顶尖华裔数学家，被迫在美筹款

美国华裔数学家陶哲轩是世界顶尖科学家之一，然而自7月下旬以来，他却被迫专注于一件事：筹款。

从今年8月起，他与所在的加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）纯数学与应用数学研究所（Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, IPAM）失去了美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的资金支持。

Renowned mathematician Terence Tao says funding delays at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have left his lab struggling to support graduate students and research projects.

这一危机源于7月31日，美国联邦政府以UCLA“未能营造一个没有反犹太主义和偏见的研究环境”为由，冻结了该校约5.84亿美元的联邦研究资金。尽管美国法院已于8月12日下令恢复NSF对UCLA的拨款，但陶哲轩指出，IPAM的资金至今仍无法发放，而研究所此前的运营储备已完全耗尽。

Being one of the world's greatest mathematicians didn't protect Tao from losing his National Science Foundation grant in late July, when the Trump administration froze about half a billion dollars in federal research funding after accusing UCLA of mishandling antisemitism and bias on campus.

“IPAM没有足够的储备金支撑几个月以上的运转。在过去两周里，我们几乎处于紧急筹款模式，我不得不频繁会见潜在捐赠者。”陶哲轩接受《华盛顿邮报》采访时表示。

"But IPAM, they didn't have the reserves to operate for more than a few months. So basically, for the past two weeks or so, we've been in an emergency fundraising mode. I've been meeting with lots of donors."

1975年出生于澳大利亚的陶哲轩，16岁移居美国，20岁起在UCLA任教，至今已有30年。他是当今世界顶尖数学家之一，曾获菲尔兹奖、麦克阿瑟奖、科学突破奖等殊荣。近年，他积极探索人工智能与数学的结合。

然而，突如其来的资金危机让他直言，特朗普政府“不加区分”的科研经费削减对数学乃至整个科学界构成“生存威胁”。

Tao is one of the most prominent mathematicians and academics to publicly oppose the administration's actions, calling them an "existential threat" to his field, and academic science, more broadly.

“NSF资助的一大作用在于支持研究生，比如帮助他们参加会议、暂停一个季度的教学任务以专心研究。这些对他们的职业发展至关重要。”陶哲轩强调。

"The NSF grant that I had, I mean its primary purpose was to support my graduate students, give them the opportunity to travel to a conference, which is really important for career development at that stage, to buy them out of teaching for one quarter so that they can work on research."

根据NSF的2026财年预算申请，特朗普政府已提议将NSF预算削减57%。白宫发言人库什·德赛回应称，美国仍是世界上最大的科研资助国，但“联邦研究经费并非宪法赋予的权利……本届政府有责任确保纳税人资助的研究符合美国人民的优先事项。”

陶哲轩则在接受NBC采访时直言，这届政府在改变科学生态上的举措“极其激进”，“连第一届特朗普政府都没有这样做”。他担忧，“这很不正常，我认为很多人没有意识到正在造成的损害。”

"I find that this administration in particular has been extremely radical with how it is changing the scientific ecosystem in a way that even the first Trump administration was not."

“科学研究不仅需要计划和预算，更需要稳定的精神状态。但现在，就像在一间时冷时热的房间里工作，即便温度恢复正常，人们仍然担心下一次骤变。”陶哲轩说。

随着不确定性增加，越来越多研究生和博士后开始离开美国寻找机会。陶哲轩警告，这可能导致美国出现“人才外流”的逆转局面：“历史上，许多国家在经历动荡时，人才曾涌入美国寻求庇护。讽刺的是，现在可能轮到美国向外流失人才。”

"There have been past periods of history where other countries with a great scientific tradition have experienced great turmoil or war and many of them fled to the United States as a safe haven," Tao said. "It's kind of ironic that there may now be a reverse process where other countries may start picking up talent which is currently in the US."

陶哲轩表示，如果这种趋势持续下去，他将失去留在美国的信心。“过去，我从没想过要搬离美国。但现在，无论好坏，每一种可能性都必须纳入考虑。”

"I was not thinking about moving at all. This wasn't even on the radar, and now, for better or for worse, every possibility has to be considered."

来源： 华盛顿 邮报 美国 全国广 播公司 南华早报 澎湃新闻

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