为发挥我国数学研究的潜力并使之率先赶上世界先进水平,国家领导人采纳了吴文俊、王元、程民德等十位著名老、中、青数学家组成的“二十一世纪中国数学展望”组委会提出关于建立“数学特别基金”的建议,决定从1989年开始,国家财政拨出专款,设立“数学特别基金”即“数学天元基金”,用以资助国内特优数学人才,吸引国外特优留学的数学人 In order to give full play to the potential of China's mathematical research and make it the first to catch up with the world's advanced level, the leaders of the state adopted the “Prospect of the 21st Century Chinese Mathematics” composed of ten famous old, middle and young mathematicians such as Wu Wenjun, Wang Yuan and Cheng Minde, The organizing committee put forward the proposal of setting up a “special fund for mathematics” and decided that since 1989, the state finance will allocate special funds and set up a “Mathematics Special Fund” or “Mathematics Tianyuan Fund” to subsidize the domestic excellent math talented people and attract foreign Excellent student studying mathematics