Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu - a person I will be grateful to for the rest of my life.

Late Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu

Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu is someone I will be grateful to for the rest of my life!

In 1984, before turning 21, I graduated as valedictorian of the 25th cohort at Hanoi University. I was the only student in the 25th cohort to achieve an excellent grade.

Back then, getting a perfect score of 10 was incredibly difficult. A 7 was considered high. Everyone feared the "punishment" professors like Professor Nguyen Thua Hop (calculation), Professor Huynh Mui (algebra), Professor Pham Ngoc Thao (calculation on manifolds), and Professor Pham Huyen (theoretical mechanics)... Only about 20% of the class scored above 5, while about 3/4 failed and had to retake the exam. In the entire graduating class, only I graduated with an excellent academic record.

With such outstanding achievements, I should have been selected for a postgraduate research program abroad. But for some reason, the Ministry of Higher Education announced that only domestic postgraduate research programs in mathematics would be accepted.

The reason I was given when I went to the Department of Higher Education was that the mathematics program for postgraduate studies in Vietnam was quite good, prioritizing other fields that Vietnam needed more... Back then, transferring to postgraduate studies was very difficult; you usually had to work for 10-15 years before you could become a postgraduate student. And it was a competition, not an evaluation like now. The quotas were small, and transferring to postgraduate studies was just a special exemption to take the postgraduate entrance exam right after graduating from university. You still had to compete fairly with professors and senior students.

It was so difficult, I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know who to ask for help. I was not yet 21 years old – the prime of my youth. Luckily, a year before that, in 1983, the State organized the first National Outstanding Student Festival in Quang Ba, and I had the honor of being part of the outstanding student delegation from the University of Hanoi. I was also honored to meet and receive the delegation from Minister Nguyen Dinh Tu in his office on the second floor of the Ministry of Higher Education building at 9 Hai Ba Trung Street, Hanoi – and it left a very deep impression on me.

Desperate, I decided to take a chance and try meeting with the Minister to see what would happen. I took a day off from my reserve officer training class, borrowed a bicycle from Mr. An (a native of Hanoi, whose house was on Thuoc Bac Street), and rode to the Ministry of Higher Education at 9 a.m.

I stood on the second floor on this side and looked over at the Minister's office on the second floor on the other side, waiting for the visitors to finish before knocking. I waited and waited, with people coming and going from morning till evening without a break.

I waited patiently – without lunch, without a single sip of water all day, in my green military uniform of a reserve officer cadet. It wasn't until around 4 p.m. that there was a lull in the visitors, so I ventured to knock on the Minister's door.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Fearing the minister might be surprised by a stranger, I brought along a photo of the outstanding student delegation from the University of Hanoi that had met with the Minister the previous year, and my academic transcript. My results impressed the Minister: throughout the entire course, I only had 1 grade of 7; 4 grades of 8; 8 grades of 9 and 15 grades of 10, and my GPA was 9.33.

I presented my request and asked the Minister for permission to participate in the doctoral candidate selection exam – just to participate. If I passed, I would be worthy of going abroad; otherwise, I would pursue my doctoral studies domestically. Minister Nguyen Dinh Tu graciously approved my request. A week later, I received a letter from the Ministry allowing me to participate in the doctoral candidate selection exam to go abroad.

I was happy, but also worried. Worried because the postgraduate entrance exams were very difficult back then, usually requiring 1-2 years of preparation. And I didn't have that much time, because after graduating from university I had to attend a reserve officer training course. I only had a little over 3 months to prepare for the exam.

So I studied day and night. Back then, there were no dorm rooms or places to stay, so I had to stay with the math class from the year below on the 3rd floor of building C - Me Tri Dormitory, 8 students to a room (bunk beds). I chose to borrow a spot on the first bunk bed, in the innermost corner - I put up a curtain and studied day and night, even forgetting to eat and sleep. The dorm director at the time, Professor Chinh (from the Faculty of Literature), came to inspect the dorms. Knowing that I was a good student, he admired and took pity on me, so he arranged for me to borrow a small, cage-like room on the top floor.

My teacher also hand-copied and gave me the poem "Epic of the Homeland" by Nguyen Khoa Diem (which I still know by heart to this day):When we grew up, the country already existed – the country had existed since the ancient times our mothers used to tell stories about.,The country's history begins with the betel quid chewed by the old woman, and parents' love for each other is as strong as the bitterness of ginger and the saltiness of salt....) and that handwritten copy is still preserved to this day.
 

Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc and his colleagues and students.

And my efforts paid off. After three months of studying, I passed all three subjects with 27.5 points – the highest score in the Mechanics doctoral entrance exam at that time. The only downside was that I lost 11 kg after three months of studying, dropping from 64 kg to just 53 kg after the exams. Thanks to that, I had the opportunity to enter the prestigious and legendary MGU university, and to grow into the person I am today.

That's how I spent my youth. With so much hardship and challenges, but also always meeting good people, including Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu – a teacher, a brilliant scientist of Vietnam, and a skilled and visionary manager. He was a great admirer of talent. Even though I only met him for a very brief moment, it changed my entire life. He left me with profound respect and gratitude.

Twenty-five years ago today, upon hearing the news of Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu's passing while abroad, I was shocked and deeply saddened. It was a great loss because he was so young, a great, genuine, and talented scientist – fortunate enough to be elected to the Politburo – the highest leadership body of the Party.

Had he not passed away prematurely, he would undoubtedly have contributed greatly to the country's higher education system. Vietnam's education system would certainly have experienced even more substantial and groundbreaking developments.

I also learned from him the virtue of cherishing, loving, and valuing the best students, and the instinct to pay attention to, care for, and support them.

Thank you, life, for giving me difficult experiences, for allowing me to meet talented and kind-hearted people. You taught me to understand and appreciate that to succeed and overcome challenges in life, one must have extraordinary willpower and effort. And it must be nurtured by love, trust, and compassion. There are precious things, acts of gratitude that stay with us throughout our lives, that no amount of money can buy or exchange.

I first met Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu in 1983 and last met him in 1984, almost 40 years ago, yet his influence, memories, respect, and gratitude remain vividly etched in my mind.

On the 25th anniversary of his passing, I would like to write these few lines about a small memory, as a heartfelt tribute to him, expressing my deepest affection and sincere gratitude.