Professor Phung Ho Hai: To feel free and useful.

Despite having many opportunities to work in countries with advanced and modern scientific research environments, Phung Ho Hai still chose to return to Vietnam. He said that returning to Vietnam made him feel more confident, more useful, and freer...

Báo Thanh niên•20/05/2013

The math-loving student

Professor Phung Ho Hai's journey in pursuing mathematics began with a district-level gifted student competition in the 4th grade. Admitting that he wasn't particularly outstanding academically, Phung Ho Hai was surprised when his homeroom teacher selected him to compete alongside the best student in the class. "My homeroom teacher passed away a few years ago. She probably doesn't know that her decision created a turning point – perhaps the biggest turning point of my life. To this day, I am still grateful to her for this," Phung Ho Hai confided.

In that year's district-level gifted student competition, Phung Ho Hai won an award and received an invitation from Trung Nhi School (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi ) to attend a two-month advanced math course. Those two months of getting acquainted with mathematics were the most beautiful months of his childhood, because he got to study with Mr. Hau and Mr. Anh – teachers who knew how to instill a love of mathematics in his young heart. Then he passed the entrance exam for the specialized math program, albeit only in class B. “I remember the first day of September, going to class and not believing I was there. I remember the first test, getting a 9 and not believing I actually got one. And yet, 30 years have passed. Another 30 years and I can finally let go. If I could choose again, I still wouldn't choose any different,” Phung Ho Hai recalled.

But Phung Ho Hai's first passion in life was books. He loved books before he loved mathematics, from the moment he learned to read. His first childhood memory is deeply related to books. "I still remember that afternoon, I stood by the mahogany tree in front of building 73 in the Polytechnic area reading a comic book about Lady Trieu. I remember the feeling of bewilderment when I turned to the last page with the drawing of Lady Trieu's one-tusked elephant trudging into the mountains. I was haunted by her words: ' I only want to ride the strong wind, trample the fierce waves, and slay the whales in the East Sea.' Perhaps that story gave me my first lesson about accepting failure," Phung Ho Hai recounted. Although later dominated by his love for mathematics, Phung Ho Hai still dreams that the remaining thing connected to his life is books. For example, when he is old and can no longer do mathematics, he wants to return to his hometown and open a library for the children around him to read.

He was particularly fond of reading history books. While his love for mathematics stemmed from the nurturing of his teachers, his love for historical knowledge was a natural inclination. Even his first dream as a young boy was to attend a "history school," despite his parents being scientists in the natural sciences. At that time, his family lived in the Me Tri dormitory area, surrounded by many history lecturers from the University of Hanoi (now Hanoi National University), so when he mentioned this, everyone laughed. "My patriotism was shaped by the stories in the book 'Ancient Civilizations of a Thousand Years,' volumes II and III , and many other historical fiction books," Phung Ho Hai explained.

I returned to find myself living more comfortably, more confidently, and more productively. Most importantly, I felt a profound sense of freedom—freedom in the sense of being in control of my own life.

Returning to Vietnam allows me to feel free and useful.

In 1986, Phung Ho Hai was a member of the Vietnamese team competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad in Poland, where he won a bronze medal. Of the six members of that team, he was the only one who continued to pursue mathematics to this day. He studied mathematics at Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia) and then pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Munich (Germany), defending his doctoral thesis in 1996. After that, he returned to Vietnam and has been working there ever since.

In fact, in 2003, Phung Ho Hai moved with his family to Essen, Germany. After receiving the Baedeker Prize for the best doctoral dissertation from the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) in 2005, he was retained to teach at the university. He subsequently achieved several other accomplishments, such as the Von Kaven Prize from the German DFG Foundation in 2006 and the Heisenberg scholarship (from 2005-2010). Therefore, if he had stayed in Germany, Phung Ho Hai would have had the opportunity to be appointed professor. This scholarship is awarded to those who have met the criteria to become a professor in Germany.

But after five years working in Germany, he still decided to return to Vietnam to become a research and teaching staff member at the Institute of Mathematics. Phung Ho Hai shared: “The sadness was much heavier abroad than in Vietnam. Perhaps that's a common feeling among many expatriates. That's why I came back to feel more comfortable, more confident, and more useful. In particular, I feel very free, free in the sense of being the master of my own life.” According to Phung Ho Hai, if he had stayed in Germany, he wouldn't have been able to overcome the inferiority complex of being a foreign worker, but in Vietnam, he clearly felt the meaning of life when he realized that what he was doing was contributing brick by brick to building a common house for the mathematics field in the country. To this day, Phung Ho Hai still believes that choice was the right one, even though social life has disappointed him in many ways.

Phung Ho Hai was appointed Deputy Director of the Institute of Mathematics - Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology last July. Also last year (at the end of the year), Phung Ho Hai was recognized by the state as a Professor under a special exemption.

The "Creativity for Vietnamese Aspirations" section introduces the profiles of Trung Nguyen's friends, regardless of age, background, or whether they are in Vietnam or abroad... They are people who are tirelessly creating in their respective fields, contributing their intellect and energy, spreading the flame of aspiration, inspiring Vietnamese youth, and igniting the desire to compete with the world to jointly create a future of a strong and influential Vietnam.