1968, a day in April. A group of people rushed into Chen Jingrun's small room.
The room is too small to accommodate so many people.
They dragged Chen Jingrun into a big room, forced him to hand in the gold ring and passbook sewn in his underwear, announced that they would be confiscated, and asked him why he kept these things.
When he returned to his small room, he found that the whole room had been turned upside down.
The sacks of manuscript paper were thrown into the corridor, and the manuscripts were all over the floor.
Before he could react, someone picked up an umbrella and beat him.
This young mathematician has always spoken as little as possible and never quarreled with others. Work quietly without letting people notice their existence.
But he is still labeled as a typical "Audience fan" -a "white expert" representative who works with peace of mind, studies business, is obsessed with professionalism, and does not care about politics. Forcing him to be unable to do research, he experienced pain that he had never had in his life.
whipped his people and began to expose his "crimes":
"Why are you doing Goldbach's guess? You parasite, you want to run with foreigners, you are a traitor!"
The thin Chen Jingrun suddenly Enraged.
He replied so loudly for the first time in his life, breathless, but very firm:
"I am patriotic, I am honoring my country. I am not fighting for personal fame and fortune, not for nothing! I am not eating rice, not waste, Not an idiot! I am not a parasite!" After
finished, he stepped back to the corner, waiting for a new round of blows from the revolutionary teenager.
several people forced him to pick up the bedding and pushed him into the dictatorship activity room not far away.
He cried suddenly, turned around, closed the door, opened the window, and jumped down from the third floor.
Fortunately, he was hung up by a big tree, his buttocks landed on the ground, but he was injured, not killed.
, in a daze, he heard someone say:
, "You deserve to be a mathematician, who knows how to calculate angles when jumping off a building, and he won't die."
Then, several people dragged him back to the dictatorship activity room and confronted the Chinese Academy of Sciences Other critics said:
"Whoever wants to commit suicide, Chen Jingrun is a role model."
But from this moment on, after experiencing suicide and humiliation, the 35-year-old Chen Jingrun suddenly wanted to open it:
I have no right to end my life casually. , I want to live strong.
live to the day when my results are made public, and live to the day of peace and prosperity. Before he was forced to commit suicide this time, Chen Jingrun's most painful experience was still related to the political movement.
From 1960 to 1962, he was sent to Dalian and stayed in the bullpen for two years.
later, under the protection of mentor Hua Luogeng, did he return to Beijing. But the unbearable memories of those two years, Chen Jingrun never discussed it with anyone.
returned to the 6-square-meter room in the Woju, he found that all the wires were torn off.
is said to prevent him from committing suicide.
He didn't care and lit the old kerosene lamp. One point is several years.
With the weak light, he swipes his calculations day and night, and the manuscript paper is sack after sack.
He would rather the whole world forget him.
He is alone, wearing a shabby cotton-padded coat, eating steamed buns and dipping soy sauce, to climb high in the history of mathematicsPeak:
Goldbach’s conjecture .
Goldbach’s conjecture is one of the world’s three major mathematical problems. Since it was proposed in 1742, for more than two hundred years, it has stumped generations of mathematicians. The conjecture of
is very simple: prove that any even number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime numbers.
It is difficult for ordinary people to understand the mystery, so it is simply described as proving that "1+1" is true.
Chen Jingrun first heard of Goldbach’s conjecture when he was in high school.
At that time, Shen Yuan, his head teacher, math and English teacher, solemnly introduced the origin of Goldbach’s conjecture to Chen Jingrun, who is quite a child prodigy. There is a saying that made Chen Jingrun unforgettable. Shen Yuan said:
"The queen of natural science is mathematics, the crown of mathematics is number theory, and Goldbach’s conjecture is the jewel in the crown." At the end of
, Shen Yuan said half-jokingly. , I hope someone in his class can pick up the "jewel in the crown" in the future.
Chen Jingrun has since buried this matter in his heart.
, a Fuzhou teenager born in 1933, was admitted to the Department of Mathematics of Xiamen University with the same qualifications before graduating from high school.
was the second year of the founding of New China, 1950. Chen Jingrun is 17 years old.
A brand-new era has begun, and since then, a young Frankenstein can move forward.
Three years later, Chen Jingrun graduated from University and was assigned to teach in Beijing Fourth Middle School.
Soon, Beijing No. 4 Middle School found that this university graduate was not good at speech, and the students didn't pay for his class at all. The school immediately suspended his class and only asked him to correct the students' homework. The inner suffering of
made Chen Jingrun, who was originally frail and sick, often get sick. A young man of about 20 years old turned out to be a famous medicine jar in the school.
In 1954, the school simply asked him to suspend his job and return to his hometown to recuperate.
In other words, Chen Jingrun is unemployed.
Chen Jingrun, who returned to his hometown in Fujian, felt that life was gloomy. But while he was recuperating, he read books day and night. In the end, a small book stand was set up to combine earning a living with hobbies.
In front of the stall, he basically looked down at his math book every day.
One day in 1955, he received an order from Xiamen University.
Wang Yanan, the president of Xiamen University at the time, heard about Chen Jingrun's experience, and couldn't bear to see that the mathematics genius cultivated by this school was buried, so he mobilized him to the Xiamen University Library to give him time and environment for research.
During this period, Chen Jingrun carefully studied the famous mathematics master Hua Luogeng's The Theory of Prime Numbers. I read it seven or eight times, and read important places forty or fifty times.
not only read, but he also wrote a paper in accordance with his own ideas, and put forward specific suggestions for improvement on Hua Luogeng's deduction.
After seeing this, Professor Li Wenqing of the Department of Mathematics of Xiamen University encouraged Chen Jingrun to write to Hua Luogeng and attach a paper.
Hua Luogeng read Chen Jingrun’s paper, and if he was a treasure, he was delighted:
"This young man is very good, he is very thoughtful and very promising."
Immediately, he said to the staff around him that he would send an invitation to Chen Jingrun. , Invited him to Beijing to participate in the Mathematics Conference and give a report at the conference.
There is Bole in the world, and then there are Maxima.
After Chen Jingrun arrived in Beijing, Hua Luogeng had only a few words to exchange with this dull young man, so he decided to transfer him to the Institute of Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
This happened in September 1957.
Chen Jingrun became Hua Luogeng's lifeThe first and last person to be called personally.
Chen Jingrun and her teacher Hua Luogeng (right).
02
If it wasn't for politics to think about him, Chen Jingrun would really have been forgotten in his corner by the world.
He enjoys this corner very much. Specifically, his room is only 6 square meters in size next to the boiler room.
is small, dark and messy.
But he only hopes to have a desk with manuscript paper, and the world outside is tense, and he is immersed in calculations, not knowing the years. The
movement struck, and this mathematician who did not hear anything outside the window was criticized as a typical of the "white specialist". The more research he did and the more papers he wrote, the more intense his criticism. In the era of
, experts and scholars were required to be "red and professional", and "red" was more important than "professional." If the thinking is not "red", the more "specific" the more reactionary.
The trembling Chen Jingrun was sent to Dalian for two years, which he did not want to mention again.
When he returned to his small room again, he felt as fortunate as the rest of his life.
Despite the terrible living conditions, he is very content. It took
exactly 4 years, and he completed the preliminary proof that "a big even number is represented as a prime number and a product of no more than two prime numbers" (commonly known as "1+2").
This is a milestone in the study of Goldbach’s conjecture.
His paper was published in the form of a briefing, but to be recognized by the mathematics community, he must continue to improve and simplify this proof. This will be a long work.
However, the year his thesis briefing was published was a heartbreaking year:
1966.
His suffering and suicide occurred two years later.
But after experiencing that torture, his goal became simpler and clearer: to live, in order to complete the argument of Goldbach’s conjecture.
and nothing more.
He suffers from tuberculosis and has a low-grade fever all year round. Except in summer, they basically wear ragged cotton clothes.
The teenagers stipulated that he must put up a sign when he went out, with words insulting him. Unless he is too hungry, he will not go out to eat.
In the spring of 1973, Chen Jingrun became very ill.
