Why did the three-body scientist die?

Because scientists have discovered that human civilization is a joke.

The first part of "The Three-Body Problem" can be understood as a story of reasoning, suspicion, and puzzle solving. However, its subject matter is about science fiction. Science fiction is scientific literary imagination and needs to be rooted in science. The cause of the whole story is that a large number of top scientists around the world committed "bizarre" suicides.

Then the protagonist Wang Miao, with the help of Da Shi, unraveled the mystery step by step. In short, the smartest physicists among mankind have discovered through experiments that everything mankind takes for granted and is proud of is a joke.

We are all just two-dimensional intelligent beings on a target, turkeys on a farm. The reason why our lives seem "orderly" is actually an illusion created by sharpshooters and farmers, intentionally or unintentionally.

How to evaluate "The Three-Body Problem":

In comparison, "The Three-Body Problem" treats it as a narrative and aesthetic that combines domestic realistic themes and suspense dramas. The above is an active response to the aforementioned sense of "historical future". Therefore, it is not only more layered in narrative, but also more original in visual texture than the "cyberpunk city" of the "Three-Body" animation.

From this point of view, at least from the perspective of the film and television version of the "Three-Body" IP, the fantasy aesthetic of sinking into reality and starting again will be more reliable than directly letting the imagination fly. The play uses elements that have been widely practiced in domestic film and television dramas in recent years, and therefore has less "violent feeling" than the "magic modification" of the "Three-Body" animation.