On July 17, SCU held a seminar on mathematics discipline and mathematics culture in memory of the 110th anniversary of the birth of the mathematician Zhao Ke in Mingde Building, Wangjiang Campus. Zhao Ke was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS). The seminar was held to deeply cherish the memory of Mr. Zhao Ke, and commemorate his outstanding contributions to the cause of mathematics, education and the construction and development of our university. Professor Fujiu Ke and Yilong Bai, an academician of CAS attended the ceremony as representatives of Zhao Ke’s family members. 18 other academicians of CAS were also present at the ceremony. They were Yuan Wang, Bojv Jiang, Gongqing Zhang, Jingzhong Zhang, Zhiming Ma, Lan Wen, Lei Guo, Gang Tian, Shige Peng, Weiping Zhang, Anmin Li, Nanhua Xi, Shuxing Chen, Jianshu Li, Fuquan Fang, Song Jiang, Tao Tang and Xiangdong Ye. Representatives from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 67 Chinese universities and scientific research institutes, including Peking University, and nearly 100 experts and scholars attended the seminar either online or in person. Daqian Li and Mufa Chen, both academicians of CAS, sent congratulatory messages to the meeting. In addition, SCU’s President Yanrong Li, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Vice President Rongjun Li and representatives of SCU’s departments, institutes and the College of Mathematics attended the memorial ceremony. Weinian Zhang, dean of the College of Mathematics, presided over the ceremony.
In his speech, Yanrong Li, on behalf of Sichuan University and Chairman Jianguo Wang of the university council, expressed his great appreciation for Mr. Zhao Ke and gave his thanks and welcome to all the experts and guests who participated in the commemorative activities. He said that Mr. Zhao Ke is a famous mathematician at home and abroad. He has done seminal work in modern number theory and combinatorial theory, and is known as one of the "founders of modern Chinese number theory". Mr. Zhao Ke taught for nearly 70 years in Sichuan University and served as the president of the university in the 1980s. He has made outstanding contributions not only to academia, but also to ideology, personality and educational philosophy. Those contributions have touched and influenced several generations and trained several generations of excellent mathematical talent in China. As one of the modern universities with the longest history, the largest scale and the most comprehensive set of disciplines in China, SCU has nurtured and trained a large number of excellent talent and made innovations one after another. We attribute all the achievements to masters such as Mr. Ke. Today, while commemorating the 110th anniversary of Mr. Zhao Ke's birth, we will also conduct discussions on "mathematical science and mathematical culture". This is a very meaningful theme. Mr. Zhao Ke is also a model of integrating science with literature and art.
Gang Tian, chairman of the Chinese Mathematical Association and professor of Peking University, reviewed Mr. Zhao Ke's outstanding contributions to the development of mathematics and the cultivation of mathematical talent in China. He said that in commemoration of Mr. Zhao Ke, we should not only cherish the memory of his brilliant life, but also carry forward the excellent tradition of the older generation of Chinese scientists, study rigorously, seek truth from facts and innovate, and advance towards higher goals.
Yuan Wang, a 90-year-old academician of theInstitute of Computational Mathematics and Scientific/Engineering Computingof CAS and former chairman of the Chinese Mathematical Association, is a close friend of Zhao Ke and the author of the preface of Ke Zhao Biography. In his speech, he said that Zhao Ke had been working in Sichuan since the Anti-Japanese war. He was a pioneer scholar in the development of Southwest China, and trained and promoted several generations of mathematicians. On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of Zhao Ke's birth, we should work harder to advance his cause to a higher level.
Professor Fujiu Ke, Zhao Ke’s daughter and the representative of Zhao Ke’s family members, expressed her gratitude to all the guests who participated in the commemorative activities and reviewed Zhao ke’s academic career passionately. She expected that the College of Mathematics of SCU will make further achievements in serving the national major strategies, scientific research and innovation, international exchanges and cooperation.
Jingzhong Zhang of CAS said in his speech that Zhao Ke is a great master of mathematics. We should take Mr. Zhao Ke as an example, learn from Mr. Ke’s spirit of being a man and studying, be determined to serve the country, and bravely scale the height of science and technology with firm confidence and determination.
Prof. Keqin Feng of Tsinghua University; Prof. Wenbao Han of Information Engineering University
Prof. Chunlai Mu, Chongqing University and Prof. Naiqing Song, Southwest University
Tao Tang, President of the United International College, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University
Professor Keqin Feng of Tsinghua University, Professor Wenbao Han of Information Engineering University, Professor Chunlai Mu of Chongqing University, Professor Naiqing Song of Southwest University and Tao Tang , President of the United International College, Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University, delivered speeches respectively. They said that Zhao Ke’s life is a glorious and great one, a life of painstaking and selfless dedication to China's education and science and technology.
In his speech, Professor Anmin Li said that under the leadership of Zhao Ke and other predecessors, SCU’s mathematics discipline has established a profound foundation. In the past 30 years, the college has further developed into prosperity under the leadership of Yingming Liu, academician of CAS. In recent years, new development has been made in the construction of the college platform, including the National Southwest Center of Tianyuan Mathematics, Chengdu International Mathematics Center and Sichuan National Applied Mathematics Center. The rank and file teachers and students of the College of Mathematics will always follow in the footsteps of Zhao Ke and other mathematicians of the older generation and work hard to inherit and develop the mathematics of Sichuan University.
Zhao Ke's commemorative documentary "Travel Across the Mountains and Clouds" made its debut and the book presentation ceremony of the 110th anniversary edition of Ke Zhao Biography was held at the meeting. The video "Memory and Expectation" made by Zhao Ke's students and other scholars of younger generations was also broadcast.
Zhao Ke is one of the founders and pioneers of modern number theory. He is an outstanding representative of the second algebra theorist, the other one being Luogeng Hua. In 1955, he was elected as a member of the academic department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is a pioneer in the study of quadratic form in China, and has made a number of important achievements in the field of quadratic form.
