family for 45 years, and then she retired and sometimes came to help. Unfortunately, she died last year, but her family is still our friends for three generations."

Nowadays, new hourly workers come home for 1-2 hours a day, and other chores are shared by the old couple. "Burning a dish, the taste is good or bad, mainly sanitary and nutritious, and time is the most important." Gu Chaohao called cooking "self-inflicted".

When it comes to saving time, Hu Hesheng suddenly smiled and gave the most convincing example: "Do you know? I don’t usually go to a barber shop. I usually wash my hair myself, and then ask Mr. Gu to cut it short and trim it a little. At first, my husband said he wouldn’t cut it. I said don’t be afraid. My requirements are not high. He learned it slowly, and praised it as a good way, saving a lot of time and trouble! "

Simple life doesn’t mean lack of interest. Every day, Gu Chaohao reads many newspapers such as Reference News, Wen Wei Po and Science Times. Some time ago, Lien Chan and James Soong traveled to the mainland, and he never missed the relevant TV reports. Speaking of the World Table Tennis Championships held in Shanghai during the "May 1 ST" period, the old gentleman came to the forefront: "I like the strengths of Chinese people best, such as table tennis and women’s volleyball!"

In the eyes of the husband, the wife’s attitude towards life is more meticulous. "See the room full of flowers? She took care of them. Like this peony, it has been open for 3 months! " On the balcony, Hu Hesheng’s favorite sunflower is sprouting. When he sees the flowers in full bloom, the old man is also elated. In order to take care of this group of beautiful "little girls", Hu Hesheng also invented the "Red Scarecrow"-a red plastic bag tied to a pole to drive away sparrows.

Tired from research work, Hu Hesheng still likes listening to music. As early as when she was a graduate student at Zhejiang University, she had participated in the Choir of Zhejiang University, and she even had a touching nickname-"Beautiful Voice" (beautiful voice). Those ancient lyrics sometimes forget one sentence, and the husband says, "Never mind, I remember." He used his own singing to make up a jigsaw puzzle for his wife.

Multiplication: Mathematics × Literature = Rich Life

I have always felt that scientists and poets are two completely different people. The poet is romantic, his thoughts are free and unrestrained; Scientists, on the other hand, are rigorous, solid and meticulous. Gu Chaohao, however, made a successful multiplication, which enriched his life.

During the interview, Mr. Gu sang a poem to me with great interest: When the steam enters space, the snow stands at the peak. A stream of water startled the rivers and seas, and the rain turned with the east wind. Literally, this is a realistic description of the Rhine Waterfall; In fact, Gu Chaohao’s ideals in different stages of his life are all contained in it-when he was young, he longed to fly high; As I get older, I hope to accumulate and grow thin. The ideal of middle age is to have a successful career and be influential in mathematics at home and abroad; Now I am 80 years old, but I also hope to do my bit for the cause of oriental culture and mathematics.

Speaking of the experience of writing poetry, Gu Chaohao is a little shy: "I actually have no formal training in old-style poetry, and Wenzhou dialect, Shanghainese dialect and Mandarin are often mixed together, so I can’t master the level, and my works have never dared to be seen by teacher Su Buqing." Poetry to him, is caused by interest, is self-entertainment, to express things encountered in a certain period of time in at least a few words, is a great comfort!

Gu Chaohao also summed up the "theoretical basis" for the connection between mathematics and classical poetry: "You see, any science needs language expression, and from this point of view, literary accomplishment is essential for a scientific worker. In addition, some literary works are very logical. I learned to use mathematics to reduce to absurdity in middle school, which may be related to my reading of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. " Speaking of which, Mr. Gu laughed. He added: both mathematics and classical literature attach great importance to symmetry, and many works also contain rich scientific ideas.

Therefore, Gu Chaohao often warns young people, don’t pay more attention to reason than literature, and don’t simply deal with numbers, formulas, axioms and theorems. "On the one hand, literature and writing can enrich life, on the other hand, it is also beneficial to the development of mathematical thinking!"

In addition to expressing feelings through poetry, poetry is also a rose and gift given by Gu Chaohao to his wife. In 1991, Hu Hesheng was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and her husband wrote a poem to congratulate him: studying hard at a cold window night and burning the lamp before dawn. True biography of geometry, a new chapter in physics. Don’t care about red makeup, and the beauty is natural. The academy has a name, celebrating sunny days together.

Except: a lifetime of achievement, teaching = peaches and plums all over the world

I go to Fudan twice a week, but I can’t move. I attend a discussion class on mathematics, physics and geometry composed of students and young teachers. "I like being with young people very much. Their discussions are very interesting. From mathematics to astrophysics, new knowledge, new achievements and inspiration are constantly emerging." So far, Gu Chaohao and Hu Hesheng have taught three doctoral students.

