Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu - the person I will be grateful to all my life

Late Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu

Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu is the person I will be grateful to all my life!

In 1984, when I was not yet 21 years old, I graduated as valedictorian of the 25th class of Hanoi University. I was ranked excellent - the only one in the 25th class of the school.

At that time, getting a score of 10 was very difficult. Getting a score of 7 was considered high. Everyone was afraid of the "guillotine" teachers like Professor Nguyen Thua Hop who taught analysis, Professor Huynh Mui who taught algebra, Professor Pham Ngoc Thao who taught analysis on manifolds, Professor Pham Huyen who taught theoretical mechanics... only about 20% got above 5, the remaining 3/4 of the class failed and had to retake the exam. In the whole class, only one person, me, graduated from university with excellent academic performance.

With such excellent achievements, I should have been selected to transfer to a foreign PhD program. But for some reason, that day the Ministry of Universities announced that only domestic PhD students could transfer to the Mathematics major.

The reason when I went to the University Department was explained that the mathematics major trained PhD students in the country quite well, giving priority to other majors that Vietnam needed more,... But at that time, transferring to PhD students was very difficult, usually one had to work for 10-15 years before being able to become a PhD student. And it had to be competed, not considered like now. The quota was small, transferring to PhD students at that time was just a privilege to take the exam to become a PhD student right after graduating from university. And still had to take the same exam with teachers and adults.

It was so difficult that I didn't know what to do, nor who to ask for help. Not yet 21 years old - the green of youth. Luckily, a year before, in 1983, the State organized the first National Excellent Student Festival in Quang Ba, I was honored to be in the excellent student delegation of the University and honored to be met and received by Minister Nguyen Dinh Tu in the office on the 2nd floor of the Ministry of Universities building at 9 - Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi - and left me with a very deep impression.

Desperate, I thought I would take the risk and go see the Minister to discuss it. I took a day off from my reserve officer training, borrowed Mr. An's bicycle (a native Hanoian, living on Thuoc Bac street) and went to the Ministry of Education at 9am.

I stood on the second floor on this side and looked over to the Minister's office on the second floor on the other side, waiting for the guests to leave before knocking on the door. I kept waiting like that, people coming in and out of the Minister's office from morning to evening without stopping.

I stood there patiently waiting - without lunch, without a sip of water all day, in my green officer cadet uniform. It was not until about 4 p.m. that I noticed a quiet moment without any visitors, and I ventured to knock on the Minister's door.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Fearing that the minister would be surprised by a stranger, I brought along a photo of the excellent students of the University of General Sciences that I had taken with the minister last year, and my academic transcript. My academic results impressed the minister: the entire course had only 1 score of 7; 4 scores of 8; 8 scores of 9 and 15 scores of 10 and GPA = 9.33.

I presented and expressed my wish, only hoping to ask the Minister to allow me to take the exam - just take the exam in the selection of PhD students, if I passed everyone then I was worthy to go abroad, if not then I would be a PhD student in the country. And Minister Nguyen Dinh Tu approved that request. A week later I received an Official Letter from the Ministry allowing me to take the exam to select PhD students to go abroad.

Happy, but also worried. Worried because the foreign doctoral exam at that time was very difficult, usually taking 1-2 years to prepare for the exam. And I didn’t have much time, because after graduating from university I had to attend a reserve officer course. I only had more than 3 months to prepare for the exam.

So I studied day and night. At that time, there was no boarding house, no place to stay, I had to stay with the math class of the year below on the 3rd floor of building C - Me Tri dormitory, 8 students per room (bunk bed). I chose to borrow a place on the 1st bunk, in the innermost corner - surrounded by a mosquito net, and just like that, I studied day and night, even forgetting to eat and sleep. The dormitory director at that time, Mr. Chinh (Faculty of Literature), came to check, knowing that I had been a good student for a long time, he admired and loved me very much, so he arranged for me to borrow a small room like a bird cage on the top floor.

He also hand-copied and gave me the poem "Epic of the Country" by Nguyen Khoa Diem (which I know by heart until now):When we grew up, the country already existed - the country existed since the old days that my mother used to tell us about.,The country comes from the betel leaf that grandmother eats, parents love each other with spicy ginger and salty salt.,...) and that manuscript is still preserved until now.
 

Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc and his colleagues and students

And God did not disappoint me, after three months of studying, I passed 3 subjects with 27.5 points - the highest score in the entrance exam for a Master's degree in Mechanics at that time. The only thing is that from 64 kg, after 3 months of studying, I lost 11 kg, and after the exam, I was only 53 kg. And thanks to that, I had the opportunity to enter the prestigious and legendary MGU, to grow up to be who I am today.

I spent my youth like that. With so many hardships and challenges, but also always met good people, including Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu - a teacher, an outstanding scientist of Vietnam, a good manager with heart and vision. He is a person who admires talent. I only met him for a very short moment but it helped me change my whole life. He left me with a deep respect and gratitude.

On this day 25 years ago, when I was abroad and heard the news of Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu's passing, I was shocked and deeply saddened. It was a pity because he was "young", a great, genuine and talented scientist - fortunate to be in the Politburo - the highest leadership body of the Party.

If he had not died so early, he would certainly have contributed a lot to the country's higher education. Vietnam's education would certainly have had more substantial and breakthrough developments.

I also learned from him the virtue of loving, cherishing, and respecting good students, and having the self-motivation to pay attention, care, and support them.

Thank you life for giving me difficult experiences, for having the opportunity to meet talented people, with golden hearts. Teaching me to understand and appreciate that to be successful and overcome challenges, one must have extraordinary will and effort. And must be nurtured with love, trust and tolerance. There are precious things, gratitude that follow us throughout our lives, which cannot be bought or exchanged for money.

I met Professor Nguyen Dinh Tu for the first time in 1983 and the last time in 1984, nearly 40 years ago, but his influence, memories, respect, and gratitude for him are still remembered forever.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his passing. I would like to write these few lines about a small memory, as a stick of incense to remember him with the deepest feelings and most sincere gratitude.