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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) — Chinese social media was filled with grief and heartfelt condolences after the world learned of the death on Saturday of renowned physicist Yang Zhenning, a Nobel laureate and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
As one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, Yang Zhenning is revered as a role model by generations of Chinese scientists, and his achievements have greatly boosted national self-confidence at a time when the country is striving for national rejuvenation and scientific development.
Chinese netizens expressed deep sorrow online and paid tribute to his contributions. "He is a scientific giant who proves that the Chinese are no less accomplished in advanced sciences," read one comment. Another wrote, "Yang Zhenning serves as an academic bridge connecting Chinese and Western civilizations."
According to an obituary published by Tsinghua University, Yang Zhenning died in Beijing on Saturday at the age of 103. It said Yang Zhenning was "one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, who made revolutionary contributions to the development of modern physics."
The obituary noted that Yang Zhenning made numerous breakthroughs in particle physics, quantum field theory, statistical physics, and condensed matter physics, “having profoundly influenced the development of these disciplines.”
Yang Zhenning was born in Hefei, Anhui Province, eastern China, in 1922, when China was mired in warlordism, poverty, and imperialist encroachment. After earning a master's degree from Tsinghua University in the 1940s, he went to the United States to pursue academic studies and, upon graduation, entered the teaching profession.
Yang Zhenning is best known for his work with Li Zhengdao on the so-called parity laws, which proved that the law of conservation of parity, once considered an absolute law in physics, can be violated by weak interactions. For this groundbreaking work, they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957.
The Yang-Mills gauge theory, proposed jointly with Robert Mills, laid the foundation for the subsequent standard model of particle physics. It is considered one of the cornerstones of modern physics and one of the most important achievements of physics in the 20th century.
Shi Yigong, a renowned biophysicist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, once wrote in an article that the achievements of Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao inspired many generations of Chinese youth to respect science and strive for greatness, thereby contributing to the emergence of many outstanding figures in the field of basic research.
Looking back, Yang Zhenning himself also said that his greatest contribution may have been “increasing the self-confidence of the Chinese people.”
In 1999, Yang Zhenning took up a professorship at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Prior to this appointment, in 1997, he was appointed Honorary Director of the university's newly established Center for Advanced Study (now called the Institute for Advanced Study).
“Since his return to China, Yang Zhenning has made it his primary mission to cultivate the country’s brightest minds—a cause to which he devoted more time and energy than any other,” said Zhu Bangfen, a condensed matter physicist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and professor at Tsinghua University who maintained a close relationship with the scientist.
To Tsinghua University staff and students, this renowned scholar was always energetic, modest, and collected, with a clear mind. Students occasionally spotted him on campus and shared photos of these encounters on social media.
Even at the age of 82, Yang Zhenning took the podium to teach general physics to first-year students.
"He was a highly respected academic supervisor with a broad perspective and an open mind. He always provided selfless support to young scientists," said Wang Xiaoyun, a cryptography expert and professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University.
"Mr. Yang Zhenning's greatest expectation was that more and more Chinese people would participate in world-class research and help solve China's real problems with our own technologies," Wang Xiaoyun said.
Yang Zhenning made "tremendous efforts" to develop fundamental disciplines such as physics and cultivate talent at Tsinghua University, thereby "making enormous contributions" that significantly impacted the reform and development of Chinese higher education, according to his obituary. It also described him as "a pioneer in building a bridge of academic exchange between China and the United States."
Yang Zhenning's century-long journey—from a young physics student at Tsinghua University to a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and then to a dedicated teacher in his home country—also reflects contemporary China's journey from the depths of crisis to the path of great revival.
His home city of Hefei is now home to several national laboratories and major scientific facilities, including the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), an “artificial sun” that is testing the prospects of using nuclear fusion to generate electricity.
Hefei residents also expressed their admiration for Yang Zhenning and drew inspiration from his patriotism.
"In his final years, Yang Zhenning resolutely returned to China to contribute to its scientific development. His dedication to science and love for his homeland will be passed on to the younger generation of scientists," said Kuan Guangli, scientific director of the Laboratory of High Magnetic Fields at the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
At the age of 99, Yang Zhenning donated his personal collection of more than 2,000 books, manuscripts, and letters to Tsinghua University.
“I hope that the Qinghua archives will preserve not only my research, but also the whole truth about who Yang Zhenning was,” he said. -0-
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