"Talent is not necessary, but it is very useful." When Yang Zhenning passed away, I immediately thought of this quote of his, and also remembered the experience of interviewing this renowned physicist ten years ago, and even looked up the photo of us together (Figure 1).
On the afternoon of March 19, 2015, National Taiwan University awarded Yang Zhenning an honorary Doctor of Science degree. At that time, I was a reporter stationed in Taiwan and attended the event, listening to his speech. After the speech, an exchange student from Anhui asked a question: "Is talent important in physics research?" Yang Zhenning humorously replied, "Talent is not necessary, but it is very useful." This immediately caused laughter from the audience.
Yang Zhenning was born in Hefei, Anhui in 1922. In 1956, he collaborated with Tsung-Dao Lee to propose the possibility that parity conservation does not hold in weak interactions, which led to a major breakthrough in particle physics, shocking the global academic community. The two were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957.
Yang Zhenning lived in Beijing in his later years, but he also had deep ties with Taiwan, both in terms of academic exchanges and personal emotions. After his first visit to Taiwan in 1985, he began to interact frequently with the academic community in Taiwan and contributed to the development of the academic field at the National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu. He was invited multiple times to give lectures, serve as a guest speaker, and have discussions with faculty and students at the university. On a personal level, Yang Zhenning also had emotional connections with Taiwan. His ex-wife, Du Zhili,'s family (his mother Cao Xiuqing and siblings) moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang.
Many of Yang Zhenning's teachers and friends were also in Taiwan. After Yang Zhenning and Lee received the Nobel Prize, the media in Taiwan emphasized that both had been students at the Southwest Associated University during the War of Resistance Against Japan, attributing part of their scientific achievements to the successful education of the Southwest Associated University. The former Executive Committee Chairman of the Southwest Associated University, Jiang Menglin, the President of the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, Mei Yiqi, and the President of National Taiwan University, Qian Siliang, all sent telegrams to Li and Yang, expressing their congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize and inviting them to lecture in Taiwan.
After Yang Zhenning and Lee won the Nobel Prize, they not only caused a strong reaction in society in Taiwan, but also attracted the attention of the then authorities in Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek specially sent a telegram to Hu Shi, who had just been elected as the president of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan and was in the United States, urging him to return to Taiwan as soon as possible. In the same telegram, he pointed out: "Mr. Li Zhengdao and Mr. Yang Zhenning have made remarkable achievements in scientific research, which are a source of pride for the country. Please Dr. Hu express our sincere appreciation and hope that Mr. Li and Mr. Yang will come back to the country to give lectures." At that time, the authorities in Taiwan still illegally occupied China's legitimate seat in the United Nations. The permanent representative of the authorities in Taiwan to the United Nations, Jiang Tingfu, held a banquet to introduce the two Chinese young scientists who had won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846298359651356/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.