Chapter 23 fourth quarter

An important part of Mr. Ye Qisun's education system is the idea of ​​"emphasizing quality over quantity". The time when this idea appeared in writing was "Overview of the Department of Physics" written by him on June 1, 1934. In the article, he wrote: "In the distribution of subjects, both theory and experiment are emphasized, and quality is not weight. The number of students who specialize in physics in each class should be limited to no more than about fourteen. Scholars. This policy of emphasizing quality over quantity has paid off over the years..." Mr. Ye Qisun is a person who cherishes words like gold. In the hundreds of words of the general introduction of this department, the exposition of "emphasizing quality rather than quantity" constitutes the main body of the article. The outline of thought is concise and thick.From the information disclosed in this text, we can deduce such a historical fact: "Focus on quality rather than quantity" is probably an educational idea practiced by Mr. Ye Qisun from the beginning of the establishment of the department, and it has been proved by practice that it has become the foundation of the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University. Even a successful experience of the Faculty of Science.

The idea of ​​"emphasizing quality over quantity" education has epoch-making significance in the history of modern Chinese education. In China in the 20th century, there was still chaos on how to carry out university education.What is the educational goal of the university, what kind of talents the society needs, and most of them are still in the process of groping. In 1903, the "Zhou Ding School Regulations" of the Imperial University for the first time proposed the educational goals of the university, but it was also a virtual ideal of a university, rather than addressing the actual needs of Chinese society. On April 26, 1929, the "Educational Aims of the Republic of China" was promulgated, and the "University Organization Law" was promulgated on July 26, which proposed that the university "focus on researching advanced academics and cultivating specialized talents" as its goal.However, the proposal of these goals lacked understanding of the social conditions at that time, and lacked in-depth investigation and research on what kind of talents the society needed.For a government, if it only raises policy principles superficially, but lacks a macroscopic understanding of the status quo of the entire country and society, lacks specific understanding of various problems in the country's scientific reality, and lacks methods and steps to achieve goals, sometimes Not only is the proposed goal difficult to achieve, but it can be detrimental to science and education.

Due to the lack of a complete and correct school-running idea, various school-running ideas in the society can be described as varied.Cai Yuanpei and Huang Yanpei determined that the society needs vocational education based on the general unemployment of young people, so they proposed that vocational education must be emphasized in the content of education, and everything should be professionalized.Zhu Jiahua, on the other hand, advocated imitating Soviet Russia and advocating that universities should train specialized talents according to the needs of the country.Chen Guofu was even more radical, advocating that within 10 years, according to the number of specialized talents in agriculture, engineering, and medicine required by the national construction plan, each specialized school should be designated for training and training, while liberal arts, law, art, and other subjects should not be recruited within 10 years.Mei Yiqi believes that universities are not suitable for cultivating specialized talents, but only for generalist education. During the four years of university, his ambition is generalization, Ph.D., not deep, but advanced academic researchers in research institutes.

Compared with them, Ye Qisun's school-running philosophy is to practice in reality and to complete the combination of knowledge and action in practice.Like Mei Yiqi's focus, Ye Qisun put forward "emphasizing quality over quantity". The root of his thought is rooted in the political ideal of saving the country through science and education. " and "Tactical Judgment", eclectic education of talents. Cultivating high-tech talents requires capital investment, manpower and material resources. In the case of a poor and weak country, it is impossible to implement "universal" education for all. "Similarly, a single spark can start a prairie fire.

His students, such as Wang Ganchang, Shi Shiyuan, Zhou Tongqing, Wang Zhuxi, Wang Daheng, Zhao Jiuzhang, Qian Sanqiang, Qian Weichang, Qian Xuesen, Peng Huanwu, etc., all went to colleges and universities first to teach and practice Ye Shi's educational philosophy first. A social revolution may require a vigorous mass movement, a people's war, and a large number of people.But in the field of scientific research, it does not need to be vigorous or crowded. It may only need to be niche, elite, or even individual combat.In a sense, it is enough for a country and nation to have a head like Einstein's.This may be the mystery of science.

And Ye Qisun is a person who understands the mysteries of science, but also a person with a long-term vision. Ye Qisun is first of all a scientist. While building this theory, he paid more attention to its operability, systematization, and integrity.At the same time, he is also a man of action, so he always strives to practice it in all aspects of teaching, polish it finely, and constantly enrich it. In the link of introducing teachers, his guiding ideology is "emphasis on quality rather than quantity".In the enrollment process, his guiding ideology is "emphasis on quality rather than quantity".In daily teaching, his guiding ideology is still "emphasis on quality rather than quantity".

He does not advocate that students do more exercises, especially difficult and strange ones; he never engages in egalitarianism, and students with good levels can be exempted from general courses; he often said that studying well is not necessarily a good scientist, the key lies in whether be creative... Under the guiding ideology of "emphasizing quality over quantity", the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University had only 73 graduates from 1929 to 1938, and the entire School of Science had only 361 graduates.According to the data, due to the strict standards and extremely high requirements, from 1928 to 1931, Tsinghua University had an annual elimination rate of more than 19%, and the Faculty of Science had the highest elimination rate...

However, those who walk out of the narrow door of Tsinghua University's School of Science have a success rate of almost 100%... Ye Qisun's teaching is always different because of "emphasis on quality rather than quantity".During the exam, he almost never gave a unified test question, and it often varies from person to person, and each person receives a different test question.Once, when taking the statistical physics test, Ye Qisun asked Wang Daheng a question. He first gave Wang Daheng a German version of a monograph on statistical physics, and asked Wang Daheng to read the monograph first, and then asked him to follow the arguments in this monograph Write your own opinion.Wang Daheng was a little embarrassed after accepting Master Ye's task. He only had a little bit of German in middle school, and he used English most of the time.But Master Ye had his own deep meaning in letting him read the German version of the monograph. Besides, it was an exam, linked to credits, so naturally he couldn't bargain with the teacher, so he had to bite the bullet and read it.He seemed to be possessed in those days, holding the German dictionary every day to pick out word by word, just like a soldier destroying the enemy's firepower, conquering each difficulty one by one, and even gnawed down the monograph from beginning to end. And gave Master Ye a satisfactory answer.Through this exam, Wang Daheng not only acquired knowledge, but also improved his German level.At that time, the center of optical research in the world was in Germany, which was of great significance to Wang Daheng, who was engaged in optical research in the future.

Many years later, Wang Daheng still had a fresh memory of Master Ye's unique exam. Mr. Li Zhengdao also had a fresh memory of Master Ye's examination style. Li Zhengdao was born on November 25, 1926 in a scholarly family in Shanghai.His father graduated from Jinling University in Nanjing, and his mother was a graduate of Shanghai Qiming Girls High School.Li Zhengdao was young and intelligent. He could read at the age of 4, and he could recite poems and do math problems. Li Zhengdao has encountered wars since middle school, and he has been displaced all the way, all for studying. He fled from Shanghai to Jiaxing, Zhejiang, and transferred from Jiaxing to Jiangxi United Middle School. After that, he was admitted to the Department of Physics of Zhejiang University from Jiangxi.At this time, Wang Ganchang had transferred from Shandong University, and Li Zhengdao happened to join him.Just like Wu Jianxiong cast himself under Shi Shiyuan's school, Li Zhengdao met a famous teacher as soon as he stepped into the university threshold. This is a great blessing for this young talent.At that time, there were two internationally influential professors in the Physics Department of Zhejiang University, one was Wang Ganchang and the other was Shu Xingbei.Under their influence, Li Zhengdao made great progress in his studies, and soon became a well-known outstanding student.Wang Ganchang was to Li Zhengdao what Ye Qisun was to Wang Ganchang back then.Li Zhengdao is like Wang Ganchang back then, agile, smart, and a passionate young man.Not long after I entered school, it was the time when the Japanese invaders launched "Operation No. 1". The Japanese army attempted to penetrate the north and south of China to connect the battlefields in Southeast Asia. Since the spring, they have marched straight into many unoccupied areas, causing panic among the people in the Southwest.In order to curb the Japanese invaders' attack, the national government decided to recruit a new army, known as the "Youth Army" in view of the shortage of troops.At this time, Li Zhengdao was inspired by the patriotic thought of resisting Japan and saving the country, and decided to join the army and sign up for the Youth Army.The news was sent back to Zhejiang University. Wang Ganchang, the dean of the physics department, remembered the "Mosley incident" and the teachings of Ye Shi back then. He hurriedly found Professor Shu Xingbei and started the journey to rescue "China's Mosley".

