Chapter 138: Victory With Fewer Modifiers
How would I know that.
Chen Jingrun was stumped by the question.
Examples of mathematicians scheming against each other are simply too numerous.
No different from fan circles.
Like the story between Shing-Tung Yau and Gang Tian that everyone in later generations knows well.
Chen Jingrun shook his head repeatedly: “I don’t know what Professor Lin is thinking.
I think Professor Lin is just too busy.”
Shiing-Shen Chern said: “At the Mathematician Conference a while ago, I saw that Lin’s attitude was very cold.
I thought since you were once his student, you might know some inside story. Since you haven’t heard him mention it, maybe it’s my misunderstanding.”
Chen Jingrun said: “How about this, Christmas is coming up soon. Usually, the mathematicians in New York hold a Christmas Party. Professor Chen, why not join in.”
Chen Jingrun really has no EQ, which is why he gave Shiing-Shen Chern such an idea.
Shiing-Shen Chern has EQ, so when he heard it, he thought it was a good idea.
Anyway, even if our relationship isn’t good, this idea was suggested by someone else.
What’s more, Lin Ran and him are only cold on the surface, but haven’t actually torn faces, and there could be many reasons for the coldness.
Lin Ran doesn’t even know about the meeting between Shiing-Shen Chern and Chen Jingrun. If he knew, he would also feel wronged. He really has no prejudice against Shiing-Shen Chern.
As an absolute rationalist, he never believes online rumors.
Online, there are all kinds of smears against Hua Luogeng. Because of Shing-Tung Yau’s autobiography, the Chinese Internet went crazy with rumors that Shiing-Shen Chern and Hua Luogeng were at odds.
They even fabricated all sorts of reasons for this discord.
Lin Ran doesn’t believe it at all.
Online, there’s a version circulating that in 1979, Shiing-Shen Chern hosted a banquet for a group of foreign mathematicians and openly stated that the Mathematics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences should be permanently shut down, and demanded that everyone present co-sign a letter to the Chinese side. The guests on site were collectively dumbfounded.
There’s no evidence to support this at all, and Shiing-Shen Chern wouldn’t likely do such a thing. Even if he wanted to, getting foreign mathematicians to co-sign would have no meaning.
Regarding the conflict between Shiing-Shen Chern and Hua Luogeng, Shing-Tung Yau wrote in his autobiography My Geometric Life:
“It is well known that Hua Luogeng and my teacher Shiing-Shen Chern have long been at odds.”
“The dispute between Chen and Hua originally arose from minor differences, but intensified over the years. From my observation, disputes are easy to form but hard to resolve. Sometimes, even until all parties involved are gone, the disputes don’t dissipate.”
“Wu Wenjun gained some reputation for his Wu classes developed in algebraic topology. As Shiing-Shen Chern’s student, he once strongly opposed Hua Luogeng. The fight between Wu and Hua led to divisions in the Chinese Academy’s mathematics projects.
At that time, Wu was establishing the Institute of Systems Science, with an independent mathematics research center under it, completely different from the Faculty of Mathematics where Hua had served as founding director.
To me, this seemed like a strange choice, because Wu is a pure mathematician, a topologist, with almost no knowledge of applied mathematics. This shows how obvious the rift between him and Hua was.”
Lin Ran doesn’t even fully trust Shing-Tung Yau’s autobiography.
Because in 1962, there are many sources available. Take Chinese mathematics as an example; he heard Professor Xiong Qinglai, who came to attend the mathematics community conference at the International Congress of Mathematicians, introduce it.
Xiong Qinglai emphasized China’s emphasis on mathematics to encourage him to return to China, specifically noting that in 1956, at China’s first National Natural Science Award, two of the three highest awards went to the Mathematics Institute: one to Hua Luogeng for his theory of functions of several complex variables on classical domains, and one to Wu Wenjun for his research on characteristic classes and embedding classes.
If the two really weren’t on good terms, with Hua Luogeng’s status, Wu Wenjun might have gotten an award, but definitely not the highest one.
