Lu Jiaxi is a China combinatorial mathematician who was born in a poor family. My father is a small trader with a low income, and my mother has no job. She makes up for the lack of family income by sewing clothes for others. He is the only son of this family. He began to go to school at the age of 5 and studied in Shanghai Zhengde Primary School, Shengyang Middle School and Mailun Middle School. He cherishes the reading opportunities provided by his parents' hard work and thrift, and has been diligent and studious since he was a child, with excellent grades. After graduating from junior high school, I interrupted my studies because my father died and my family was embarrassed, and I went to work as an apprentice in the automobile hardware and materials industry. In his spare time, he still studied tirelessly and taught himself, determined to climb the peak of science in the future. After the liberation of Shanghai, he was admitted to the statistics training class of Northeast Electric Industry Administration. After short-term study, he was assigned to the production department of Harbin Electric Machinery Factory in May 1952 as a statistical work. During this period, he taught himself high school courses and Russian, and extensively dabbled in astronomy, geography, literature, philosophy, ethics and other aspects of knowledge. In 1957, he was admitted to the Physics Department of Northeast Normal University for higher education. In 1961, he graduated and was assigned to Baotou Iron and Steel Institute as a teaching assistant. When the university was adjusted, the school dismounted, and he was transferred to the education system of Baotou City. He worked as a physics teacher in the teaching and research section of Baotou Education Bureau, Baotou No.8 Middle School, Baotou No.5 Middle School, Baotou No.24 Middle School and Baotou No.9 Middle School until his death.
During his work in Harbin Electric Machinery Factory, he once read a book called Interesting Introduction to Mathematical Methods, which was a decisive event in his life. This book is a popular reading of mathematics written by Sun Zeying, a mathematician of the older generation in China. The two problems introduced in the book-"Kirkman girl problem" and "Steiner series problem" strongly attracted him and made him eager to try. Since then, the pursuit of these two combination design problems has never been separated from his life.
His major is not mathematics. Although mathematics is the basic course of science and engineering, it is far from enough for engaging in mathematical research. In the late 195s, China had not started the systematic research on combinatorial mathematics, and there were no Chinese reference books. It is also difficult for him to find an expert in this field. It is in such an environment and condition that he broke into the field of combinatorial design with tenacious perseverance.
for a layman, the difficulty at the beginning can be imagined. The "female student question" can also be used as a number game to find the answer in a patchwork way if it is of a small order. However, with the increase of the order, the success of the design problem is far from luck. Searching for a few correct configurations among many (even astronomical) possible permutations is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and even modern high-speed computers are not fully competent. The key here is to master the methods and tools of modern design theory. Realizing this, he felt that he had to study hard first in order to enter the forefront as soon as possible and try his best to learn. The author once had the privilege of listening to him at the Dalian Conference in 1983: "I finally got into the forefront of combinatorial design from a layman in mathematics. First, I want to thank Mr. Sun Zeying for his booklet, which is really an interesting guide for me; Second, we should thank those professional books that can be learned by readers at different levels. I don't have time and I don't need to read a big monograph from beginning to end. I am learning with questions, and I am pragmatic. Of course, I would also like to thank the predecessors and colleagues in the mathematics field at home and abroad for their work. Their articles have laid a good foundation for me and also enabled me to learn from many good methods. " This is the learning path and research method he chose.
this is both a shortcut and a difficult road. After entering the university, he borrowed relevant books, learned mathematical concepts, terms and methods he didn't understand one by one, and learned the methods of combinatorial design theory. He learned and practiced, and when he understood it, he went to associate and conceive, tasted the sweetness from practice, improved his confidence, and then studied further. During this period, he has studied modern algebra, elementary number theory, -1 matrix theory, finite geometry, difference set theory and even orthogonal latin squares theory. The eagerness to pursue the truth and the indomitable spirit of marching towards the established goals have made the library, reference room, corridor lights and secluded places on campus his mathematics world. In this world, his hard work and diligence not only enabled him to get a diploma in physics with excellent results, but also completed his first mathematics thesis, which took the first step on the road to overcoming the "girl problem in Kirkman".
after work, he undertakes heavy teaching tasks. In order to seriously complete the teaching task and devote himself to two math problems that he misses, he devoted all his spare time: no day and night, no holidays, repeated growth of haircut cycle, simple diet and even marriage events have been ignored until the age of 37. Everyone knows that the Curie couple's laboratory is similar to a stable and a potato cellar. But who can compare with the difficulty of the working and living environment of intellectuals in China? Lu Jiaxi's family of four lives in a small room of more than 1 square meters, which is both a bedroom, a kitchen and a writing room. There are only some old furniture and shabby clothes in the room. The only writable desktop should be given to the daughter who goes to school. He is lying on a broken kang that supplements old newspapers in many places, figuring out the century-old problems! Baotou is located on the edge of the bed, with information occlusion and lack of information. In order to consult the literature, he not only got in touch with the library departments of some universities through various relationships, but also went to Beijing from time to time at his own expense. His only hobby is enjoying Beijing opera aria, but in order to improve his English, his Beijing opera records were changed to English ones. Everything about him: family life, time, energy and limited money, was completely paid to the only goal-to conquer the cutting edge. After his death, his daughter wrote regretfully in the essay "Mourning Dad": "Dad, you left in such a hurry ... You proposed to take a family photo a few years ago, but you never got around to it. Now, we only have to print this family portrait in our hearts. " His wife once said: "... it was the motherland and the people who trained him ... so he worked day and night, and it was more important to make achievements to serve the country and the people."
