On April 22, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the list of newly elected academicians in 2021, of which 9 Chinese scholars were selected. Of the nine, two are Chinese, Yan Ning and Shen Yan'an.
As the youngest professor and doctoral supervisor at Tsinghua University, Yan Ning, who returned from studying in Princeton, has been highly praised. But after ten years at Tsinghua University, she chose to return to Princeton in the United States again, causing Yan Ning's reputation to collapse and being scolded for treason, but she never regretted it.
What is it that makes Yan Ning, who has broken through many obstacles to returning to China, return to the United States again?
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Success, in addition to talent, is to redouble efforts. Yan Ning was exactly like this.
Yan Ning was born in 1977 to parents who were workers in an automobile manufacturing plant. Although Yan Ning's parents are authentic Shandong Zhangqiu people, because the factory location is in Laiwu, Yan Ning also lives with her parents in Laiwu.
As workshop workers, Yan Ning's parents usually work hard and busy, and there is no time to deliberately guide their children to learn. But Yan Ning has shown a strong talent for learning since childhood. Since she was three years old, she has loved to read comic strips and pestered her mother to read storybooks to her. Miraculously, after reading each book, Xiao Yanning can quickly repeat the plot of the book.
Seeing his daughter so clever and clever, Yan Ning's father was happy in his heart. "I hope that my daughter will go to a prestigious university in the future and can eat by her brain, unlike us, who is a workshop worker!" Father always liked to chant like this in Yan Ning's ear.
At the age of six, due to a job transfer, Yan Ning followed her parents to Beijing. In the blink of an eye, Yan Ning reached the age of primary school. When she first arrived, in order for her to study well and not be left behind by children of the same age, her parents also became extra strict with Yan Ning.
Although Yan Ning has long belonged to the ranks of top students, her mother still urges her to study hard, and often warns her to guard against arrogance and impatience and remain modest. In the winter and summer vacations, other children are playing crazy everywhere, and Yan Ning's mother has already made a holiday plan for her, when she can play and relax, when she needs to review her homework, all written clearly.
Originally gifted, coupled with the strict requirements of her parents, Yan Ning has always been sitting firmly in the position of a bully. In high school, faced with the choice of studying literature and science, Yan Ning, who loved to read stories and books since she was a child, had planned to study liberal arts, but her parents and teachers strongly recommended her to study science, and everyone felt that her kind of calm and thoughtful child was most suitable for scientific research.
In this way, Yan Ning entered the science class. There is a saying that excellence is a habit. For Yan Ning, excellence has long been with her, three years of high school, she has been the leader of the class, the science class of a number of tall and powerful boys are not as good as this gentle and beautiful girl.
In 1996, Yan Ning took the college entrance examination. Without any suspense, she was admitted to Tsinghua University. When choosing a major, Yan Ning came to a crossroads in her life. Her parents hoped that Yan Ning would choose a medical profession, a stable job and a noble profession to treat and save people.
This time, Yan Ning, who is more independent, did not listen to her parents, because she was more interested in life sciences than in medicine, and it must be amazing to study life through various interesting experiments and meticulous analysis.
Therefore, Yan Ning entered the Department of Biology of Tsinghua University, and the life of the proud son of heaven has just begun.
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When he first came to Tsinghua to study, even Yan Ning, the proud son of heaven, felt pressure, because the students who could walk into Tsinghua were definitely not in the pool. Yan Ning was once worried that he would be compared to these excellent classmates around him, so that his mood was low and depressed.
Fortunately, Yan Ning's mother found her daughter's careful thinking, and under her patient enlightenment, Yan Ning quickly corrected her mentality and threw herself into learning. In the first two years of college, Yan Ning has not really found his own direction of struggle, still like in middle school, he learns every subject well, and actively participates in various club activities to enrich his life.
In his junior year, Yan Ning's life trajectory was changed by Rao Zi and Professor. Rao Zihe is a famous professor of structural biology in China, there is a biology laboratory in Tsinghua that he is responsible for, Yan Ning went to Rao Zihe's laboratory several times, it was like discovering a new continent, curious about everything.
Rao Zihe and the professor also discovered Yan Ning's unusual talent, so they selected her to be in the laboratory for key training.
Yan Ning always holds a pure heart to delve into scientific knowledge, and the more she learns, the bigger the outside world is, and she thinks of studying abroad. However, studying abroad is to prepare materials to apply to foreign schools, and which school to choose and how to prepare for the better odds, these make Yan Ning anxious.
Fortunately, Professor Shi Yigong appeared. If Rao Zihe and Professor Yan Ning guided Yan Ning into the halls of human life science, Professor Shi Yigong gave Yan Ning a pair of wings to reach the peak of science.
