劉： 姚教授在哈佛大學拿到（物理）博士 學位，他的老師是諾貝爾獎得主Sheldon Lee Glashow。姚教授這兩天（在澳大） 做的演講「量子計算：一門偉大科 學的誕生」與今年諾貝爾獎也有很密 切的關係，使很多平時不可能的事情 都變成可能。所以我和姚教授是學無 先後，達者為先。姚教授最讓我佩服 的，是他八年前決定回國，到北京清 華大學。其實這也是我們很多人的願 望，但姚教授他是全身心投入。再講 一點我覺得姚教授很了不起的，他剛 去（清華）打算開研究所的課，後來發 現得從頭教起，所以本科基礎課都是姚 教授一手教的，在清華這幾年，他的 學生已經出人頭地，在國際上最重要 的會議上發表很多文章，現在只要是 姚教授的學生，像美國MIT（麻省理工學 院）、Stanford（史丹福大學）、Carnegie Mellon（卡內基梅隆大學）這些學校都歡 迎。現在全世界最傑出的研究生願意到 清華去，留下來為姚教授工作，所以這 個「姚班」跟當年的「錢班」是一樣重要 的。（編按：「錢」指錢學森） 姚： 這裡我可以談一談在清華的情況，剛開 始我希望很快地組成一支研究隊伍， 專注在我本行（計算機科學）的理論方 面。因為中國計算機科學理論方面不 太行，但這方面國際上很重視，比如說 有20%的圖靈獎都是和理論有關，但在 中國基本都沒有。（記：您覺得這個跟中 國的教育制度有關嗎？）跟中國的科學 研究重點有關係。中國在很長一段時間 都是比較注重實用，需要一個東西馬上 能看到有用之處。國內的計算機科學比 較注重工程方面，不太注重科學基礎。 所以我在清華就很想讓（理論）這方面生 根，但我感覺要從本科開始，於是我們 在清華二次招生，本科生報到的那個禮 拜，我們就透過考試選拔了30個學生 進來（姚班），這有點類似澳大的榮譽學 院。現在大概已有四個班畢業了。我們 應該很快能看到成效，我對此非常非常 樂觀。像劉教授跟我從事的，尤其是對 中國學生的培養，對提升中國計算機科 學有很大幫助。 L: Prof. Yao received his PhD degree in physics from Harvard University, under the supervision of Sheldon Lee Glashow, a Nobel Prize laureate. Over the past two days Prof. Yao gave a lecture on quantum computing, which was related to this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics, and which has the potential to make possible what’s otherwise impossible. I may have started a little bit earlier than Prof. Yao, but in the journey of scholarship we are not so much teacher and student as travel companions who learn from each other and cheer each other on. What I !nd most admirable about Prof. Yao is his decision to return to China to teach at Tsinghua University eight years ago. This is a common wish of many people, but what sets Prof. Yao apart is the fact that he devotes himself to it with all his heart. Prof. Yao joined Tsinghua University with the intention of launching postgraduate programmes, but he soon realised he had to start with undergraduate courses, and so he did. Students he taught at Tsinghua University over the years have established themselves, with many papers published at major international conferences. Now Prof. Yao’s students are welcomed by top universities like MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, etc. His students are sought-after by top universities and the world’s best postgraduates are willing to go to Beijing to work for him—I think that’s quite something! That’s why I think the “Yao Class” is as important as the “Qian Class”. (editor’s note: “Qian” refers to Qian Xuesen.) Y: I’d like to talk a little bit about my early days at Tsinghua University. At !rst I was hoping to quickly set up a research team to focus on the theoretical aspect of computer science, because it is internationally recognised to be important—for example, 20 per cent of the Turing Award-winning projects are related to theory; but it is an area China has long neglected. (J: do you think this has to do with China’s education system?) I think it has to do with China’s priority in scienti!c research. For a long time China has focused on practicality; in other words, it wants to see immediate results. Computer science in China tends to focus on the engineering aspect, with little attention to scienti!c foundation. So I was really hoping it the awareness of the importance of the theory could take root at Tsinghua, but I also felt this should start with undergraduate education. So we conducted a second undergraduate recruitment. During the freshmen check-in week, we selected thirty students through exams for the Yao Class, which is similar to the Honours College at UM. We have since graduated four classes. I am very positive that we should see results pretty soon. I believe what Prof. Liu and I are doing, especially educating Chinese students, goes a long way towards raising computer science in China to a higher level. 5
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