In the classroom, a ten-year-old mixed-race boy was taking an exam, his brow furrowed, and he had to touch every word he wrote to determine whether he had written it correctly. His writing posture is also very strange, not at all a stroke, but drawing words.
The child's father is a doctor and has served as the vice president of Beijing Tongren Hospital, but he can't even write Chinese characters, and he can't speak Chinese well, and his classmates around him always look at him with different eyes.
His name was Wang Demin, he was the youngest son in the family, and he was also the most mischievous, and he walked several times in a row Chinese teacher. He doesn't like to learn Chinese, no one can persuade him, no one will learn.
It is such a "stupid" child, in the following year, mastered the Chinese, the college entrance examination score is close to the full score, the university subjects are also full scores.
However, such a scholar bully later gave up his stable work and spent 40 years from an oil worker to an academician, so that China surpassed the United States in terms of oil and gas field development capabilities and walked in the forefront of the world.
Handsome mixed-race child, does not like to learn Chinese
On February 9, 1937, Wang Demin was born in the famous Shuxiang Mendi in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. His father, Wang Shigui, was a very powerful doctor and served as the vice president of Beijing Tongren Hospital.
When Wang Shigui was studying in the United States, he met Wang Demin's mother Wen Anqing, she is Swiss, as the exchange deepened, two people with lofty ideals soon fell in love, and after the two married, Wen Anqing followed Wang Shigui back to China and was employed by the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
Wang Demin was born in such a high-intellectual family, and as a mixed-race Wang Demin perfectly gathered the advantages of his parents' looks.
Wang Demin's eyes are deep, the bridge of his nose is high, and the facial features are three-dimensional, and from the appearance alone, Wang Demin does not lose many small fresh meats at all. But in fact, there was a time when Wang Demin's appearance once bothered him.
When he was young, foreigners in China were still rare. And because of his mixed-race appearance, Wang Demin did not receive a strange look from his classmates, and everyone did not dare to play with him, thinking that he was a "bad boy".
Since his mother, Wen Anqing, was a university teacher, the work of his son Wang Demin's knowledge enlightenment fell to his mother's shoulders, and Wang Demin was able to speak fluent English from an early age.
At home, he and his parents, brothers and sisters have always communicated in English, which has led to Wang Demin's Chinese ability is very weak. Wang Demin once could not speak Chinese, and he did not like to learn Chinese, and the Chinese teachers who were invited by his family were also angry with him.
Soon, Wang Demin reached the age of primary school, which was an ordinary primary school, and the teachers in the school used Chinese to attend classes. At this time, this child who did not like to learn Chinese made a mistake, and in order to cope with the exam, he relied on his back.
Based on Wang Demin's good memory, he remembered that the words were all hard-memorized shapes, and when he wanted to write, he would draw them accordingly. By studying like this, Wang Demin's grades naturally did not go much better.
Due to poor grades and differences in looks, Wang Demin had few friends in school, and in order to fit in, Wang Demin made up his mind that he must learn well Chinese.
The effect of smart people's efforts is often remarkable, and it only takes about a year for Wang Demin to skillfully communicate with people with Chinese, and it is not a problem to write some basic Chinese characters.
After learning Chinese, Wang Demin rushed from the poor student to the front line of the class in an instant, and since then, he has always been the top student of the school, and even became a prodigy in the mouth of his classmates and teachers.
After middle school, the mixed-race appearance once again brought him trouble. Although his grades have always been very good, occupying the top three positions in the grade for many years, the surrounding classmates are always alienated from him, but it is not campus violence, or he does not dare to play with him, thinking that he looks different from everyone.
Adolescent teenagers are always sensitive, and soon Wang Demin noticed the alienation of his classmates. In order to improve this situation, Wang Demin chose to actively participate in various campus sports activities and literary and artistic activities.
Finally, he shined at the school sports meeting, and then, he played basketball with his classmates, conquered the classmates with his superb basketball skills, and successfully integrated into the class.
And this period of isolation also taught Wang Demin many things, and Wang Demin in middle school understood that many times, the more excellent you are, the more others will isolate you.
In July 1955, 18-year-old Wang Demin entered the college entrance examination. As soon as the college entrance examination results came out, they surprised everyone. Wang Demin's college entrance examination score difference of 6 points is a full score, his mathematics 100 points, chemistry 96 points, physics 98 points, is a well-deserved university bully.
