How did Russia, which once had no scientific tradition, become a powerful mathematical country?

China people are good at mathematics, and almost all of them are recognized by the whole world. For example, when American students have to rely on calculators to calculate the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of two digits, China students can get the answer quickly with a pen and a piece of paper, especially China children's mental arithmetic ability, which surprises countless American students.

In contrast, China's children are not bad at math. However, compared with other developed countries in mathematics, China people are still not a first-class power. Especially compared with Russian mathematics research field, China is far behind. Of course, Russian mathematics is not only better than China's, but also known as a mathematical superpower and a veritable mathematical power.

So, how strong is Russian mathematics? As early as 1999, Huawei, a well-known enterprise in China, set up a mathematics research institute in Russia to facilitate enterprises to introduce mathematics talents from Russia. Ren also said that Huawei was able to break through the crucial 3G technology, and a young Russian mathematician made great contributions. There are many articles on the Internet that make Russian mathematics education fantastic. In the eyes of some readers who don't understand Russian mathematics education, this seems to be just a marketing show. However, this is not the case. Although Russian mathematics started late, it has occupied a very important position in the global mathematics field for more than 300 years since its rise. This time, the author will take you from the road of the rise of Russian mathematics to understand why Russian mathematics is so awesome. ;

Sculpture of Peter the Great

Compared with many old countries in western Europe, Russia, as the overlord of eastern Europe, really started late in the field of mathematics. Especially before Russia completed its modernization, Russia was one of the backward and conservative countries. It was not until the end of 17 that Peter the Great ascended the throne that the backward situation of Russia was fundamentally changed.

As a reform-minded monarch, Peter the Great once disguised himself as a tourist in 1697 and visited western European countries successively. During the inspection, he felt the vigorous vitality brought by science, technology and culture to western European countries. After Peter the Great returned to China, he immediately pursued the Europeanization policy, breaking the old and establishing the new in political, economic, military and cultural fields, especially in education.

Peter the Great

He selected a large number of international students and sent them to western European countries to study science and technology at public expense; He issued a compulsory law, stipulating that all Russian nobles must master arithmetic and at least one foreign language, otherwise these nobles will be deprived of all privileges. Moreover, in order to improve the quality of domestic mathematics education, Peter the Great specially took pains to invite a large number of outstanding mathematics educators and scientists from Western Europe. Under the reform policy of Peter the Great, Russia has become a very attractive place for foreign scholars. This country will provide them with funds and research posts, and those professors and scholars who are not valued at home will go to Russia one after another.

Bernoulli brothers

Among them, the Bernoulli brothers are the most representative mathematical talents introduced from Western Europe. At that time, the family power of the two brothers was heavily controlled by other aristocratic forces on the European continent, especially johann bernoulli, the father of the Bernoulli brothers. Although he made great achievements in the field of science, he opposed his two sons to give up their noble titles and enter the field of science, because the honor and disgrace of the family at that time were pinned on these two sons. However, Bo Ge, who inherited his father's scientific talent, is bent on making achievements in the field of science. Russia, an academic wasteland, became a place where the two brothers devoted themselves to research.

Euler commemorative stamp

The two brothers not only came to Russia by themselves, but also came to St. Petersburg with Euler, an outstanding student from their father's school. After these scientists came to Russia, Peter the Great did not mistreat them. Recognizing the importance of basic science in the field of science and technology, Peter the Great ordered the establishment of the Russian National Academy of Sciences in 1724. The establishment of this college has increased the attraction to foreign scholars. For example, Euler 1727 arrived in St. Petersburg; 1733, Euler, who was only 26 years old, has taken up the post of professor of mathematics at the Academy of Sciences. If he stays in his own country all the time, even if he has extraordinary talent in mathematics, it is difficult to get such a position in just five years.

Russian Academy of Sciences

It is precisely because of the arrival of a large number of western European mathematicians and the establishment of the Russian Academy of Sciences that Russia has gradually cultivated many famous mathematicians of its own. For example, with? Copernicus in geometry? Lobachevsky with a good reputation; Chebyshev trained a large number of outstanding mathematical successors for Russia; Markov, the pioneer of stochastic process theory; Yegorov, the main figure who promoted Russian mathematics from classical mathematics to modern mathematics, and so on. These important figures in the field of Russian mathematics make Russia gradually enter the ranks of mathematical superpowers. Especially after Russia entered the Soviet Union, it ushered in a great prosperity in the field of mathematics.

Portrait of yegorov

During this period, due to the outbreak of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union put the education and research of basic science in the first place. At that time, the scientific community in the Soviet Union reached a recognition that the talent pool of mathematics and theoretical physics was the future destiny of the country. In order to train science and engineering talents, the Soviet Union has formulated a very complete talent training system. 1963, affiliated schools specializing in mathematics and science appeared in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and other cities. While emphasizing students' all-round development, these schools require children to do better in math and physics than in ordinary courses.

In order to occupy the highland of mathematical physics in terms of talents, many places have followed the example of Moscow and other places to hold middle schools specializing in mathematics. What were these schools called at that time? Mathematics middle school? . The investigation report shows that from 65438 to 0980, there were nearly 300 mathematics middle schools in the Soviet Union, and the students who graduated from these specialized mathematics schools accounted for as much as 3% of the national graduates every year.

Russian mathematics book

In order to let children receive elite education in mathematics, the Soviet Union adopted the method of teaching algebra and geometry separately. In this way, there are five or six kinds of algebra books written, and different people can choose the textbook that suits them best when learning mathematics. This talent training system makes the education of Russian mathematical elites begin in primary and secondary schools. If children are extremely talented in mathematics, their talents will be discovered quickly and enter mathematics professional schools. Even ordinary students, under the influence of the national conditions that attach importance to mathematics, can still be trained into excellent mathematics talents. It can be seen that education is the foundation of the rise of a country and a nation.