At least Hua Luogeng and Wu Wenjun have no discord at present.
And Shing-Tung Yau’s contact with Wu Wenjun didn’t happen until 1979, too many years in between, and Lin Ran can’t determine what happened.
Lin Ran also saw an article on Nankai University’s official website that said: “Shiing-Shen Chern and Hua Luogeng: The Unbreakable Friendship of Mathematics’ Twin Pillars”
This is a bit like Roshomon.
From Lin Ran’s perspective, descriptions of discord in their relationship can only be found in Shing-Tung Yau’s autobiography.
Another is a bunch of marketing accounts online saying Chen and Hua were at odds because of Shiing-Shen Chern’s teacher Jiang Lifu; this claim still lacks basis.
Therefore, the discord between Chen and Hua isn’t like that between Yang Zhenning and Tsung-Dao Lee, with full expressions from the parties involved.
It also includes online self-media insistently smearing Hua Luogeng, saying Jiang Lifu failed to get elected as Academician in 1955 because Hua Luogeng opposed it—this is pure nonsense.
They even deliberately fabricated two reasons: one because Jiang Lifu didn’t persuade Shiing-Shen Chern to return to China, and two because Jiang Lifu was in charge of moving all the math books from the Central Research Academy’s Mathematics Institute to the Island, so his stance was problematic.
In fact, Jiang Lifu wasn’t in charge of the relocation at all; it had nothing to do with him. Additionally, historical records show that only some institutions like the Institute of History and Philology moved to the Island; the Mathematics Institute didn’t move at all.
Including claims like Hua Luogeng wanted to be director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Mathematics Research Institute, so he promoted himself in various ways to squeeze out Su Buqing.
In June 1950, shortly after the establishment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the director of the Mathematics Institute was indeed Su Buqing, and Hua Luogeng was deputy director of the office. In January 1951, half a year later, when the Mathematics Research Institute was established, Hua Luogeng became director.
The publicly verifiable facts are only these.
Su Buqing was head of the Mathematics Department at Zhejiang University in the 1930s, and in 1950 left the Mathematics Institute to return to Zhejiang University. As a Wenzhou native returning to Zhejiang University, it doesn’t necessarily mean he lost a power struggle.
This kind of self-media is part of a collective smear campaign against Chinese scientists, deliberately picking cases with no factual support to smear Hua Luogeng.
Completely fabricating facts based on imagination.
For those scientists who were in China back then, as long as they did well, they get smeared by fabricated facts. Lin Ran has seen too much of it.
So Lin Ran believes neither self-media nor has any prejudice against Shiing-Shen Chern.
He simply is too busy, and as a pure mathematician, Shiing-Shen Chern doesn’t want to disturb his quiet life.
Lin Ran also didn’t know it would cause such a misunderstanding.
Because at this time, he was in the control center at Redstone Arsenal, tracking Mariner 2’s flight trajectory throughout, waiting for the time window for Mariner 2 to fly by Venus.
The Soviet Union’s Venera 1 was launched on February 12 last year and flew by Venus on May 19, becoming the first probe to fly by Venus.
However, Venera 1 could only be considered half successful, because it stopped data transmission on February 26 and brought back no data about Venus for humanity.
Meanwhile, America’s Mariner 2, launched successfully on August 27 this time, has maintained stable signal transmission with the control center ever since.
According to their calculations and predictions, it will successfully fly by Venus at this moment, around December 14, bringing back Venus data to humanity for the first time.
This is also the first time America surpasses the Soviet Union in the space race.
Compared to the last moon photo, this time there are fewer qualifiers.
Inside the control center at Redstone Arsenal, the room is spacious but dimly lit to reduce glare on the cathode ray tube display screens.
In the center is a large console equipped with a full set of equipment including large-scale computer terminals, display screens, and high-gain antenna communication equipment.
The walls have the mission schedule and a Venus sketch.
The air is filled with the aroma of coffee, mixed with the smell of paper and electronic equipment.