At that time, the schools that Wang Demin most wanted to go to were Tsinghua and Peking University, and everyone felt that this was a matter of certainty.
But the result surprised everyone, Wang Demin was not elected, Tsinghua Peking University did not admit him, he slid to his fifth choice - Beijing Petroleum Institute.
Everyone is very puzzled why Tsinghua Peking University wants to give up such an excellent seedling, the reason is very simple, or because of Wang Demin's mixed-race identity. At that time, the domestic environment was not exactly the same as it is now, especially in the treatment of foreigners, which was not as inclusive and open as it is today.
Top-notch institutions like Tsinghua Peking University are constantly being watched, and in order not to fall into the hands of others, they can only tearfully abandon Wang Demin, an excellent student.
It is a blessing not a curse, and it is a curse that cannot be avoided. It is also fate that Wang Demin was admitted to the petroleum exploration technology major of Beijing Petroleum Institute, and since then, Wang Demin and oil have begun a "lifelong love affair".
Abandon the iron rice bowl and take root in the oil construction site
Wang Demin was a university bully as always during his college years, and successfully graduated with nearly full marks. He has been studying hard not to get a high score, but to really fall in love with the oil industry and want to contribute to the country's oil industry.
After class, Wang Demin always soaked in the library, consulted relevant materials, and what he learned had long exceeded the scope of textbooks. In addition to studying, Wang Demin did not forget to exercise, he participated in the school sports day, and often helped his classmates in his study and life.
When Wang Demin was in his junior year, he participated in the Battle of Sichuan Central Petroleum, but after they went to the oil field with great interest, the oil field soon did not produce oil, Wang Demin was very uncomfortable, and sighed: "It is too difficult to build an oil field, but the more difficult it is, the more someone must do it." ”
Because wang Demin performed particularly well during his time in school, he was rated as an outstanding graduate. When he graduated, the school invited him to stay at the school. But Wang Demin refused this iron rice bowl and chose to go to the Daqing oilfield site to become a most ordinary oil worker.
Wang Demin has always believed that to engage in oil is to make oil fields, and he hopes to contribute his own strength to let China get rid of the hat of an "oil-poor" country. Later, the discovery of the Daqing oil field made Wang Demin and his classmates very excited.
However, at this time, the Daqing oilfield has just been discovered, everything is in the initial stage, and the conditions are very difficult. In July 1960, the scrappy Wang Demin came to the Northeast Plain, and he was assigned to the manometer group of the oil production geology room.
Wang Demin, because of his family's excellent wealth, coupled with the fact that he has not suffered since he was a child, suddenly came here, not only is his life unfamiliar, but even his quality of life has greatly declined, not to mention compared with his family, even the conditions of the school are not comparable.
But at that time, Wang Demin did not complain, carrying instruments every day to run around, the wind came and went out, and he could only sleep in the shed at night.
It turns out that good people shine everywhere, and at that time, oilfield exploitation was plagued by a technical problem, and professional old professors were helpless.
Wang Demin did not lose because of this, in order to overcome the difficulties, every night after the end of work, he began to learn conduction mathematics, hydraulics, in order to better consult foreign materials, he also taught himself Russian.
Constantly consulting the data, coupled with more than 100 days and nights of hard work, Wang Demin deduced his own formula according to the actual situation of daqing oilfield. When he brought the draft paper to the crowd about the formula he had written, the audience was shocked.
In February 1961, the formula derived by Wang Demin was officially applied to oilfield exploitation, and his formula considered the mutual interference between "wells and wells", which was more in line with the actual situation of Daqing Oilfield, which was named "Songliao Method", which was twice as accurate as the original research method.
Although Wang Demin is a big genius in terms of professional ability, he is not very good in life skills. He could not cook, and in Chinese New Year's Eve 1961, the oilfield canteen distributed white noodles and steamed buns to all the faculty and staff, one was the New Year, and the other was to improve the quality of the diet.
But Wang Demin, who is not good at cooking, does not like to make dumplings, he put all the meat filling and white noodles together, wrapped two extra large dumplings, and ate them with relish.
Year after year, Wang Demin stayed in the Daqing oilfield for forty years. Relying on his strength and expertise, he gradually went from oil worker to chief engineer and even important leader. Those nights in the oil fields became his valuable experience.