Wrapped in a cotton coat, he went to the hospital to see a doctor, and met Luo Shengxiong from the Mathematical Institute on the way.
According to Luo Shengxiong's later recollection, Chen Jingrun was worried that he would die soon, so he quietly told him: "I made a '1+2' and wanted to publish it, but I was afraid of being criticized." After Luo Shengxiong heard this, he encouraged Chen Jingrun: "Just Your proof is correct, so don't be afraid."
Chen Jingrun was afraid to take out the paper after all. The shocks of previous sports, and the hats such as "Audience Fan" and "Bai Zhuan" that he wore on his head made him feel lingering.
Luo Shengxiong knows that the announcement of the "1+2" results will have a world-class impact. Therefore, he secretly reported the situation to his superiors.
between death and life, Chen Jingrun's fate will fluctuate again.
stills: Chen Jingrun who was under "dictatorship".
03
Not long after, the Chinese Academy of Sciences held a cadre meeting. Wu Heng, deputy secretary of the party group, said at the meeting:
"All a young researcher in mathematics has made a very important research result that will greatly study the Goldbach conjecture. One step forward..." Xinhua News Agency reporter Gu, who listened to the audience at
Meinan, out of professional sensitivity, quickly asked the person next to him, who was this talking about?
Someone answered her:
"Hey, his name is Chen Jingrun, he is dying!"
Gu Manan immediately decided to visit Chen Jingrun.
After explaining his intentions, the head of the rebels of the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told her:
"This person is very vigorous. The Zhongguancun Hospital came to the critically ill notice several times, saying that he was dead soon. But he is still alive." This week, Gu Minan interviewed Chen Jingrun and related personnel of the Institute of Mathematics, and wrote two "internal references":
One article focused on Chen Jingrun's achievements in the Goldbach conjecture.
Another article focuses on Chen Jingrun’s current situation, and hopes that the relevant departments will care about him, treat him, and let him continue his research.
Who knows, after the "internal reference" was sent out, Mao Zedong gave instructions on it:
need to be rescued!
At that time, the chairman's instructions were not allowed to stay overnight.
At around 3 o'clock in the morning, a group of people knocked for a long time, but they couldn't knock on Chen Jingrun's door.
Chen Jingrun was actually not asleep and was still studying at the desk. But he dared not open the door for a long time, thinking that the revolutionary young general came to him again to "dictatorship".
finally opened a crack in the door, and a group of people explained their intentions, and brought Chen Jingrun to Tsinghua University overnight, and invited the best doctor to do a physical examination for him.
A few days later, Chen Jingrun was sent to 309 Hospital to be hospitalized.
In just a few days, Chen Jingrun went from being criticized as a "smelly old nine" to a big man with a good head and a face.
His paper was published in Science in China at the fastest speed, causing a sensation in the international mathematics community.
His results were named "Chen's Theorem" by the Western academic circles. Some western mathematicians commented that Chen Jingrun moved the mountains alone.
In 1974, Zhou Enlai personally nominated Chen Jingrun as a representative to the National People's Congress.
Later, a joke spread, saying that Chen Jingrun participated in the People's Congress for the first time and brought the bedding and washbasin to the hotel. People use this to prove Chen Jingrun's stupidity.
The real situation is quite bitter.
Chen Jingrun was afraid of being a typical "white specialist", so he kept his eyes on when he went to the meeting. He brought bedding and washbasin to cover up the stack of mathematics books he carried with him, and then put "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" on the washbasin.
He wants to package himself into a "red and professional" image. The politics of
are complicated, and various ulterior motives also flock to Chen Jingrun, who has just become famous.
Someone wanted to rectify Hua Luogeng and asked Chen Jingrun to come out and expose that Hua Luogeng had plagiarized his research results.
Chen Jingrun resolutely refused, he said:
"Professor Hua Luogeng is an internationally renowned mathematician. I went through his'back door' and transferred to the Institute of Mathematics from a remote place. Without his support, I absolutely cannot have today."
In 1975, Deng Xiaoping came back.
Hu Yaobang, who was in charge of the rectification of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the time, introduced Chen Jingrun to Deng Xiaoping. He also said that some people were dissatisfied with Chen Jingrun's success and fame, saying that he was a typical "white master".