The low murmurs of team members and the faint hum of machines interweave in Lin Ran’s ears.
Jack James is the head of the Mariner Program, suited up, wearing glasses, mainly responsible for mission coordination.
He is also Lin Ran’s loyal supporter.
First, because Jack James is American, not of German descent; second, after graduating from university in 1942, he apprenticed at General Electric, served as a Navy radar repairman during World War II, went to graduate studies after retiring from the Navy, and worked at JPL for a full 36 years.
That’s the JPL where Dean Qian was once laboratory director.
With a General Electric background, funded partly by Morgan for graduate studies, and experience working under a Chinese descent boss.
Now back to working under a Chinese descent boss, Jack James feels like he’s home.
The original observatory should have been at JPL’s mission management and data center in Pasadena, California, but due to NASA reforms, similar functions were centralized to Redstone Arsenal.
Data originally captured via Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. Goldstone’s DSS-11 antenna is one of the main facilities receiving Mariner 2 signals, responsible for capturing the faint radio signals from the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna, relaying data to JPL. Now it’s going not to JPL, but to Redstone Arsenal.
The atmosphere in the control room is tense, team members huddled around the console, staring at their dashboards. Coffee cups are full on the table, but no one has the mind to drink.
Lin Ran stands up, hand on the console edge, gaze sweeping the team: “Alright, guys, flyby window in 15 minutes. James, how’s the signal?”
Jack James looks to Richard Goldstein, who adjusts his headphones and stares at the waveform on the radio receiver: “Director, high-gain antenna locked, signal strength at -130 dB, very stable. Data channels ready to receive anytime.”
Bruce Murray flips open his notebook, marking time with a pencil: “Microwave radiometer and infrared radiometer calibrated, ready to scan Venus’ night side. Carl, is your data logging ready?”
Carl Sagan in the corner, holding a stack of papers, looks up at Murray: “Ready, Bruce. I’m wondering if we’ll find Venus’ surface hotter than Earth’s deserts. I suspect Venus has thick cloud layers.”
Lin Ran frowns, turns to Carl: “Carl, this isn’t the time for guesses. Wait for the data. Richard, how are battery and solar panels?”
Richard Goldstein (tapping keyboard, checking telemetry data): “Battery at 83%, solar panels output normal, voltage stable at 28 volts.”
Jack James listens to Lin Ran’s commands, feeling an inexplicable calm inside.
As a veteran NASA person who worked at NASA precursor organizations before NASA existed, Jack James dares say NASA with Lin Ran and without is completely different.
After Lin Ran arrived, just as he said, he brought NASA one victory after another.
Jack James really can’t imagine that there are still people at NASA dissatisfied with Lin Ran.
Faint beeps come over the radio, Mariner 2 enters closest approach, 34,773 km from Venus’ surface. The murmurs in the control room abruptly stop, everyone holds their breath.
Richard Goldstein suddenly raises his voice: “Periapsis confirmed! Data stream incoming, latency about 5 seconds, bandwidth 200 bits per second.”
Bruce Murray stares at the display screen, fingers rapidly logging numbers: “Night side temperature reading… 421°F! Way higher than our expected 200°F! Looks like sci-fi novel settings all need rewriting.”
Carl Sagan jumps up, nearly knocking over his chair: “421°F? My god, that’s twice as hot as boiling water! Bruce, could this be real?”
Bruce Murray calculates with head down, tone calm: “Instruments fine, microwave radiometer readings consistent. Probably thick carbon dioxide cloud layers trapping heat. I need to double-check with the slide rule.”
Lin Ran stares at the mission schedule: “Trust the instruments, trust science. The protective measures we made for the measurement equipment are sufficient; it won’t fail.
Guys, keep observing. Any activity on the magnetometer?”
Richard Goldstein adjusts knobs, checks magnetometer data: “Magnetic field strength below 0.0001 Gauss, barely detectable. Venus may have no magnetic core.”
Mariner 2 gradually approaches Venus’ day side, control room lights reflecting on the team members’ tired but excited faces.
