For thousands of years, human beings have been eager to solve the genetic mysteries of biological reproduction, and have experienced vicissitudes and arduous explorations. In 2000, scientists in China, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries announced that the human genetic map project was completed. However, as early as the early 1960s, a Chinese scientist pushed the study of biological evolution and cytogenetics and variation of human beings to the forefront of the world, creating a historical precedent for human beings to artificially cultivate new species according to needs, and was known as the "father of Chinese cloning" and the first person in the world to clone. He is the outstanding scientist of our country, Tong Zhou.
Admitted to college through the insistence of "water drop stone wear"
Tong Dizhou was born in Tong Village, Yin County, Zhejiang Province, to a peasant family. His father was a gentleman who taught private school. Due to his family's poverty, Tong Di Zhou had been learning from his father when he was a child, working while studying. His father often told Tong Di Zhou the story of the ancients' hard work, taught the truth that the sea is endless and must be persistent, and also wrote the four words of "water drops and stone wear", hanging on Tong Di Zhou's desk, encouraging him to study well and hoping that he would have a career in the future.
Although Tong Di Zhou was very eager to go to school and study with his peers, he did not have money to go to school because of his poor family.' It was not until he was 17 years old, with the help of his brother, that he entered the Ningbo Normal Preparatory Class. Because there is no tuition fee here, and there is also food and lodging, it is very fortunate to be able to go to school here. Tong Di Zhou was very happy, and he seized this hard-won opportunity to study hard. Because he had only learned a little knowledge of literature and history in the private school before, and did not have a little foundation in mathematics and science, Tong's first week of learning was very difficult, but he was not discouraged, but studied harder, hoping to catch up with others.
Not only that, but in the depths of his heart, he also set a higher goal for himself - he wanted to take the real middle school. Xiaoshi Middle School was the first-class school in Ningbo at that time, and graduates were generally able to enter the university. How many high-ranking officials and nobles are proud of their children studying at Xiaoshi Middle School! Xiaoshi Middle School has high requirements for English and attaches great importance to mathematical foundations, which are precisely the weaknesses of the first week of children. Moreover, he never learned English. Since setting this goal, Tong's first week has worked harder. He began to teach himself English, often late at night. The older brother was touched by Tong DiZhou's determination and promised to provide him with schooling, and asked his friends in Ningbo to inquire about the enrollment of Xiaoshi Middle School for his younger brother.
The brother's friend brought unfavorable news to Tong Di Zhou from Ningbo: Xiaoshi Middle School did not recruit first-year students that year, but only recruited excellent students in the third grade. The brother thought: As far as the foundation of Tong First Week is concerned, it was already very difficult to take the first grade exam, but now it only recruits third-grade transfer students, and the brother hesitates, so he goes to consult with Tong First Week. After hearing this news, Tong Di Zhou still did not change his original intention, he must enter the Shishi Middle School, so he decided to go to the transfer class.
Relying on the spirit of "water drops and stones wearing", Tong's first week was admitted to the third grade of Xiaoshi Middle School, but the score was the first from the bottom.
Faced with the report card, Tong Decided to study harder. He was often accompanied by "street lamps": he read foreign languages under the street lamps when the sky was dark; after the lights were turned off, he repaired himself under the street lamps.
The final exams arrived, and The first week of the child became the object of attention of the whole school. He relied on his own hard work to achieve 70 points in all subjects, of which geometry scored a full score, which caused a sensation in the whole school.
In the final exam of his senior year, his overall score ranked first in the class. Later, when Tong Di zhou recalled this period of time, he said with emotion: "The two 'firsts' in effect have had a great impact on my life. That incident made me know that I was not dumber than others, and that what others could do, I would certainly be able to do with hard work. There is no genius in the world, and genius is exchanged for labor. ”
In July 1924, Tong Dizhou was admitted to Fudan University with the support of his brother, and from then on, he began a long quest for science and dedication to his career...
The successful removal of frog ovary membranes shook the European biological community
In 1930, when 28-year-old Tong Dizhou graduated from Fudan University, he was given a chance to study abroad, and with the financial support of his brother and new wife Ye Yufen, he resolutely boarded the train to Belgium.
Study embryology, often do egg cell membrane peeling surgery, once to do experiments, Tong's first week's mentor Professor Duck asked students to try to peel off the frog egg membrane, this is a very difficult operation, frog eggs are only the size of small rice grains, tightly wrapped outside three layers of soft membrane like protein, because the egg membrane is thin, the operation can only be performed under the microscope. Many people failed, and as soon as they peeled off the egg membrane, they tore the frog eggs. Only Tong First Completed the Experimental Task quietly.
After that, Professor Duck specially arranged an observation experiment to bring the students to see. The experiment began, and Tong Didi walked unhurriedly to the microscope and skillfully operated it. Under the microscope, he first used a steel needle to prick a small hole in the egg, so that the swollen frog egg immediately loosened down and became flat and round, and then gently picked it on both sides with steel tweezers, and the egg membrane of the frog egg fell off the egg smoothly.
"Success! It worked! The students rushed up to congratulate him, and Professor Duck was even more excited, this is a project that he has not done in several years! He couldn't suppress the joy in his heart, and even claimed praise: "Tong Di Zhou is really doing it!" Chinese really do it! "The success of the surgery to remove the frog's egg membrane in the first week of the child has shaken the European biological community.
In the summer of 1931, Professor Duck took the beloved student to the famous scientific research center French seaside laboratory, this time, to do the outer membrane stripping of sea squirt eggs with a diameter of less than one-tenth of a millimeter, and Tong's first week was successfully completed again, which was greatly admired by international colleagues.
