Before being hospitalized a few weeks ago, Professor Phan Huy Le He also participated in a business trip to Truong Sa in early June. He was then hospitalized for heart disease and some lung problems.
Professor Phan Huy Le was born on February 23, 1934 in Thach Chau commune, Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province, a culturally rich region of Nghe An, rich in traditions of patriotism, revolution, diligence and studiousness. Both the paternal and maternal families of Professor Phan Huy Le are famous scholarly families with great cultural figures such as Phan Huy Can, Phan Huy Ich, Phan Huy Thuc, Phan Huy Vinh, Phan Huy Chu, Cao Xuan Duc, Cao Xuan Tieu, Cao Xuan Huy... His father was Phan Huy Tung, a Confucian scholar, who served as an official in the Hue court, famous for his integrity, virtue, kindness, and love for his children and grandchildren.
Professor, People's Teacher Phan Huy Le (1934-2018). Photo: Vietnamnet
In 1952, at the age of 18, he left home to study at Thanh Hoa University and here he had the opportunity to meet the country's leading revolutionary intellectuals. Being a gifted student with a passion for natural sciences, he planned to choose mathematics and physics for his future career, but it seemed that fate had predetermined his path to becoming a historian. He sensed from the depths of Vietnamese history that there was a path for him.
According to Professor Nguyen Quang Ngoc, Vice President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, Professor Tran Van Giau and Professor Dao Duy Anh were the first to recognize this valuable quality in Phan Huy Le and directed him to study at the History and Geography Department of Hanoi National University of Education.
In 1956, Hanoi University was established with 4 faculties: mathematics - physics, chemistry - biology, literature and history. Phan Huy Le, who had just graduated with a bachelor's degree in history - geography, was immediately admitted to the Department of Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History, Faculty of History under the direct guidance of Professor Dao Duy Anh.
Ever since he was a teaching assistant, Professors Tran Van Giau and Dao Duy Anh assigned him to write lectures and take on the tasks of real experts. Perhaps that is why, just 2 years later, when Professor Dao Duy Anh transferred to the Institute of History, at the age of 24, he was firmly in charge of the responsibility of a Department Head, spearheading the organization and development of a major that holds a key position in the system of subjects in Vietnamese social sciences.
During the resistance war against the US, Professor Phan Huy Le switched to researching the resistance wars against foreign invaders and major battles in history. He organized a series of field surveys in the battle zones, not only significantly expanding the historical source to understand in a specific and multi-faceted way the historical events that were recorded very concisely in the old history, but also opening up a new direction of research and training, closely linked to the needs of practical life. The works "Lam Son Uprising"; "Tradition of building and defending the country of the Vietnamese people", "Some strategic decisive battles in the history of the nation", "Bach Dang victory in 938 and 1288"... have become typical works of military history.
Professor Phan Huy Le and his wife took a photo with French Ambassador Bertrand Lortholary at the medal award ceremony of the French Academy of Literature and Fine Arts to the professor on March 20, 2017. Photo: Vietnamnet
After the country's reunification, Professor Phan Huy Le continued to devote much of his energy to the topic of fighting foreign invaders. In about 15 years since 1975, he wrote over 80 works of this type, bringing the total number of works on the history of fighting foreign invaders to 120 (accounting for 26.97% of the total 445 works he completed).
Along with military history, Professor Phan Huy Le also devoted much time to the topics of land regime, farmers, and villages. Since the 1980s, Professor Le began to expand his research into the field of culture and tradition. Typical works include "Tradition and revolution", "Traditional values and Vietnamese people today"(3 episodes), "Vietnamese patriotism, traditional and modern"and a system of articles about the cultural heritage of Thang Long - Hanoi...
Professor Nguyen Quang Ngoc believes that the greatest responsibility for Professor Phan Huy Le is to summarize the country's history. As early as 1959, he had a collection of lectures "History of Vietnam from 1406 to 1858". Two years later, he released "History of Vietnamese feudal regime"Volume II (1960) and "History of Vietnamese feudal regime"Volume III (1961), contributed to the stature of the Faculty of History. In 1971, he and the late Professor Tran Quoc Vuong wrote "History of Vietnam"Volume I, is considered the first general history book of the new regime. During this time, a series of other lectures and textbooks on "History of Vietnam"was born (in 1966, 1970, 1978...) as the basis for the appearance of "History of Vietnam"Volume I (1983) - a book summarizing Vietnamese history from primitive times to the 10th century, relatively complete and up-to-date.
Especially recently, in the independent scientific topic at the State level, the book series "History of Vietnam"4 volumes, Professor Phan Huy Le is both the editor and main author of volumes I and II, considered the highest summary of the historical period from its origin to the mid-19th century.
From 1988 to present, Professor Phan Huy Le has continuously been the President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association. He also holds key leadership positions or is a member of many National Councils such as the National Council for Directing the Compilation of the Encyclopedia Dictionary, the National Council for Science and Technology Policy, the Central Council for Theory, the Council for Science and Training of Hanoi National University, the State Council for Professor Titles, the National Council for Ho Chi Minh Awards and State Awards, the National Council for Cultural Heritage... In every position, he has made outstanding contributions.
He was awarded the title of Professor (1980), Meritorious Teacher (1988), People's Teacher (1994); was awarded the Second Class Resistance Medal (1985), the First Class Labor Medal (1998), Second Class (1994), Third Class (1974); was awarded the State Prize (2000), the Fukuoka International Asian Cultural Award, Japan (1996), and the Academic Palm Medal of the French government (2002).
According to nld.com.vn
Author:Yen Anh