While Yan Ning was studying at Tsinghua University, Professor Shi Yigong was also an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. In addition, Professor Shi Yigong is also responsible for Princeton University's admissions work in China.
Once, Professor Shi Yigong visited Tsinghua, and at the lecture meeting, he encouraged Tsinghua students to boldly try to apply for further study in Princeton, to collide with the best ideas in top foreign universities, and then return to the motherland with more success in learning.
Yan Ning was touched by Professor Shi Yigong's words. However, she did not apply according to the normal procedure like others, but directly wrote a cover letter and sent it to Professor Shi Yigong.
A self-cover letter sprinkled with foreign words made Shi Yigong look at this girl with astonishment. In particular, the sentence in the letter, "I think that I have met the admission standards of your school in all aspects, if I can be admitted, then I will not have to go to great lengths to apply for other colleges and universities", such courage and courage made Shi Yigong sincerely appreciate.
Shi Yigong, who was eager for talent, decided to make an exception and admit Yan Ning. As a result, the 24-year-old Yan Ning successfully enrolled in Princeton University in the United States and became a student of Shi Yigong.
When he arrived at Princeton, Yan Ning once again zeroed himself and devoted himself to the study of biology. Shi Yigong guided Yan Ning's research field is the molecular regulatory mechanism of apoptosis that enters tumorigenesis, although Yan Ning did experiments to check data statistics without sleeping and eating, but there was no big progress for a long time.
However, this did not bring down Yan Ning, she had already cultivated a calm and calm mentality, as long as she persisted, she could always see hope.
Yan Ning finally achieved experimental success and published the results of the experiment in a world-renowned scientific journal. In 2004, Yan Ning received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and continued to do research as a postdoctoral fellow.
Since 2004, Yan Ning has directly opened the hanging, at least two papers have been published every year, and in 2006, Yan Ning successfully made the first membrane protein structure. The success of this research completely shocked the academic community, and what the authoritative experts who had survived until their hair was grayed could not be broken by a girl who was less than thirty years old.
Since then, Yan Ning has gradually become famous and highly respected in the American scientific community.
2007 was another turning point in Yan Ning's fate. Her teacher, Shi Yigong, had decided to return to China to contribute his life's learning to the motherland, so he also encouraged Yan Ning to return to China. And Yan Ning's teachers at Tsinghua University also expect this talented student to show his skills in his own country.
Therefore, Yan Ning refused every effort by the United States to retain him, and returned to his alma mater, Tsinghua, in a duty-bound manner. Became the youngest professor and doctoral supervisor at Tsinghua University.
Already a professor at the age of thirty, Yan Ning's talent and efforts have been recognized. After returning to Tsinghua, Yan Ning was responsible for setting up his own laboratory and leading groups of students to devote themselves to the study of biology.
In 2016, for his great contributions in the field of life sciences, Yan Ning was named "China Science Star" and "Influential China Science Person of the Year 2017".
However, just when Yan Ninggong became famous and everyone praised her as a pillar of the country, she made a decision that made people drop their jaws.
In 2017, Yan Ning returned to Princeton University in the United States to become a chair professor of biology body.
At first, he had to return to China to serve the country despite difficulties and obstacles, but now he was determined to leave, and Yan Ning's actions made onlookers confused.
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As for why Yan Ning left Tsinghua and returned to Princeton again, there is a rumor circulating. In 2017, Yan Ning was nominated as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but when the results were finally announced, he did not receive the title of academician. It was also this year that Yan Ning returned to Princeton to teach.
Some people say that Yan Ning was dissatisfied with the results of the selection and angrily left Tsinghua for Princeton.
A stone stirred up a thousand waves, and those who originally pursued Yan Ning began to slam and insult. They believe that the talents that the country has cultivated so hard have gone to serve other countries, and such people do not even have a patriotic heart.
In this regard, Yan Ning's explanation is completely opposite. She said that the idea of leaving Tsinghua for Preston because of dissatisfaction is not a reality, she just wants to change the environment to stimulate her greater potential, and does not want to waste time in a comfortable environment.
Yan Ning's words were not wrong, leaving the comfort zone, she was indeed making rapid progress. During her tenure as a tenured Chair Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Preston University, she was not only elected a Foreign Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, but also received the Distinguished Scientist Award.
As for why Yan Ning will return to Princeton again, there is no need to search for the reason.
Today, Yan Ning is still a Chinese national, and she is also an adjunct professor at Tsinghua University, and whether she returns to China or not, she is an outstanding representative of the outstanding sons and daughters of the Chinese nation.
It is enough to be unrepentant about your every choice and do something that you are not ashamed of, what do you think?
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Author: Heart to Wu Tong