Sun, Nov 17, 2002 page3

• Biography details discord between two top scientists

  • By Melody Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  "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 (李政道) who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contribution to knowledge about parity laws.

  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 (杜致禮) live in Beijing.
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