Mosley is a very famous figure in the field of physics, and the extremely important law in nuclear physics "Mosley's Law" is named after him.He was a young British man who was drafted into the army in World War I and died on the battlefield in Sula Bay, Turkey at the age of 27.A bullet hit him in the head.He could have brought so many good things to the world, his ideas could have brightened our night skies, but none of that happened.The reason why Mosley's death became an event is that scientists from all over the world began to take this as a lesson, and adopted protection policies for those talented young scientists.There is no doubt that Li Zhengdao is a genius-type scientific talent, and his talent is no less than that of Mosley. In a sense, he is "China's Mosley".Therefore, Wang Ganchang must dissuade Li Zhengdao like Ye Shi treated him back then, so as to save him from the tragedy of Mosley.

After several persuasions, Li Zhengdao was finally persuaded. In order to divert Li Zhengdao's attention, Wang Ganchang went to chat with Li Zhengdao more often.To avoid war, Zhejiang University walked all the way from Hangzhou, drilled into the mountains of Guangxi and Guizhou, and went through Yishan, Guiyang, Zunyi, Meitan, Yongxing, Huaxi and other places.Wang Ganchang often told Li Zhengdao about his alma mater, anecdotes about the Department of Physics, and his mentors Ye Qisun and Wu Youxun, etc. They are now in Kunming, Yunnan, which is connected by mountains and rivers.Li Zhengdao understood that "beyond the mountains there are mountains, and beyond the sky is the sky", so he decided to go out of the 100,000 mountains and transfer to Southwest Associated University to find a new world "beyond the sky". So he came to the Physics Department of Southwest Associated University. So I met Ye Qisun and Wu Youxun who were once called mentors by my mentors. Li Zhengdao finally had the honor to listen to the master's lecture.However, as soon as the class started, Li Zhengdao knew that this course had been taught by Wang Ganchang when he was at Zhejiang University.However, out of face, he had no choice but to follow the course of the whole class. Who made himself a transfer student? Mr. Ye Qisun taught electromagnetism.Mr. Ye spoke well, but Li Zhengdao already understood.He didn't want to waste precious time, so he had to borrow the high-grade textbook on electromagnetism to read. Time passed day by day.Finally one day, Ye Qisun discovered that there was a student in the class who was always reading with his head down, and didn't seem to be listening to his lectures.However, when asked a question, he always did a great job.So I paid special attention to this student.The reference book he brought to read was clearly a course for the graduate grade.But observing his experimental class, he found that it was obviously weak. Ye Qisun knew the origin of this student. He walked out of Shiwan Dashan and was a student of Wang Ganchang.From his learning level, he can clearly see the teaching results of his students.But this student's weakness is that theory is higher than experiment, and mathematical ability is better than hands-on ability. Perhaps this is the reason why he wants to transfer.Because in the ups and downs, the various laboratories of the Physics Department of Zhejiang University are useless, and a university lacking laboratories is like an eagle with a broken wing, and it is difficult to spread its wings no matter what. After Ye Qisun realized this, he talked to Li Zhengdao. Ye Qisun asked: "Can you understand this textbook?" Li Zhengdao was a little flustered for a while, but immediately calmed down: "Yes. I'm almost finished." "You can understand this book, and you still come to my class. Isn't it just a waste of time?" Li Zhengdao didn't expect the teacher to speak like this, and he couldn't help being a little speechless: "This...this..." Ye Qisun saw that Li Zhengdao was a little nervous, and smiled to himself: "There will be my class in the future, you don't have to come to attend, I approve your exemption. But you must do the experiment, and you are absolutely not allowed to miss class!" Li Zhengdao thought Ye Shi was criticizing him.With Master Ye's status as the originator of China's magnetic field, who can claim to have grasped the gist of his lectures just after listening to it for a while, isn't that really playing tricks?But looking at Mr.'s expression, there doesn't seem to be any joking