Deng Xiaoping was very angry when he heard it, and he said on the spot: "What kind of "white master" is typical, as long as it is good for the People’s Republic of China, it is much better than those who only occupy the pit and do not shit, and are much better than those who are partisan and pull hind legs. ... For some people like this who are recognized as competent in the world, one thousand in China would be great."
Later, Hu Yaobang led people to inspect Chen Jingrun's 6-square-meter small room and asked the Chinese Academy of Sciences to improve Chen Jingrun's living conditions twice and three times.
Chen Jingrun refused to move. His claim to the outside world is almost zero, he just wants to have an isolated space to run his mathematical kingdom.
He even worried that the exercise would come again, not to mention the big house, even the small room now.
But he said to the outside: I will move when everyone has ample housing.
In 1976, there was a "counterattack against the right to reverse the case." Someone forced Chen Jingrun:
"You have to talk about how you were poisoned by the capitalist roaders in the party and gradually embarked on the road of white monopoly."
Chen Jingrun does not care about politics, but it does not mean that he has no right and wrong in his mind. .
He never stood up, but evaded all kinds of critics, making it impossible for those who want to use him politically.
Later, Chen Jingrun recalled:
"At that time, someone had to write a big-character poster to expose Deng Xiaoping and Hu Yaobang, and repeatedly forced me to commit suicide three times. They resisted it with death, but they couldn't help it."
Two years later , The writer Xu Chi wrote in the "Goldbach Conjecture" that swept the country:
The logic of a mathematician is as hard as steel; his stand is firm. He has made no mistakes. In political history, Chen Jingrun is innocent. He was as white as a crane. On the crane feather, the stain can't get on. The top of the crane is bright red; his eyes are also bright red, which is probably because he stayed up late.
04
In 1978, it seemed that overnight, Chen Jingrun became China's largest national idol.
This benefited from the reportage "Goldbach Conjecture" published in "People's Literature" in January that year. After the publication of
, Luoyang paper was expensive. The protagonist Chen Jingrun's spirit of dedicating everything to science is the rarest quality of that era.
Chen Jingrun was quickly regarded as a typical one. This time is a positive example, calling on all people to learn from. After
became famous, there were many books about Chen Jingrun.
However, few people know that before that, Xu Chi, the author of "Goldbach's Conjecture", met many interviewees during the interview, and they all sneered at Chen Jingrun.
Someone directly persuaded Xu Chi and said:
“Don’t write Chen Jingrun. The Academy of Sciences, Institute of Mathematics, and many outstanding scientists are, why do you have to write Chen Jingrun! You will get into trouble.”
Xu Chi realized that Chen Jingrun I have been stuck in an environment full of sharp contradictions for a long time.
He thinks he can understand Chen Jingrun. In his article, he commented on Chen Jingrun, whose fate was fluctuating:
Chen Jingrun was once a legendary figure. There are many legends about him. Well-intentioned misunderstandings, ignorant ridicule, malicious slander, and enthusiastic support can all cause this person to distort, deform, smash, or expand. It is not easy to understand people; it is even more difficult to understand this mathematician.
He is extremely sensitive, too precocious, extremely nervous, and highly concentrated. The physical and spiritual torture and persecution of foreign and self made him try to escape from the world. He managed to escape from pure mathematics, but he still couldn't hide.
Two months after Xu Chi's article was published, on March 18, the National Science Conference , known as the "Spring of Science", was held.
Chen Jingrun and his teacher Hua Luogeng, sit togetherThe conference podium.
At this conference, Deng Xiaoping gave a special speech to remove the hats for Chen Jingrun and other typical scientists who have been labeled as "white specialists":
"If a person loves our socialist motherland, he will voluntarily serve socialism and serve the workers, peasants and soldiers. Service, it should be said that this is the preliminary establishment of the proletarian worldview. According to political standards, they cannot be said to be "white", but rather "red"."
heard Chen Jingrun tears in his eyes.
