Qingming is coming, remembering the 27 academicians who have passed away in the past year

◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Lu Chengkuan

Since the Qingming Dynasty last year, 27 more names have been added to the list of late academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. They have dedicated their lives to the scientific and technological undertakings of the mainland, or solved major original scientific problems, or bravely innovated in the "no man's land", or broken through the key core technologies that restrict development... In the face of their departure, we send our condolences in words.

May 22, 2021, is a day of great sorrow for hundreds of millions of Chinese.

On this day, Yuan Longping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, died in Changsha due to multiple organ failure; Wu Mengchao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, died in Shanghai due to ineffective medical treatment.

The loss of two academicians in one day, people's mourning rushed like a tide.

Yuan Longping, born in 1930, grew up with his family to live a life of displacement. Before the founding of New China, Yuan Longping saw the hungry people lying on the side of the road and was very sad in his heart. With a strong desire to let everyone "eat enough to eat," Yuan Longping chose agriculture to serve the country, vowing to solve the problem of increasing grain production and not let the people starve.

In the past, it was generally believed that rice was a self-pollinating crop with no heterosis advantage. However, Yuan Longping was not superstitious and authoritative, had the courage to say no to traditional academic views, and began to study hybrid rice in 1964, successfully breeding the world's first practical high-yield hybrid rice variety.

"People are like seeds, to be a good seed", this is a sentence that Yuan Longping often said before his death. He also spent his life writing footnotes for this sentence. He is the pioneer of the research and development of hybrid rice in mainland China, known as the "father of hybrid rice", and has devoted his life to the research, application and promotion of hybrid rice technology, and has been fighting in the front line of agriculture for a long time.

Even at the age of 90, Yuan Longping never felt that he should rest, and he still couldn't control his legs towards the rice field and his heart towards rice. "Hybrid rice is soaked in his blood, his lifeblood, his soul."

This scientist, who "looks more like a farmer," "is not at home, he is in the test field; not in the test field, just on the way to the test field", really wrote the paper on the land of the motherland, and let the rice bowl of the Chinese firmly hold in his hands.

In the early 1950s, the field of hepatobiliary surgery in mainland China was still blank. A well-known foreign expert asserted: "It will take at least 30 years for Chinese liver surgery to catch up with our level." ”

After Wu Mengchao listened, he could not sleep at night, got up in his clothes and wrote a report determined to "break into the forbidden area", vowing that "the world's liver surgery community cannot be without china's voice!" ”

After thousands of anatomical experiments, in 1957, Wu Mengchao first proposed the anatomical theory of "five leaves and four segments" of liver structure, and Chinese doctors have since found the key to open the liver forbidden area. In 1960, he completed the first liver tumor resection operation in mainland China, achieving a breakthrough of zero in the field of Chinese surgery...

After practicing medicine for more than 70 years, Wu Mengchao has completed more than 16,000 liver surgeries, and he once said: "Even if one day, falling in the operating room will be the greatest happiness in my life!" ”

Looking up at the starry sky, there are two asteroids in the universe, one is the "Yuan Longping Star" numbered 8117, and the other is the "Wu Mengchao Star" numbered 17606 - the contributions of the two academicians to the people to mankind will always be remembered by the world.

As outstanding representatives of the mainland's scientific and technological circles and engineering and technological circles, academicians of the two academies are the wealth of the country, the pride of the people, and the glory of the nation.

Among the 27 academicians who died in the past year, the identities of Zheng Zhemin and Min Guirong are extraordinary. They are academicians of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Zheng Zhemin was one of the founders and pioneers of the mechanics of explosions on the mainland, and was known as the one who "tamed" explosives. He has always taken the needs of the country as his responsibility, and his connection with explosive mechanics is not his deliberate life plan.

"I've gone from the past to the present and there's no clear route. But one thing is certain, and that is the desire of rich countries and strong peoples. Zheng Zhemin once said.

The "bench" of explosive mechanics, Zheng Zhemin sat for decades. During this period, he proposed a fluid elastoplastic model to promote the formation of a complete discipline system of explosive mechanics, which was widely used in important national defense fields such as underground nuclear explosion, armor piercing and armor breaking, and ground drilling nuclear explosion bomb; he established the basic research method of explosive mechanics, which provided a mechanical basis for weapon design and weapon effect evaluation; he opened up key technical fields such as explosion forming and explosion embankment, and solved the core problems of major project construction.

Min Guirong is one of the pioneers of the mainland's artificial satellite project and the pioneer of spacecraft thermal control technology, participating in and leading the development of the mainland's first artificial satellite and multiple retrievable and applied satellites, and making significant contributions to the development of the mainland's space technology.

During his tenure as the chief scientist of the Expert Committee in the Field of Aerospace of the National "863" Program, Min Guirong led the research work of the mainland's future aerospace innovation technology and achieved a large number of important scientific research results.

Despite his outstanding achievements, Min Guirong has a low-key self-effacing life: "Compared with the promising aerospace industry, this is just a good start. We must also make unremitting efforts over a long period of time to make due contributions to the Chinese people and to mankind all over the world. ”

There are only 34 people on the mainland who are also academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. This is related to the establishment of the Academy of Engineering.

In 1994, the Chinese Academy of Engineering was established. The first batch of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering were nominated, consulted and selected, and the preparatory leading group proposed a list of about 100 people (including 30 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with strong engineering backgrounds), and after submitting to the State Council for approval, they were appointed in the name of the Academy of Engineering. These 30 members of the Faculty of Chinese Academy of Sciences (later known as academicians) became the first batch of double academicians. In 1995, Yan Kai, Shao Xianghua, Wu Liangyong and Wu Jieping, four academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, were appointed as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

They do not become academicians of the two academies as some people think: first they are rated as academicians in one academy, and then they are rated as academicians in another academy. They were hired by the Academy of Engineering.

The 27 academicians who have passed away in the past year have reached their old age.

Two hundred-year-old academicians: Wen Shengchang and Chen Jingxiong;

15 academicians over the age of 90: Wang Yuan, Wu Mengchao, Xue Yuqun, Zheng Zhemin, Huang Hongjia, Chen Wenxin, Wu Xinzhi, Zhu Zhaoliang, Yuan Longping, Chen Qingru, Huang Xiling, Li Zhengming, Dai Yongnian, Mao Yongze, Zhang Ziyi;

There are 10 academicians over the age of 80: Min Guirong, Guo Jingkun, Xu Houze, Zhang Hanxin, Xu Shengchu, Liu Xingtu, Jiang Jingshan, Ye Keming, Chen Niannian, Pan Ziqiang.

They shoulder the heavy responsibility entrusted by history, do not forget their original intentions, are committed to self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, and set up monuments of scientific and technological innovation on the motherland.

How fortunate we are to witness the stars of science shining, and how helpless we are to watch them gradually leave. Spring back to the earth, let us with the thoughts and respect for the deceased, welcome the infinite vitality and possibilities, meet new opportunities and challenges, work hard to open a new situation, and do not slacken off to write a new chapter.

This is the best consolation for the deceased and the best commemoration of history.

Source: Science and Technology Daily Cover image from Visual China

Editor: Wang Yu

Review: Yue Liang

Final Judgement: Wang Yu