VietNamNet Bridge – Associate Professor Dr of Science Vu Dinh Hoa has been well known in Vietnam as the first student who won the silver medal at the mathematics Olympiad in 1974. Later, he became a teacher, who has guided  many excellent students and helped them win laurel wreaths in international arenas.

 
1. It was bitter cold. Dr Vu Dinh Hoa removed his glasses and said that he could see anything without his 10-diopter glasses. However, in his childhood, though his eyes were affected by serious myopia, he did not have any glasses.

 

Hoa was born into a poor family of seven brothers and sisters. His parents worked as cooperatives’ member and worker, and they had to work hard in order to ends meet to feed the eight children. Therefore, they had no more time to oversee how their children learned. Hoa’s brothers and sisters had to give up school when they entered the 7th and 8th grade because they needed to work to earn money.

 

Born into a poor family, Hoa was always worried that he would have to give up school one day. He tried to arrange everything himself and he did not ask for his parent’s help. Hoa never complained that he was shortsighted until one day, when he was at 7th grade. Ton Than, his teacher, discovered  Hoa’s disability and had a talk with his parents.

 

The first glasses Hoa wore were 7-diopter glasses.

 

Hoa related that in 1974, when Hoa prepared to attend the international mathematics Olympiad, he suffered from a serious mental breakdown. It was partially because he studied too hard, and also because he had to lead a destitute life. Besides, at the same time, he received learned of his brother’s death on the battlefield.

 

However, Hoa never gave up hope. He became a member of the national team to join the international mathematics Olympiad and won the silver medal.

 

When talking about the days he spent in mathematics class, Hoa said that he could not understand why he was so crazy about mathematics. Though he sometimes had to work on an empty stomach, he never thought that one day he would give up mathematics. It was almost as if he was mesmerized by solving mathematics problems. When he was solving mathematics questions, he felt as if he was leading another life, where he was deluded with figures.

 

Vu Dinh Hoa has excellent mental abilities. A teacher of his said that in his life he has not seen anyone who has such brainpower. In 1970, when he was an 8th grader, Hoa could solve problems which had been presented for one century by the former USSR Academy of Sciences, putting an end to a prolonged race in the world.

 

2. Of course, the fame of Vu Dinh Hoa reached the ears of the then Minister of Education, Professor Ta Quang Buu, who then asked to meet Hoa.

 

Hoa still remembers the day when he first met Mr Buu. He came to see the leader of the education ministry in a shirt with mends. “You look pale, have you got any problems?” the minister asked. “I’m fine,” he replied “and my parents can earn enough to live on. I just want some books, if you have”.

 

In 1975, Vu Dinh Hoa left Vietnam for Germany to study mathematics at the Greifswaid University. In 1996, Hoa successfully defended his PhD thesis and refused the invitations to stay and work in Germany. Instead he returned to Vietnam.

 

3. Hoa said he never thought that he would stay and work in a foreign country. He simply thught that he needed to return to Vietnam to contribute to the country’s development. Since 2002, Hoa has become a lecturer at the Hanoi University of Education. He believes that this is the best decision in his life. Being a good lecturer, he can lead many good students and transfer his love for mathematics to his students.

 

Source: Tien phong