He was also invited to make a speech at the conference and was received by leaders of the Party Central Committee. He clasped Deng Xiaoping's right hand tightly with both hands, and bent over and said: "Thank you, Vice Chairman Deng, thank you, thank you..." , Met the young training doctor by Kun , for the first time in his life had love.
Two years later, they got married.
Many people say that their marriage is an organizational arrangement, or that it was chased by Kun "star chaser". Many years later, Kun refuted the rumors on a TV show and told about their love story.
Chen Jingrun fell in love with Yukun and launched a love offensive.
By the reason of learning English together, Chen Jingrun suddenly showed his love:
"I know that it is not fair for you to be together. But I also thought about it. If we can't be together, I will never get married in my life. "
Kun did not know what to do for a while, so he had to shirk: "I have a very bad temper."
Chen Jingrun said: "It's okay, I am so much older than you, I let you. I will not fight with you."
" I can’t cook anything, nor can I cook food."
"It’s okay, we eat the cafeteria."
"I can’t make clothes, and I can’t make wool."
"It’s okay, you wear military uniforms, I will Wear whatever you want. I can also wear the rest of your military uniform."
said by Kun. Chen Jingrun is a very strong and assertive person. If it is an organizational arrangement or I chase him, then we will definitely not get together.
At that time, Chen Jingrun had tens of thousands of fans across the country, and countless people wrote to him every day. Among them were sentimental girls who wrote love letters and sent photos to him.
Chen Jingrun remained unmoved.
Finally, after establishing a romantic relationship with Yukun, he burned all the thousands of love letters and photos sent by 300 girls. He said:
"These girls are still in love and married, so I can’t let people know that they wrote me letters. I want to keep secrets for them."
Chen Jingrun, Yu Kun's wedding photo.
05
After Chen Jingrun became famous all over the country, in 1979, Xinhua News Agency reporter Gu Mainan visited him. After the interview with
, the old reporter who helped Chen Jingrun get out of trouble was infinitely emotional: "Now, he is famous, but he is still him."
is still settled in his 6 square meter small room, and still concentrates on his advanced mathematics day and night. theory.
After he got married, Deng Xiaoping personally spoke and instructed relevant departments to solve three problems for Chen Jingrun within a week:
housing, lover transfer, and a secretary.
Chen Jingrun moved out of his small room.
However, after becoming famous, Chen JingrunThere are also new troubles.
He once complained to Gu Mainan that after becoming famous, there were too many things outside of academic activities and too distracted, which made it difficult for him to calm down and study.
He goes to many places to give lectures, always racing against time to make up for the time. Whenever I have free time, I don’t go to the local area for sightseeing, but hide in my residence, read a book, and do research.
Li Xiaoning, his administrative secretary, recalled that there was a meeting of the people’s congress, and Chen Jingrun was arranged to live in a room with Mr. Zhao Puchu. In order not to affect the rest of Zhao, he hid in the bathroom to calculate mathematical formulas.
He used this method to grab time back.
was sick and hospitalized. He also secretly brought math materials and got up in the middle of the night to calculate. After finding out, the nurse complained to Youkun: did Mr. Chen come to see a doctor or do research?
In Chen Jingrun's subconscious, time is thesis.
Friends who are familiar with him know that Chen Jingrun has a motto: "Spent a day is equivalent to wasting 24 hours."
He not only cares about time, but also cares about money.
Chen Jingrun experienced the pain of dropping out of school and unemployment in his early years, and later contracted severe tuberculosis. He was once precarious and helpless. Money, to him, means life.
He slowly formed a habit, saving all the expenses that can be saved, maintaining the simplest life, and depositing all the remaining income in the bank.
Luo Shengxiong said that Chen Jingrun only appreciates the number of money, but forgets the function of money.
When he gets 89.5 yuan a month's salary, his monthly living expenses do not exceed 20 yuan, except for the monthly living expenses of 15 yuan sent to his father, all the rest is deposited in the bank.
has been in this way for more than ten or twenty years. At the end of the 1970s, he was already a veritable million household . Colleagues familiar with
all know that Chen Jingrun squeezed out the money from his teeth. He saves money not because he needs them, but because he is insecure.