Scientific research and teaching are the horizontal and vertical axes of Gu Chaohao’s life equation. He has taught basic mathematics courses for undergraduates for a long time, and also offered many specialized courses. At the academic seminar on the 15th of this month, Gu Chaohao summed up his teaching experience in public: "Guide young people to do the most promising research and inspire them with the best content and methods." The voice was not loud, but it moved every student in the audience.

In today’s scientific community, some tutors "justifiably" regard students’ achievements as their own. Hong Jiaxing, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of Fudan Institute of Mathematics, dismissed this "strange phenomenon": "When I was a student of Mr. Gu, the determination of the topic and the specific methods of the thesis were all directed by Mr. Gu, but he never signed the paper." Another doctoral student, Zhou Zixiang, said with a smile that when Mr. Gu’s students are a little "tired", they have to be particularly serious. Because he is very serious in his studies and his brain is spinning fast. Any student who makes a slight mistake in the discussion speech will point it out at the first time.

The achievements of a lifetime have turned into peaches and plums all over the world. Nowadays, the Department of Mathematics and Institute of Mathematics in Fudan University have become internationally renowned research institutions. Among the students who graduated or studied here, five academicians of the Academy of Sciences and five academicians of the Academy of Engineering have all been carefully cultivated and edified by Gu Chaohao to varying degrees. Gu Chaohao told reporters modestly and proudly: "In those days, my teacher Su Buqing said to me,’ I have trained more students than me, and you should also train more students than you’-he was turning my army! Looking back now, I think, to a certain extent, I can pay Mr. Su! "

Mathematical exploration is hard: just like groping in the mountains, the mountain path is slim and the peak turns around. Mathematics is more abstract, so far away from real life. No wonder some young people are not optimistic about this basic subject nowadays. Even if you get started, you usually regard the department of mathematics as a "springboard", and then enter insurance companies, banks and computer companies …

Although changing careers is also one of the ways out, Gu Chaohao still shouts loudly: Mathematics is the foundation and tool of all sciences! Shanghai needs math! China needs math! He especially hopes that talented and ambitious young people will devote themselves to this subject. "All I did was pick up a few scattered shells on the beach, hoping to pin my hopes on young people!"

Gu Chaohao and Yang Zhenning: The Intersection of Mathematics and Physics in 30 Years

One is a Nobel Prize winner and the other is an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the 30-year friendship, Yang Zhenning and Gu Chaohao performed a perfect "intersection". In Yang Zhenning’s words, "Mathematicians and physicists should cooperate with each other, as evidenced by my cooperation with Gu Chaohao. Of course, the two sides often put forward different opinions. "

Gu Chaohao told reporters that their friendship began in 1974. At that time, Yang Zhenning visited Shanghai, and in a discussion with Fudan teachers, he raised a number of issues worthy of study. Unexpectedly, Gu Chaohao and Hu Hesheng made two research results on the same day, which made the Nobel Prize winner both surprised and happy. Since then, in the research work of gauge field, they have become partners, and Yang Zhenning’s theory and differential geometry, which Gu Chaohao is good at, have "intersected" each other and achieved fruitful results.

Gu Chaohao also specifically mentioned that he was appointed president of the University of Science and Technology of China just as the work was progressing. Won’t it be difficult to coordinate administrative work with research institutes? Just between the dilemma and the dilemma, Yang Zhenning gave Gu Chaohao great confidence and support: "Being a principal will definitely make sacrifices in academic work, but China University of Science and Technology is a very good school, which is worth working for!"

After 30 years of friendship, physicists and mathematicians have countless common languages. At last week’s 80th birthday of Gu Chaohao and related international seminars, Yang Zhenning commented that Academician Gu "has achieved three things: establishing morality, standing up and standing up". I also sent a meaningful birthday wish: I wish Academician Gu continued to work hard and continue to be in good health. Ten years later, I will definitely come to your 90th birthday!

院士名片

谷超豪，1926年生于浙江温州。1948年毕业于浙江大学数学系并留校。1953年至今在复旦大学从事教学和研究工作。1957年赴莫斯科大学力学数学系进修，获物理-数学科学博士学位。1980年当选为中国科学院学部委员（院士）。曾任复旦大学副校长、中国科技大学校长、复旦数学研究所所长等职务。

微分几何、偏微分方程、数学物理三个领域，构成了谷超豪生命中的“金三角”；研究和教学则是他“人生方程”的纵轴与横轴。曾获国家自然科学奖二、三等奖各1项，国家教委科技进步一等奖2项，以及华罗庚数学奖、何梁何利科技进步奖和柏宁顿孺子牛奖（杰出奖）等多种奖励，其研究风格被国际数学界誉为“独特、高雅、深入、多变”。

14岁（1940年）加入中国共产党，上世纪40年代成为浙江大学进步学生运动的积极参与者、推动者。解放前从事党的地下工作，为保全当时杭州市各科研机构做出了重要贡献。

刊登：《文汇报》2005年5月23日第四版