Four years later, through the defense, the Belgian Academic Council decided to award Tong's doctorate.
When the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in 1937, Tong Dizhou refused the retention of experts and classmates and resolutely returned to the motherland where disasters were severe.
Painstakingly scraped together 65,000 yuan to buy a microscope
After returning to China, Tong's family came to a small town in Sichuan on Monday. The family lived on a meagre salary. At that time, Tong Di Zhou was teaching at a university, and in addition to teaching, he continued his embryology research work.
However, to study embryology, it is not enough to rely on fantasies alone, and the necessary experiments are indispensable. To do experiments, you have to have experimental equipment, but where to get these equipment?
One day, Tong Di Zhou came home from outside and told his wife, Ye Yufen, that he had found a treasure. The lady who has not seen her husband's smiling face for a long time feels very strange, what is worth her husband so happy? The baby tong said was a binocular microscope! Madame was also excited, knowing that the microscope was the most important instrument for embryology experiments, and with it, it was possible to do experiments.
After saying that, Tong Di Zhou dragged his wife out of the house to the town's thrift stall, and sure enough, an old binocular microscope was placed there. "How much does this microscope cost?" "Sixty thousand pieces." The couple was taken aback, so expensive? This price is equivalent to two years' salary for two people. There was no way, the two had to return empty-handed. What you dream of is right in front of you, but you can't get it. At night, they roll over and over, and they just can't sleep.
The next day, the two of them went to the thrift stall again, and as yesterday, the microscope was still there. But the only difference is that the boss has raised the price and is going to sell sixty-five thousand yuan, on the grounds that "prices are soaring.".
Again, they returned empty-handed. For several days, they ran to the thrift stalls again and again, afraid that their beloved microscopes would be snatched away by others. The boss was impatient and later simply ignored them.
The couple made up their minds that in order to engage in scientific research, this microscope must be bought. The family really did not have any money, so they began to borrow money from relatives and friends everywhere, and sold a lot of clothes. They finally scraped together 65,000 yuan and bought the microscope back.
With a microscope, you can do experiments. But new difficulties have come. When using a microscope, there must be light illumination or very bright sunlight illumination. The house where Tong Di Zhou lived was small and dark, because it was during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and there were often power outages, what to do? Tong Di Zhou tried his best, he and his colleagues put the microscope on the windowsill, the use of sunlight when the sun is good, when the sun is not good and the power is blackout, use the dry battery as a power light or use kerosene lamp lighting.
The microscope problem was solved, and for other equipment, they were simple, for example, replacing glassware with teacups, discarded glass bottles, bowls, etc. They are doing scientific experiments and exploring the mysteries of life in bottles and cans that are seemed useless to outsiders.
"Child fish" was born
One of Tong Di Zhou's milestones in the search for truth was the birth of the "Tong Fish", a single-tailed goldfish.
How was the "child fish" born? That's a return to that great experiment. In the laboratory, the elderly Tong Yizhou sat in front of the experimental table, and the assistants were nervously busy in the laboratory, making preparations for the experiment, and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. Tong Di Zhou wanted to test his own scientific hypothesis through nucleic acid induction experiments. Goldfish ovulate, and the fertilized eggs are smaller than sesame seeds!
The assistants quickly delivered the nucleic acids of their purified crucian carp eggs to Tong Di Zhou's hand, and Tong Di Zhou used his dexterous hands to inject these nucleic acids into the cytoplasm of the goldfish fertilized eggs. He wanted to see if the nucleic acid of crucian carp eggs had an effect on the fertilized eggs of goldfish, and to see if the traits of goldfish grown from the fertilized eggs of this goldfish would change. Eight hours have passed, and the experiment is still ongoing. However, he still insisted, meticulously operating.
"Elder Tong, take a break!" An assistant couldn't help but say. Tong Di Zhou shook his head and said, "We should remember that our career needs hands, not mouths!" And aren't you as busy as I am? "Tong Di Zhou is like this, leading by example and demanding himself strictly. Each of the assistants had a record of the experiment, and he had to see it himself. He often encouraged his assistants with "seriousness is the secret of success, carelessness is the partner of failure."
Soon, these goldfish produced from surgically fertilized eggs slowly grew up, and miracles occurred. Tong Di Zhou and his assistants were pleasantly surprised to find that some goldfish had undergone wonderful changes: of the 320 juvenile fish that had grown up, 106 had changed from double tails to single tails, and the goldfish showed the tail fin traits of crucian carp! These fish have both goldfish and crucian carp traits. This suggests that nucleic acids extracted from crucian carp eggs play a significant role in altering the genetic traits of goldfish. This also shows that it is not only the genetic traits of the nucleus that control organisms, but also the cytoplasm that plays a very important role.
The success of the experiment confirmed Tong's assumptions. Tong Di Zhou's face showed the joy of success. This single-tailed goldfish is the "child fish" praised by the poet Zhao Puchu. "Child Fish", it is the crystallization of the sweat, will and hard work of the first week of the child. It embodies the wisdom and truth-seeking spirit of Tong Di Zhou.
Later, Tong Di Zhou also used a more distantly related species to conduct similar experiments, which were also successful, thus more strongly confirming his idea.
In 1978, Tong Dizhou joined the Communist Party of China, and although he was 76 years old, he devoted himself to work with the vigor of a young man. He personally formulated the planning of scientific research projects and drew a beautiful blueprint. In March 1979, on the podium of the Zhejiang Provincial University of Science and Technology, he suddenly lost his dizzy and never got sick again. For the revitalization of the motherland's scientific cause, he fulfilled his vow: "Willing to serve the old cattle and sacrifice their lives for the country!" ”