He is weak and he heard that ginseng is a tonic, but he only bought the cheapest ginseng beard to supplement energy deficiency.
his father gave him a cotton coat, which he has worn for 20 years. After
became famous, Chen Jingrun still likes to save money because he wants to bring his son to college.
He is extremely stingy with himself, but he is not generous to the country.
According to Li Xiaoning's recollection, in the late 1970s, Chen Jingrun went to Europe and the United States to give lectures. He just got off the plane after returning to China. The first thing he did was to give the country a few thousand pounds of lecture fees abroad and the frugal living expenses.
His reason is very simple: "The country is still very difficult, and it needs money for construction."
However, to this day, when people mention Chen Jingrun, their first impression is still: a monotonous, eccentric, indifferent and lonely mathematical genius.
Only Kun can really understand the richness of Chen Jingrun's inner world, he is actually a cute, caring, affectionate and happy family.
Chen Jingrun family portrait.
Chen Jingrun is often portrayed by the media as a scientist with first-class scientific research ability and zero self-care ability.
"In fact, he just doesn't have time to deal with people and doesn't want to waste time on meaningless things." Yu Kun said.
His life, first of all, belongs to the mathematics he loves.
But he is a very visionary man.
In 1984, a person from the Central Military Commission persuaded Yu Kun not to go to work, but took care of Chen Jingrun at home and was promoted.
Chen Jingrun resolutely disagreed after learning about it, "No, no, Kun should have his own career."
He also said to Yukun:
"I'm sick and have affected my work, so I can't let you stop working for this. I can still take care of myself, the child is sent to kindergarten, everyone else is like this, why can't we?"
Kun has always been concerned about this, thinking that Chen Jingrun is too impersonal. It was not until many years later that Chen Jingrun had passed away that she suddenly knew her husband's good intentions and foresight:
"If I really left the business at the beginning, then I will become a full-time housewife now, knowing nothing, how I will live and how to train. Educating children?"
He is also an open-minded person.
In the 1980s, someone asked Chen Jingrun to write a letter of recommendation, recommending him to study abroad. Chen Jingrun wrote without saying anything. After Kun found out about
, he was so angry that he told Chen Jingrun, why did you write to him? Have you forgotten that he made you the best in that era?
Unexpectedly, Chen Jingrun waved his hand:
"Let it pass. He can study abroad and return to China in the future to serve the country. It is also a kind of compensation."
In 1991, a reporter asked Chen Jingrun: "Life What's the purpose of this?"
Chen Jingrun said: "It is a dedication, not a request."
24 years ago, on March 19, 1996, Chen Jingrun died of illness at the age of 63.
He made the last dedication to science: donating his body for dissection in the hospital.
Unfortunately, the Goldbach conjecture on which he became famous is only one step away from picking the jewel in the crown.
until his death, he also failed to complete that step.
Xu Chi has been interviewed with infinite emotion and said:
has played a certain role in Chen Jingrun, the article "Goldbach Conjecture", but it also has many bad effects. Because of the great influence at the time, he suddenly became a celebrity. For people like Chen Jingrun, becoming famous is a pain, and it even interferes with his work. If he is not so famous, he can have more quiet space and sufficient time to conduct his research better.
Later, he had many social activities. He wanted to be a representative of the National People's Congress. He was also an outside counselor of a school, and these activities took a lot of time. Fame is really a pain for him, and most people may not understand it. I think if he hadn't become famous, his research might be much deeper than his later progress.
There is no definite number in life, no matter how great mathematician, after all, can not solve this mystery.
Tribute to Chen Jingrun:
China's last scientific idol worshipped by the whole people!
References:
1. Xu Chi: "Goldbach Conjecture", People's Literature Publishing House, 2014
2. Wang Lili, Li Xiaoning: "Chen Jingrun", Xinhua Press, 1998
3. Luo Shengjing: "A True Chen Xiongrun" , Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2001
4. Narrated by Kun: "A Generation of Mathematics Wizard Chen Jingrun", Beijing Satellite TV "Very Famous", January 2012
5. Gu Mainan: "Recalling Interviews with Hua Luogeng and Chen Jingrun", " News Lovers", Issue 6, 2002