or joking. Li Zhengdao was moved all of a sudden. This is the master.The masters don't have any pretentious hypocrisy, they are the most realistic, they say what they say, and they say what they say.They are the most authentic, neither rhetoric nor rhetoric.Regardless of whether they are facing each other or facing each other, they are always the same on the outside and inside, and they are upright and aboveboard.Because they understand science, respect science, and act in accordance with scientific laws throughout their lives. One day, Li Zhengdao's class took an electromagnetic test.The exam questions were written by Mr. Ye. Li Zhengdao quickly finished the examination paper.He is an extremely conscientious person. In the end, he checked the questions carefully, copied the exam questions on straw paper, and went back to check them one by one.This time, Li Zhengdao believes that he can get 100 points in every case, and at the worst, he can get more than 95 points.Li Zhengdao has heard for a long time that Mr. Ye is a very demanding person. Few people get high marks in his exams, let alone full marks.It is said that there was a student named Wang Dexi who accidentally wrote a symbol wrongly during an exam. This may seem to others to be a very common thing, and it is enough to deduct a few points. But with Mr. Ye, not only the student My brother deducted all the points for the whole question, and called him to criticize severely. After that, he named and criticized in class, so that everyone can learn from it.Therefore, it is a challenge in itself to get a high score from Master Ye.But Li Zhengdao is a person who likes challenges.In addition, he was a transfer student, and Mr. Ye was allowed to exempt from courses. This kind of thing is very rare in the history of the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University. Many students may be eagerly watching.Li Zhengdao himself wants to prove his strength, so he looks forward to the test results. The test results were announced, and Li Zhengdao only scored 83 points!It was eye-popping.Li Zhengdao was a little confused, so he asked Mr. Ye to ask. Ye Qisun knew that Li Zhengdao was coming to take the questionnaire, so he had already opened the questionnaire and waited. "You see, I gave you 58 points for your theoretical score, and its full score is 60 points. This score should be the highest in your grade. But your experiment is not good. If the total score of the experimental score is 40 points, you only got 25 points. Add up the theory score and the experimental score, so your test score is 83 points." Li Zhengdao was immediately convinced when he heard Ye Master's words. Mr. Ye went on to say: "Your experiment is not good. If the experiment is not good, it is absolutely impossible to get a perfect score in theory. Do you understand what I mean?" Li Zhengdao nodded repeatedly.It was the first time in my life that I encountered an examination calculation method like Mr. Ye's, and behind this calculation method was a rigorous scientific attitude.For a physical scientist, missing the link of experimentation is like an eagle with broken wings, which will never fly high.This is the deep meaning of Ye Shi's examination of Li Zhengdao. Take an exam and remember it for a lifetime. Many years later, when Mao Zedong met Li Zhengdao, Li Zhengdao was already a world-renowned physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.When Mao Zedong asked Li Zhengdao whether the award he received was an invention, Li Zhengdao replied: We have no inventions, we just obtain the results through experiments, seek understanding through the results, and wonder if we can do some new experiments to correct it. original idea.The result of the experiment is to modify the idea, and it is repeated continuously.Starting from the experiment, lead to the theory, explain and conjecture, and then conduct the experiment. ("The Cornerstone of Chinese Science and Technology", p. 349) In Lee's account, experimentation explained his life's success.As a physicist, it was experiments that sent him to the pinnacle of physical science. In the extreme, did he see his mentor Ye Qisun who has been hidden in the mist of history? The story about Ye Qisun and Li Zhengdao is not over yet. In the spring of 1946, three professors Hua Luogeng, Wu Dayou, and Zeng Zhaolun were entrusted by the government to recommend outstanding graduate students in mathematics, physics, and chemistry to