"Winning the Nobel Prize does not mean a person's personality is perfect," Chiang Tsai-chien (江才健), biographer of Symmetry and Beauty -- Yang Chen-ning (楊振寧), told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Chiang was commenting on a falling out between the first two Chinese Nobel laureates, Yang and Lee Tsung-dao (
Yang's biography was launched in conjunction with his 80th birthday and was released at the end of October.
The 80-year-old Yang landed in Taipei last Monday for a four-day visit to join a seminar hosted by Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University.
When attending the press conference for the release of his biography last Monday, Yang avoided talking about his relationship with Lee, his former research partner until 1962.
"It is not necessary for me to reconcile with Lee," Yang said responding to a question about whether he wished to try to mend their relationship.
Chiang's biography of Yang gave detailed account of the two men's friendship and their later difficulties.
"I don't think there is anything more I can say about our disagreements. In my 1983 book Selected Papers 1945-1980 with Commentary I wrote about our close partnership and the pains brought about by our breakup," Yang said.
Yang said the issue is still attracting attention. "You may have read my 1983 book and done some research on the subject," Yang said.
Chiang, a friend of Yang's and an acquaintance of Lee's, began writing the biography four years ago after obtaining Yang's consent.
Chiang noted at the end of the biography that he thought about not releasing the book because of the material concerning the differences between the researchers.
"There are many interpretations on the quarrels and discord between Yang and Lee. But the final word on the story has yet to come out," Chiang wrote.
The biographer said the biggest stumbling block when writing the book was his inability to get information from Lee.
Chiang and Lee had a dispute over an American science program in 1992 that Lee wanted Taiwan to participate in. "The event was very complicated. Anyhow, my relationship with Lee was spoiled as a result," Chiang wrote.
The author said he wrote Lee a letter before writing Yang's biography, hoping Lee might offer some insight into their relationship. "Of course he didn't reply," Chiang said.
In an interview with the Taipei Times yesterday, Chiang said he considered the rift between the two a natural course of events.
"Good friends quarrel. Husbands and wives quarrel. It is simply inevitable that people quarrel," Chiang said.
"It is stupid to ask whether Yang and Lee might resolve their differences with each other. Why should they?" Chiang said.
"Neither Yang nor Lee denied that an article that appeared in the New Yorker magazine on May 12, 1962, was one of the major reasons for their breakup," cited the author.
The article, "A Question of Parity," was written by physicist Jeremy Bernstein. After the article's publication, Yang and Lee had a long talk on April 18, 1962.
According to the biography, both men were concerned about how their names appeared in the article.
Yang felt that he was responsible for the lion's share of the work that netted the two men the Nobel prize, but the article suggested that Lee was the primary researcher.
"Yang didn't deny that he cared very much about how Bernstein handled the names in the article."
Yang's meeting with Lee on April 18 was a very emotional scene," Chiang wrote.
During Yang's visit, he said a number of books and articles have speculated about his breakup with Lee. "They are all fiction," he said.
"But Chiang's book is true. He interviewed my family and friends," Yang said.
Yang was born in 1922. He and his wife Tu Chih-li (
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS