Text / Liu Yan, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Figure 1. Li Jing: Famous astronomer, researcher of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, member of the International Astronomical Union, director of the Astronomical Terminology Approval Committee of the National Committee for the Approval of Scientific and Technological Terms, and vice chairman of the Beijing Astronomical Society.
On the evening of February 3, 2021, Teacher Bian Yulin painfully informed in the WeChat group of the Astronomical Terminology Committee that Mr. Li Jing died at 18:20 on the same day due to subarachnoid hemorrhage, lung infection and heart failure.
Mr. Li Jing is the old director of our Astronomical Terminology Committee, the founder of the Beijing Astronomical Observatory, a humble scholar who is deeply respected by everyone, and everyone is deeply shocked and saddened!
I myself am particularly sad, because in the past six months, I have been in direct contact with Mr. Li Jing's wife, Mr. Chen Zhining, for the oral recording of memories.
Mr. Li Jing is a well-known astronomer who has achieved success in many fields. In terms of astronomical terms, he was also one of the early pioneers of the Continental Astronomical Terms Approval Committee, and he made great contributions. As early as the 1950s, he followed Mr. Dai Wensai to participate in the approval of astronomical terms, and was deeply taught by Mr. Dai's words and deeds. For 70 years of his colorful life of 93 years, astronomical terms have been closely associated.
Figure 2. Mr. Li Jing (front row, fourth from left) attended the working meeting of the Astronomical Terminology Approval Committee for the last time (Nanjing University, 2017)
In the first half of 2020, many students of the former Department of Astronomy (now the School of Astronomy and Space Science) of Nanjing University proposed to compile a commemorative anthology for Mr. Dai on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of Mr. Dai Wensai's birth. According to Teacher Hoof hing of the Purple Mountain Observatory, during the collection of manuscripts, He Xiangtao, a teacher from the Department of Astronomy of Beijing Normal University, suggested that Mr. Li Jing be asked to write an article on Mr. Dai Wensai's contribution to astronomical terms.
In July 2020, when Mr. Li Jing learned of this information, he agreed with great emotion. But at this time, Mr. Li was hospitalized in Beijing China-Japan Hospital due to various diseases, and he was unable to sit down and write, and even his speech was quite laborious. According to Teacher Chen Zhining, he could only dictate. Moreover, it was the time of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and the hospital was not easy for even the family to enter, and they could only visit once a week. Therefore, Mr. Li's recollection could only be recorded by Teacher Chen Zhining himself on August 15, 2020, and then brought out of the hospital.
Thanks to the attention and trust of Mr. Li Jing and Teacher Chen Zhining, I have written and sorted out the oral recording materials. This is the origin of the article "Mr. Dai Wensai and Astronomical Terms" (Li Jing and Liu Yan) in "Heaven and Earth Realm, Cosmic Feelings - Mr. Dai Wensai's Commemorative Essays".
When sorting out Mr. Li Jing's audio recordings, I noticed two details that I had not yet learned: the two editions of "Astronomical Terms" published in the mainland in the 1950s were actually mainly compiled and approved by Mr. Dai Wensai.
01
About the 1952 edition of Astronomical Terms:
This version was published in the name of the "Working Committee on the Unification of Academic Terms of the Cultural and Educational Committee of the Government Council of the Central People's Government" and the "Astronomical Terminology Review Group of the Natural Science Group of the Compilation Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences".
Figure 3. Mr. Li Jing (back row, eighth from left) participated in the 10th Committee Meeting of the Astronomical Terminology Approval Committee (2015, Xinglong Observation Base of national astronomical observatories)
But in fact, it is mainly the work and contributions of Mr. Devonsay. Mr. Li Jing recalled:
"Mr. Devonsay returned home after the end of the Second World War... After returning, I reported in Kunming. At that time, there was no subject, no formal astronomical research was carried out, and he had nothing to do... At this stage in Kunming, in fact, there was only one thing that was fruitful, that is, the examination and approval of astronomical terms, and one person there examined and approved the new words of astronomical development at this stage after 1934. This became the backbone of the 1950 (Liu Yan press: Mr. Li's memory here is wrong, it should be "1952") version of the "Astronomical Terms". Without his work during this period, there would be no 1950 version, but he was idle at that time. (According to the oral recording on 2020.07.03*)
In 1952, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China and when the cause of education was in ruins, Mr. Dai Wensai did compile and publish a new "Astronomical Terms". This is the first book after liberation, supplementing a large gap in the astronomical terms of Chinese after 1934, and should be of immeasurable merit. (According to the oral recording on August 15, 2020)
02
About the 1959 edition of the Russian-English-Chinese trilingual edition of the three Astronomical Terms:
This edition was published under the name of "Compilation and Publication Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" at that time, but in fact, it was mainly compiled and approved by Mr. Dai Wensai.
According to Mr. Li Jing's oral recollection on August 15, 2020:
"Since 1956, I have continued Mr. Dai Wensai's unfinished task in Kunming, expanding his bilingual cross-reference cards into two more types: one is Russian-Chinese, the other is Russian-English, a total of three cards. ...... I took the collected and approved cards to the Department of Astronomy of Nanjing University, and after lunch with Mr. Dai Wensai, I reviewed them together, and did so for two years. ”
"In 1959, I was transferred to the Beijing Observatory and went to Beijing with these three stacks of cards. Mr. Devonsay was very generous, did not say anything about copyright, royalties, did not consider it, and gave it to me. I handed over the three stacks of cards to Science Press. It was nominally approved by the Science Press, but in fact it was quickly approved because of the reputation of Devinsa. ”
"This set of terms was used and flourished until the Cultural Revolution."
I have seen these two or four editions of Astronomical Terms before, but I do not know that they are mainly compiled and approved by Mr. Devonsay. So I hurriedly searched and consulted the prefaces and relevant instructions of both versions, and sure enough, I found that it was completely impossible to see how much Mr. Devonsay had contributed, and outsiders might even think that Mr. Devonsay was just one of the ordinary staff members.
Speculating on the reason, this situation is likely to be due to the fact that under the specific historical conditions at that time, it was not appropriate to highlight the individual scientist, especially the personal contribution of Mr. Devonsay.
Listening to these rather difficult and sometimes incoherent words and phrases in Mr. Li Jing's oral reminiscence recordings, I deeply felt the importance of these historical facts, and I also felt the urgency of restoring history as it was. This is the origin of the article "Several Astronomical Terms Actually Edited and Approved by Mr. Dai Wensai" (Liu Yan) in "Heaven and Earth Realm, Cosmic Feelings - Mr. Dai Wensai's Commemorative Anthology".
Looking back on the past now, I deeply feel that Mr. Devonsai never had any concern for the publication arrangements and signature methods of these two editions, and all he thought of was how to contribute his work results as soon as possible, let everyone share them, and work together to promote the rapid development of the astronomical cause on the mainland!
I can't help but think, what kind of spirit is this? Isn't this just a kind of magnanimous "heaven and earth realm, cosmic feeling"?
At the end of his recollection, Mr. Li Jing specially added the following paragraph: "Here, I would like to take this opportunity to ask my wife to record for me during the period of recuperation in Beijing Sino-Japanese Hospital, and to review some of the past events from the early 1950s to the last period of 1959, mainly focusing on the approval of astronomical terms." "When I sorted out this recording, I deeply felt that Mr. Li Jing himself must have attached great importance to the historical past of this period, and seemed to have some kind of premonition.
It is exactly one year since Mr. Li Jing left us, and the "Mr. Devonsai Memorial Anthology" containing Mr. Li's memories was published in December 2021. Sadly, Mr. Li was unable to see these precious oral texts with his own eyes, and those recordings had become the last of his life.
Figure 4: The cover of "The Realm of Heaven and Earth, Cosmic Feelings - Mr. Devonsai's Commemorative Anthology"
Here, I would like to use this article to express my deep remembrance and condolences to Mr. Li Jing, as well as to Mr. Dai Wensai.
(January 23, 2022)
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*On the evening of mr. Li Jing's unfortunate death on February 3, 2021, Mr. Cui Chenzhou, deputy director of the Astronomical Terms Approval Committee, forwarded this oral recording of Mr. Li Jing on July 3, 2020 in the "Astronomical Terms Exchange (WeChat) Group" to show his condolences.