天津南开大学宁园门前的台阶上摆放着一排白色蜡烛,在黑夜里闪着微弱然而执着的光。学子们结伴而来,重复着这样的动作:点燃蜡烛,走到台阶前,放好,退回几步,深深鞠躬,凝望,然后,静静离去。2004 年 12 月 3 日晚,一位被国际数学界尊为“微分几何之父”的大师悄然离开了这个世界。 A row of white candles was placed on the steps in front of Ningyuan in Tianjin’s Nankai University, with a weak but persistent light in the darkness. The students came together and repeated the action of lighting the candle, walking up the steps, putting it back, taking a few steps, bowing deeply, looking out, and then quietly leaving. On the evening of December 3, 2004, a master who was respected by the international mathematical community as the “father of differential geometry” quietly left the world.