Of course, there are dangers in the oil fields. Winters in the Northeast Plains are extremely cold, and it is normal for wellheads to freeze. But Wang Demin needed to use a winch of more than two hundred pounds to send the measuring instruments into the well.
In order not to damage the instrument, Wang Demin took off his clothes and used his body temperature to cover the ice cubes and dissolve the crude oil. The instrument successfully went down the well, and the lips of Wang Demin and others were frozen purple. As problems continue to break through, new problems soon follow.
Through two years of research, Wang Demin developed the "flow restriction fracturing method", which successfully increased the oil storage capacity of Daqing Oilfield by 700 million tons, and the production rate reached 40%, which is equivalent to finding another Daqing Oilfield.
But Wang Demin is not satisfied with today's achievements, he feels that the utilization rate of oil fields can be higher. He was ready to use chemistry to drive three oil productions, and Wang Demin's friends urged him to be cautious after knowing it, because foreign experts had long asserted that three oil productions were the future technology and absolutely could not be realized at present.
Wang Demin did not accept defeat, how can he do it if he does not do it? It's about finding hope where there's no hope.
Wang Demin said that he would do it, he carefully studied the various reasons for the failure of the three foreign drivers, and finally summed up more than two hundred topics, gained experience from the failures of the predecessors, wrote down his own precise and feasible experimental ideas, and finally, the case was approved by the state.
After a full decade of research, in May 1996, polymer flooding technology turned out to be the world, and after the application of Daqing Oilfield, the world record was also produced - China is the first country in the world to achieve chemical flooding three-time oil recovery, and the oilfield recovery rate is as high as 75%, far exceeding the 45% recovery rate of the United States.
Strict self-discipline, scientific research is endless
Mr. Wang Demin is the first academician of the Academy of Petroleum Exploration Professional Engineering in China, and has published more than 40 professional papers, five monographs and translations.
In order to reward Academician Wang Demin for his contribution to the petroleum profession, in April 2016, the state named an asteroid "Wang Demin Star".
Today, Wang Demin's son, Wang Yan, has also inherited his father's business and gone to the place where his father loved incomparably, the oil field. Wang Yan said that when he was young, he was particularly afraid of his father, thinking that he did not smile or talk.
Today, he and his father work hard for the oil industry, which makes him feel his father's difficulty. Father and son usually don't talk much, and every time they talk, they can't do without oil.
His father's love of oil also became his best teacher. Now, because of his old age, Academician Wang Demin can no longer run to the well every day, but daily telephone calls are indispensable. A dozen is two or three hours, no matter how big or small, Academician Wang Demin will ask again.
Academician Wang Demin is truly strict with himself, treating scientific research, his scientific research team must not appear "left and right", "probably" and other words, every number must be accurate.
Once, Wang Demin asked people around him: "What has changed in the data of this experiment?" The person next to him replied: "It's similar to the last data, the last data is probably ..." The person was still thinking, and Wang Demin blurted out: "6.51!" You test it a few more times and analyze it carefully. ”
Even if it is only a small data Wang Demin remembers it clearly, which makes people ashamed and admired.
Wang Demin really contributed his life to oil, he used to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and was a famous untrimmed researcher in the oil field.
At the same time of scientific research, Wang Demin also pays attention to physical health, and he knows that the body is the capital of scientific research. Until 2007, Wang Demin insisted on climbing 15 flights of stairs every day to exercise, eat vegetables and fruits at noon, and strictly control the amount of alcohol he drank every day, drinking only 18 grams of alcohol.
In January 2020, the 83-year-old Wang Demin also participated in the completion of the crude oil production rate improvement project. In September 2021, the 84-year-old Wang Demin was still working, and in November of the same year, Wang Demin accidentally broke his leg and underwent surgery to restore his leg muscles, and since then he has been somewhat slow.
In July 2011, when a reporter from heilongjiang workers' newspaper asked about his physical condition, Wang Demin replied indifferently: "It will not affect the work!" When it comes to the previous glories, Wang Demin does not take them seriously.
Even if he has retired, Wang Demin is not willing to leave Daqing, he told reporters: "In addition to Daqing, where can you find such a good oil field for him to study!" He said that there are still four more oil productions, green oil production and many other work waiting for him to study, and he does not dare to stop for a moment.
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