Photo courtesy of Xu Xiaodong of the Tanjiazhen Life Science Education Center in Cicheng, Ningbo
Ningbo, December 27 (Reporter Li Dian) Under the majestic Siming Mountain, the legend of "one door and two academicians" is staged in the depths of Xiaoyun. Like his brother Ma Yugang four years ago, Ma Yuqiang, who went out from here, was successfully selected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2021. When the news came, the lonely mountain village boiled up at once.
The selection of scientists such as Ma Yuqiang has increased the number of academicians in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, to 121, ranking first among similar cities in China. Tong Dizhou, Pei Shizhang, Tan Jiazhen, Zheng Zhemin... What genes do this coastal city have that has given birth to groups of scientists shining in their respective fields?
Tan Jiazhen Life Science Education Hall internal scene Xu Xiaodong courtesy of the picture
Hiding in Xiaoyun Village at the foot of Siming Mountain in Yuyao, it is the birthplace and growth place of Ma Yuqiang and Ma Yugang. The stream flows slowly, and time seems to slow down in the winter village. Ma Yugang's former classmate Xu Zhixian once recalled that the simple, tenacious, hard-working character was the key factor for the brothers to achieve such results.
Indeed, internal factors determine the basic trend of the development of things. In the view of Xu Xiaodong, curator and chief designer of Tanjiazhen Life Science Education Museum, behind the formation of these qualities is the regional characteristics of being born by the sea and thriving towards the sea, and the tenacious, open and inclusive marine spirit is engraved in the urban genes.
In 2020, the Tan Jiazhen Life Science Education Museum started construction in Cicheng, Ningbo, and Xu Xiaodong, as the chief designer, has since had a "divine friendship" with the founder of modern Chinese genetics.
"One of the things I remember very clearly is that when Tan Lao went abroad once, he saw that the experimental equipment abroad was much more advanced than that in China, so he took out all the foreign exchange on his body and bought this old experimental equipment and brought it back to China." Xu Xiaodong recalled.
Such a bull ear holder's decades of research career are full of difficulties, but his pursuit of truth and the tenacity to love the country have made Xu Xiaodong bluntly say that he "fell into the spiritual world of talking about the old for a long time."
Looking back at the long river of history, this tenacity is reflected in generations of Yong scientists such as Tong Dizhou, the originator of China's "cloning" technology, Bei Shizhang, the founder of Chinese biophysics, Weng Wenbo, a petroleum geologist, and Zheng Zhemin, a pioneer in Chinese explosive mechanics.
Looking at external factors, first, the local atmosphere of attaching importance to education is said to be the key. "To the rural children at that time, they also said that the only way out of the mountain village was to go to college." Cheng Jianming, the class teacher of Yuyao No. 8 Middle School where Ma Yugang studied, said so in an interview.
Zheng Zhemin sent a message to young student Wang Lili to provide a picture
The imprint of the local emphasis on education can be followed everywhere. Located in the Keju Culture Museum in Simen Town, Yuyao, more than 700 cultural relics and documents show that the imperial examination system has immersed all aspects of the lives of the ancestors in eastern Zhejiang. In Yuyao alone, there are as many as 600 well-documented jinshi.
Second, there is a good trend of "passing on help" among Yong scientists. From pioneers in various fields to a new generation of scientists, "standing on the shoulders of giants" has become a silent inheritance for those who are teachers.
In the 1980s, at the beginning of the establishment of Ningbo University, Zheng Zhemin, an academician of the two academies, rushed back to Ningbo from Beijing, providing a lot of support for the mechanics construction of this school. Wang Lili, a Yong-born scientist who studied under Zheng Zhemin, told reporters, "The mechanics of Ningbo University is characterized by inheriting the explosion/impact dynamics of the University of Science and Technology of China, and the explosion mechanics major of the University of Science and Technology of China was established and developed by Qian Xuesen and Zheng Zhemin. ”
"Mr. Zheng is well educated and a bright and upright person. As long as we encounter any problem in any discipline, we will ask him for advice, and he has always known everything. Zheng Zhemin also came to Ningbo University to give a special lecture on "Being a Person, Doing Things, Doing Learning", and encouraged students with his personal experience. Influenced by his mentor, the 87-year-old Wang Lili is still contributing his light and heat to the field of explosion mechanics.
Zheng Zhemin (right) and Wang Lili Wang Lili courtesy of Wang Lili
In the inheritance of generations of scientists, the support of the government cannot be ignored. Responsible for visiting and comforting the Yong academician for more than 20 years, Shi Ying, secretary general of the Ningbo Science and Technology Association, has a deep understanding of this, "We have implemented a 'one-to-one' contact service mechanism for the Yong academicians, sending local newspapers in Ningbo every year, taking the initiative to report on the development of their hometown, and knowing the various needs of academicians." ”
In 1999, Shi Ying and his party visited Zheng Zhemin in Beijing, a 75-year-old man who still misses the bits and pieces of his hometown. In the same year, Zheng Zhemin and 32 other Yong academicians returned to Ningbo and planted a ginkgo forest in Yuehu Lake.
In the 2021 Ningbo Yuehu Academician Forest, the ginkgo trees planted by the academicians themselves have stood tall. The warm winter sun shines through the branches of the ginkgo biloba and slowly sprinkles on the three or two tourists chatting under the trees. (End)