study in the United States, and the Department of Physics had two places.At that time, Wu Dayou recommended Zhu Guangya, who had already stayed at the school as a teaching assistant. There was still a quota that had not been decided, so he went to discuss with Mr. Ye Qisun.At this time, Wu Youxun had gone to be the principal of Central University, and Ye Qisun was once again the dean of the Faculty of Science. Therefore, Wu Dayou went to Ye Qisun to make a decision. Ye Qisun recommended Li Zhengdao. Going to the United States for further study is a doctoral course, so the government expressly requires that you must be an "excellent graduate student" to be eligible to study.At this time, Li Zhengdao, a 19-year-old sophomore who hadn't even graduated from a bachelor's degree, was unexpectedly recommended by Ye Shi and Wu Dayou as a doctoral student studying in the United States, which became a major news for Southwest Associated University. However, Ye Qisun did not miss him.Only 11 years later, Li Zhengdao won the Nobel Prize in Physics with his brother Yang Zhenning in the United States. Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning did not forget their mentor Ye Qisun. On June 12, 1998, Li Zhengdao made a special trip back to Shanghai from the United States to attend the Jingye Middle School commemoration of Ye Qisun's centenary birthday.At the meeting, Lee Tsung-dao delivered a speech titled "Mentors and Models Live Forever".The author believes that Mr. Li Zhengdao's speech is the best footnote of Ye Qisun's educational thought of "emphasizing quality over quantity"—Mr. Ye is an outstanding scientist and educator in my country.He has made great achievements in science, especially magnetism and metal physics, and is the pioneer of modern physics in our country.In terms of education, he founded the Department of Physics and the School of Science of Tsinghua University, which became top-notch in less than 10 years. The achievements of Tsinghua University today are inseparable from the contributions of Mr. Ye Qisun back then. Ye Shi passed away and left several diaries, which are very valuable. Here are two small things: On July 26, 1915, he was 17 years old after finishing two years of study in Tsinghua School (equivalent to the second grade of high school today). During the summer vacation, we visited Shanghai Qiuxin Machinery Factory and Tongchang Spinning Factory.After describing the situation of the two factories in his diary, he commented: "Hey! Since Haitong, the people of our country have suffered huge losses. The revitalization of industry is said to make the country rich. Everyone can say it, but there are not many people who have made great achievements Like Mr. Zhu Jun, he is a feather and claw in the honest industry. It is a pity that Mr. Zhu is ambitious but ignorant. He is a professional in economics and has little research. Therefore, although the two factories have been in operation for more than 10 years, the profit is quite small. The source There are two ends to it: (1) the factory base is not wide and the division of labor is too detailed, so the cost is high and the interest is low; It is unavoidable to be abused. Although these two points are about profit, they are deeply related to the rise and fall of industry. Gaibaigong earns a living, and earning a good living must be profitable. If there is no surplus profit, why should the country spend huge sums of money to build factories every year. Let's visit After that, I have a feeling in my heart, and I will write it down, so that future generations who want to build factories can read it in Swen." At that time, Master Ye was only a sophomore in high school, so he cared so much about the development of the country, and he was able to pay attention to the economic benefits of setting up a factory. It can be seen that it is no accident that he will become a generation of famous teachers in the future. Let's talk about another thing.At that time, Tsinghua School paid great attention to the all-round development of students' morality, intelligence and physical fitness. Not only did they require students to pass their homework, but they also had to pass their sports. Specifically speaking, swimming. The school's swimming pool was 25 meters long, and every student had to swim across it. In addition, Tsinghua School also attaches great importance to the cultivation of students' social activity ability, and requires students to