The red love of hundreds of academicians | Zeng Qingcun: My choice has always been closely related to the needs of the motherland

"I came from a peasant family, there is no party, there is no new China, I have no chance to go to college." "The party treats me like a mother. I longed for her to hug me. ”

　　- Zeng Qingcun

Zeng Qingcun character sketch Guo Hongsong painting

　　"We want to use our own computing data as a basis for negotiations in the field of climate and environment, and enhance the mainland's international discourse power." On June 23, the national major scientific and technological infrastructure "Earth System Numerical Simulation Device" was completed and launched, and Zeng Qingcun, an 86-year-old winner of the National High-tech Award and a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was excited.

　　The Earth System Numerical Simulation Device can be used to respond to major national needs such as climate change, ecological environment construction, dual carbon vision goals, and disaster prevention and mitigation (such as weather forecasting) by inversion of the earth's past, observation of the present, and prediction of the future.

　　Zeng Qingcun is not only one of the initiators of this system, but also did not fall behind in the next process of updating and improving. As long as the body allows, Zeng Qingcun will appear on time at the discussion meeting of the research group, listening, recording, discussing... The old man seems to have an endless passion and motivation for scientific research. He said that enthusiasm and motivation come from the interest in exploring the unknown, but also from responsibility, "I am a Communist Party member, it is the party and the country that have cultivated me, and I can only repay by doing my best."

　　Fist to repay the heart of the country is a true portrayal of Zeng Qingcun's decades of scientific research life.

　　Born in the countryside of Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, Zeng Qingcun's childhood was accompanied by poverty. "My family was very poor, and when I was a child, I had to work in the fields, pick up fertilizer, cultivate the fields, and do everything. My parents and sisters worked hard to provide me with education, and the family had no money to buy lamp oil, so my father used bamboo strips dried after a few months of soaking water and lit them to make lamps. Without the Party and Without New China, I would not have had the opportunity to go to university. ”

　　The sincere emotions ignited in the suffering made his choices always closely related to the needs of the motherland.

　　In 1952, Zeng Qingcun was admitted to the Department of Physics of Peking University with excellent results. Shortly after entering the school, the department decided to let some students switch to meteorology because the country urgently needed meteorological talents. Without saying a word, he obeyed the arrangement. "I was very impressed by a meteorological disaster that occurred at that time – a late frost that left 40 percent of Henan's wheat grains unharvested. Henan Province is the main grain producing area on the mainland, and this meteorological disaster not only caused economic losses to farmers and the country, but also caused many people to starve. At that time, I thought that if the weather could be predicted and predicted, such a disaster could be avoided. The country needs me to study meteorology, and this is the direction of my future efforts. ”

　　In 1956, Zeng Qingcun, who was close to graduation, was sent to the Institute of Applied Geophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences to study. Before going to the Soviet Union, he submitted an application to join the party. Recalling his original intention of joining the party, Zeng Qingcun said: "The party treats me like a mother, and I long for her to hug me. "I am determined to dedicate everything to the party, to the motherland and the people."

　　After returning from studying abroad, Zeng Qingcun was more inclined and more adept at basic research and applied basic research. But the country needed him to participate in the development of meteorological satellites, and he did not refuse and never feared difficulties: "I have to teach while learning and using, and strive to bring out more people." These research results eventually became the book "Principles of Atmospheric Infrared Telemetry", which became a classic textbook in this field in China.

　　Zeng Qingcun said: "I was originally doing basic research, but some of the applied research that the country urgently needs is often carried out immediately and ended within a limited time. Such a task may conflict with one's own interests, but in this case the individual interest must be subordinated to the needs of the state, which is non-negotiable and cannot be bargained. ”

　　Zeng Qingcun, who likes to write poetry, once wrote a poem: "The heart of scientific study is silent, and the blood of the heavenly life is boiling." Old age, blood is still there. Today, Zeng Qingcun is still very busy, medium- and long-term weather numerical forecasting, the establishment of a global climate system model, global climate change research, systematic summary of natural cybernetics... He always felt that there was too little time and a lot of work to be done. He said: "I will continue to do a good job in scientific research without distraction, and do more for the party and the country in the limited years." ”

Guangming Daily ( 2021-08-17 01 edition)