Jack James stands next to Richard Goldstein, looks up and reports: “Spacecraft crossing day-night terminator, signal jitter minimal, still stable.”
Bruce Murray flips pages while logging: “Temperature still rising… 440°F… now 450°F… almost constant!”
He looks very surprised.
Lin Ran muses: “Such small day-night temperature difference? Completely unlike Earth. I guess it’s because the cloud layers reflect most solar radiation while trapping heat.”
Jack James nods, fingers tapping the table: “Entirely possible, Director. Infrared radiometer shows cloud height between 35 and 50 miles, possibly a mix of sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide.”
Jack James turns to Goldstein: “Richard, how’s the solar wind detector? Data yet?”
Richard Goldstein checks particle detector readings: “Particle flux speed 400 km/s, density 10 particles per cubic cm. No magnetic protection, solar wind directly bombarding atmosphere.”
Flyby window nearing end, team starts to relax but remains vigilant. Coffee cups on the table are empty, someone starts rubbing eyes.
Lin Ran leans back in his chair, twirling a pencil: “Bruce, without a magnetic field, could solar wind be stripping Venus’ atmosphere bit by bit? Like Mars?”
Bruce Murray looks up at Lin Ran: “Director, entirely possible. Solar wind erosion might explain why Venus has no water. We need to take this data back to the lab for thorough analysis.”
Lin Ran claps hands to get attention: “Alright, flyby window a few minutes left. Richard, spacecraft status?”
“All normal, battery at 75%, signal strength down to -135 dB, but holding.” Richard Goldstein sighs in relief, removes headphones to the side, gulps coffee like to awaken his fatigued brain.
When the control clock declares the flyby officially over, the control room erupts in subdued cheers.
Lin Ran smiles, raises his coffee cup: “Well done, everyone.
This is NASA’s first successful planetary flyby. Data transmission continues; sorry, folks, overtime tonight to sort it.”
Bruce Murray closes his notebook, rubs temples: “Preliminary conclusion: Venus surface temperature far exceeds expectations, no magnetic field, cloud layers thick like a greenhouse. This will rewrite textbooks.”
Carl Sagan claps: “Awesome! I gotta write a paper telling the world Venus is a giant oven! Director, think Science magazine would be interested? With your name on it, I bet Science won’t refuse.”
Richard Goldstein wipes sweat from forehead, smiles: “Hope next mission gets me a better antenna; this signal nearly stopped my heart.”
Alabama Huntsville Redstone Arsenal Marshall Space Flight Center
December 15, 1962
NASA has achieved a milestone victory in the history of space exploration. Yesterday, December 14, 1962, at 11:59 AM Pacific Standard Time, the Mariner 2 spacecraft successfully completed its bold flyby of Venus, becoming the first spacecraft in history to visit another planet and transmit precious scientific data back to Earth.
This victory marks a decisive moment for NASA, demonstrating America’s originality and determination in the competition to explore the universe.
Mariner 2 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 27, 1962, endured a 110-day space journey, reaching climax in this historic encounter with Venus.
At closest approach, the spacecraft was only 21,600 miles from Venus’ surface. This feat was completed with astonishing precision by Randolph’s NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory team in Pasadena. During the 42-minute flyby, Mariner 2’s instruments scanned Venus, unveiling the mystery shrouding Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor for centuries.
Data transmitted to the Redstone Arsenal control room revealed stunning discoveries. Mariner 2 measured Venus surface temperatures up to 421°F on the night side and 459°F on the day side. The near-uniformity of day-night temperatures indicates Venus has a dense atmosphere capable of trapping heat, unprecedented in predictions.
‘This is a proud day for NASA and America,’ President Kennedy declared at a White House press conference. ‘Mariner 2’s success proves we have the ability to go beyond Earth and uncover solar system secrets. The data we’ve collected will rewrite science fiction and inspire generations to come.’
(Mariner 2)
Anyway, begging for monthly tickets wuwuwu, save my bleeding wallet