organize some extracurricular activities, such as scientific seminars. General members get 1 point per semester, and hosts get 3 points. On this page of Ye Shi’s diary on August 2, 1915, he wrote the articles of association for the “Science Society”, among which: “(4) There are many types of science, and the following eight types are hereby formulated as the scope of research of the Society: Arithmetic , physics, chemistry, physiology, biology, geography, applied industry, and history of science. The first 6 are owned by the school, and the rest, such as astronomy, geology, and gravity, are not included in the school. For extracurricular reference, it is not for the sake of waiting for a deep understanding... (6) There will be a meeting every Saturday, and members will take turns to talk..." The draft charter was attached to the letter he wrote to his classmate Liu Shuyong on July 31, and he discussed with Liu Jun about organizing the "Science Society". After the fall semester, Master Ye invited 10 students from the 1918 class to form a club on September 18, named "Science Club of 1918", elected Liu Shuyong as the president, and passed the charter. On January 15, 1916, Ye Qisun was re-elected as the president.From Ye Shi’s diary, it can be seen that from October 1915 to March 1916, a total of 11 seminars were held. , the inoculation of apples, the relationship between organisms and their environment, waste utilization, Chinese papermaking methods and history, the magnetic industry in Jiangxi, the lead-zinc mine in Shuikoushan, Hunan... From this we can see the ideological realm and knowledge of these high school students. They consulted literature, conducted social surveys, and integrated theory with practice. Through these social activities, they achieved all-round development. Many of them later became famous scientists and educators. As the main organizer of the "Science Society", Teacher Ye Qisun has been actively participating in and organizing various social undertakings aimed at rejuvenating the country through science and education since then.He is our role model. I went to Southwest Associated University in 1945 to listen to Master Ye's lecture on electromagnetism.He attaches great importance to both theory and experiment.I remember that he asked several questions in the big exam, and I wrote several exam papers, and got 99 points.He told me that you can't do the experiment (the experiment is scored separately), if the experiment is not good, the theoretical score will never be given 100 points.Master Ye's words left a deep impression on me. In the spring of 1946, professors Hua Luogeng, Wu Dayou, and Zeng Zhaolun were entrusted by the government to recommend outstanding graduate students in mathematics, physics, and chemistry to study in the United States, including two in physics.Wu Dayou recommended Zhu Guangya from the teaching assistants of the Physics Department of Southwest Associated University. He was not sure about the lack of another person, so he asked Mr. Ye Qisun, who was the dean of the Faculty of Science of Southwest Associated University at that time, and Mr. Ye Qisun recommended me, who was only a sophomore at that time, to go to the United States. Be a doctoral student.At that time, Master Ye's nephew Ye Minghan lived next door to his uncle and heard their conversation.Therefore, without Professor Ye Shi and Professor Wu Dayou, there would be no scientific achievements of mine later.Master Ye is not only my first teacher, but also a mentor who has influenced my scientific achievements throughout my life! Today, I am very happy to be able to join you in memory of Master Ye at the 100th birthday commemoration ceremony and bronze statue inauguration ceremony of Master Ye at his alma mater in his youth—Shanghai Jingye Middle School.Teacher Ye will always be a role model for us to learn from!His example will live forever! Li Zhengdao is worthy of being Ye Qisun's proud disciple.Back then, Ye Shihui knew gold with his eyes and made him achieve Ling Yunzhi. Now, Li Zhengdao understands his teacher best.Ye Qisun "emphasizes quality over quantity" The roots of thought are deeply rooted in the soil of Chinese society, and it is by no means a whim or an accidental gain.This idea was closely related to his ambition to serve the country by saving the country through science. The two are connected, the branches and leaves intersect, the two reflect each other, and each other shines...