from 1961 to 1983, he wrote more than 2 research papers. All these papers were submitted in China, except for six published in the United States "Combinatorial Magazine" around his death, but the result was either rejection or sinking into the sea.
of course, there are various reasons. In 1984, relevant comrades in chinese mathematical society specifically inquired about the handling of Lu's contributions, and found that some of them were caused by the social environment (during the Cultural Revolution, some academic journals were actually closed); Some are due to the manuscript itself (the information is ineffective, and the lag of time makes foreign countries have a gun in front); It is true that some of them should be blamed on peer review (ignorance of the value of the question or mistakes in judgment). The most unforgivable thing is the careless handling of the second and third articles, which makes us lose the position in Rb [3, 1; V] and Rb [4,1; V] priority). But no matter what kind of factors, it was an unfair blow to Lu Jiaxi at that time. In the face of repeated setbacks and misfortunes, he was not discouraged, and he did not give up on himself. For the rejection received, he can either modify it, enrich it before voting, change it, or take it to the next level and launch the next round of impact on a new height.
the injustice he has suffered is not limited to this. During the flood of ultra-left ideas and the Cultural Revolution disaster, he was often laughed at by some people, saying that he was a "fool" and had a "mental illness"; He was also accused of pursuing fame and fortune and doing nothing; Even for a period of time, he was labeled as "don't ask politics, take the white road" and sent to ultra-leftwing for training, accepting criticism, and carrying out labor reform ... The unacknowledged research results, the embarrassment in life, and the political depression all weighed on his highly myopic and vicissitudes-stricken body. However, he held on with amazing tenacity. With the pursuit of his career and the patriotic heart of rejuvenating the Chinese nation, he endured hardships and perseverance, and finally ushered in the joy of victory. In July 1983, he was invited to report his research results at the first national conference on combinatorial mathematics (Dalian), which was unanimously praised by Chinese and foreign scholars attending the conference. The authoritative publication of international combinatorial theory, Series A of American Combinatorial Theory Magazine, serialized his six papers "On the Disjoint Steiner Ternary Collection" in two issues in 1983 and 1984 with a total of 99 printed pages. At the end of 1984, The Journal of Mathematics, a first-class publication in China's mathematics field, published his important paper on solving the problem of girls in Kirkman. In order to make him better engaged in cutting-edge research, South China Normal University began to transfer him to teach, and the University of Toronto in Canada plans to invite him to cooperate in research. The editor in charge of the American Mathematical Review asked him to be a commentator of the magazine. In October 1983, the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Mathematical Society held in Wuhan made an exception and invited him as the only middle school representative to give a speech at the meeting.
On the evening of October 3, 1983, he returned home from Wuhan, and excitedly told his wife about his inner feelings in recent months: the attention paid to the research results, the praise given to him by academic circles at home and abroad, and his plans for further research. His wife recalled afterwards that it was the first time she saw him smile so bright and cheerful! Yes, he smiled, but it was his last laugh from overwork. In the early hours of that night, he died with the joy of success and the regret of not competing in his career!
after his untimely death, many experts, scholars, schools and departments in the field of mathematics at home and abroad sent messages of condolence to express their regret and mourning. Baotou City and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government awarded him the title of super teacher. An academic report introducing his research results was specially arranged in the first Liu Wei's mathematics discussion class hosted by Wu Wenjun, chairman of chinese mathematical society. On October 31, 1984, the leaders of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region held a commendation meeting and awarded him the special prize of scientific and technological progress in the autonomous region; At the end of 1987, the State Science and Technology Commission awarded his large collection of achievements as the first prize of national natural science. This is also the honor he deserves.
In September, 1984, Lu Jiaxi Academic Work Review Committee, which was organized by Chinese combinatorial mathematics circles, gave such an evaluation on his Steiner's large set of ternary systems: "As we all know, in 196, Bose and others proved that Euler's conjecture was not valid when t > 1; In 1961, Hannani gave and proved that B [k, λ; V] Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of design. These are two world-famous achievements in block design theory. Lu Jiaxi's achievements on big set can be compared with the above two achievements, and will be recorded in the history of combinatorial mathematics together with them. During his visit to China in July, 1983, Mendelssohn, an internationally renowned combinatorial mathematician and professor at the University of Toronto, praised Lu Jiaxi's above achievements as "one of the great achievements in the field of combinatorial design in the past 2 years" and called him "a very good combinatorist." In his letter, the president of the University of Toronto called Lu "a famous mathematician engaged in combinatorial theory in the West". Wilson and other foreign scholars also expressed great interest in Lu's unpublished solution to the problem of girls in Kirkman from 1961 to 1965. In August, 1988, according to the initiative of scholars at home and abroad, the International Conference on Block Design was held in Tunxi, Anhui Province to commemorate Mr. Lu Jiaxi, and chinese mathematical society entrusted the Inner Mongolia Mathematical Society to organize relevant experts to edit and publish the Collected Works of Lu Jiaxi.