Trusting thought to be its own light

In a modest room in the Wuchang district of Wuhan, Hubei province, time seems to move at its own gentle rhythm. Fingers glide quietly across yellowed pages, while a young university student reads aloud, patiently tracing formulas and diagrams. This is where Zhou Shun studies — a classroom, a library, and a testament to perseverance, all contained within a few square meters.

Zhou lost his sight in childhood, initially thought to be caused by congenital retinal atrophy but later diagnosed as retinitis pigmentosa, a group of inherited rare retinal disorders that lead to progressive vision loss. Rather than turning away from science, he learned to approach it by other means — through sound, logic, and imagination. With the sustained help of volunteers from Wuhan University, he has spent more than three decades studying advanced mathematics and physics, gradually building what he calls a "universe of knowledge" within his mind.

In December last year, Zhou published his third book, Mathematics in Physics, an expanded version of an original edition released in 2017.

In the book's preface, Zhou Bin, an associate professor specializing in field theory and general relativity at Beijing Normal University, noted the work's unusually broad scope. "It ranges from foundational subjects essential to undergraduate physics majors — such as calculus and linear algebra — to far more advanced topics including spectral theory on infinite-dimensional vector spaces and tensor analysis," he wrote, adding that the book would not be easy reading for the average master's student without formal training in mathematics.

Those who've spent time with Zhou Shun speak less of difficulty than of the habits of his mind.

"I often feel that what the blackboard is for us, darkness is for him — a surface on which to write, a space onto which equations, formulas and conjectures are projected by a mind sharpened as keenly as our pens," said Chai Chengye, a third-year undergraduate in the School of Physics and Technology at Wuhan University, who began reading for Zhou in 2023, two months after he entered the university.