Although he missed the mathematics award, he never regretted the decision｜Time Letter

At the age of 31, he proposed the "Wu formula", which caused a "topological earthquake" in the international mathematics community; at the age of 33, he won the first prize of the National Natural Science Award together with Hua Luogeng and Qian Xuesen; at the age of 38, he was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Academician); at the age of 58, he began to teach himself programming, and with a forward-looking strategic vision, he created a unique Chinese and internationally renowned mathematical mechanization method.

He is Wu Wenjun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, people's scientist, and winner of the 2000 National Highest Science and Technology Award.

He has never won the Fields Medal, known as the "Nobel Prize in Mathematics", but his achievements have been cited by five Fields Medal winners; the "Wu Method" he proposed has had a profound impact on the scientific research and development of artificial intelligence.

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

Topology is known as the "Queen of modern mathematics" and is also famous for being "difficult to learn". However, after only studying topology for one year, Wu Wenjun briefly proved the "product formula" proposed by the master of topology Whitney.

In 1950, Wu Wenjun simplified the concept of topological characteristic classes and proposed the "Wu characteristic class" and "Wu formula", which greatly promoted the development of topology.

Wu Wenjun's report at the Institute of Mathematics

Source | Website of the Institute of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences

In 1951, Wu Wenjun, who was studying in France, declined invitations from French universities and research institutes and returned to China to work on the construction of his motherland. Later, his friends said to him, "If you had left a few months later, you might have won the Fields Medal in 1954." He just smiled and said, "I don't care."

In 1957, Wu Wenjun won the first National Natural Science Award in my country for his outstanding achievements in topology.

January 25, 1957, related reports on my country's first National Natural Science First Prize

Source | Communist Youth League Central Committee

In the 1970s, Wu Wenjun, who was nearly 60 years old, spent more than ten hours a day in the computer room learning computer languages. He proposed the "Wu Method" (using computers to prove geometric theorems), combining ancient Chinese mathematics with computers, and pioneered the first research field in modern mathematics history originally created by Chinese people - mathematical mechanization.

Wu Wenjun had high hopes for the mechanization of mathematics. He once said: "We have no chance to mechanize physical labor, so we have fallen into a slump. We were beaten because of this. Now you cannot miss the opportunity to mechanize mental labor. If you miss this opportunity, you will never be able to turn things around. This is what I have always firmly emphasized."

As Wu Wenjun sees it, the theory of mathematical mechanization later solved many core problems in the field of high technology and greatly promoted the research and development in the field of artificial intelligence.

Wu Wenjun working at the computer

Source | Website of the Institute of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences

In 1977, Wu Wenjun successfully verified the feasibility of his method of proving geometric theorems by machine for the first time by hand calculation. Soon after, he published the article "Elementary Geometry Decision Problems and Mechanized Proof", which was his opening work in the field of mathematical mechanization, and explained in the notes that the mechanization idea originated from the creation of Chinese mathematicians in the Song and Yuan dynasties.

In 1978, Wu Wenjun wrote another article entitled "Contributing to Modern Mathematics by Conducting Machine Proof Research", in which he elaborated on the mission and tasks of mathematics in modern development.

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

In 1986, Artificial Intelligence, the most authoritative journal in the field of international artificial intelligence, published a 300-page collection of papers on the "Wu Method", which contained all the applications of the "Wu Method" in various fields of artificial intelligence.

While achieving fruitful results in the field of scientific research, Wu Wenjun also continues to encourage and help younger generations.

In 1988, he personally drafted a three-page recommendation letter to Professor Eells of the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Italy to recommend Zhang Jingzhong as a visiting scholar. In the letter, Wu Wenjun introduced Zhang Jingzhong's numerical parallel method for machine proof of geometric theorems and other important research results, and successfully extended Zhang Jingzhong's visiting scholarship at ICTP from 2 months to 11 months.

Recommendation letter written by Wu Wenjun for Zhang Jingzhong

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

Wu Wenjun did not stop his research on mathematics in his later years. At the age of 90, he was still at the forefront of scientific research, studying the world-class problem of "large integer factorization."

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

Wu Wenjun has devoted his entire life to the field of mathematics. He once said: "Mathematics is suitable for stupid people. It requires hard work. So stupid people have to work hard, while smart people always have sudden inspirations. This is not appropriate." Perhaps it was precisely because of his passion and concentration that he achieved outstanding achievements in the three major fields of topology, mathematical mechanization, and the history of Chinese mathematics.

Wu Wenjun

(1919.5-2017.5)

Mathematician

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences