Recently, the news of the famous scientist Yan Ning announcing his full-time return to China rushed to the top of the hot search.
Regarding Yan Ning's return, it was originally good news. But I didn't expect the discussion on the Internet to gradually become outrageous.
Recently, in a question about "How do you think Yan Ning will resign from his teaching position at Princeton University and become the founding dean of the Shenzhen Academy of Medical Sciences?" During the discussion, many people mentioned Yan Ning's departure from China.
For a pure scientist, Yan Ning's topic focus has always been focused between "returnees" and "returning to the sea".
Some people may still have the impression that when Yan Ning left China, there was a great controversy.
The two main points of controversy are why Yan Ning cannot be rated as a domestic academician, and the second is why Yan Ning left the United States.
In 2017, after Yan Ning was not selected as a candidate for academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he left Tsinghua University and went to Princeton University in the United States. Two years later, Yan Ning returned to the public eye again because of "being elected as a foreign academician of the American Academy of Sciences in 2019".
So as soon as the news came out, it immediately triggered many netizens' brain-opening speculations.
Some also believe that Yan Ning became an academician of the National Academy of Sciences because she was not elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
So when she left China, there was actually a lot of scolding on the Internet.
It's just that I didn't expect that when I came back this time, I was scolded again.
Some netizens think that Yan Ning returned to China to circle money, saying that she "does not return to China, she can only mess around with the lowest salary in Princeton."
For these yin and yang weird remarks, many netizens also sighed helplessly. One netizen also said:
When Yan Ning left Tsinghua for Pulin a few years ago, many people were asking, "Why can't China retain top talents?" This time he came back, and he also brought back the title of an American foreign academician. Isn't it great? Enough proof that China can retain top talent.
No matter how to evaluate Yan Ning's return to China? "There are different opinions on the Internet. But from the scientific community, Yan Ning's ability is absolutely first-class.
What contribution does Yan Ning have?
Yan Ning, admitted to the Department of Biological Science and Technology of Tsinghua University in 1996, received a bachelor's degree in 2000, and was awarded the title of "Excellent Graduate of Tsinghua University". In September of the same year, he went to the United States to study molecular biology at Princeton University and studied under Shi Yigong.
At the age of less than 30, Yan Ning was invited to return to his alma mater, Tsinghua University, and set up a laboratory, becoming the youngest professor and doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University School of Medicine at that time.
In August 2011, at the age of 34, she received the National Science Fund for Outstanding Young Scholars, which is undoubtedly a great honor. This award is established in China to promote the growth of young scientific and technological talents, encourage overseas scholars to return to work in China, and cultivate outstanding academic leaders.
In 2012, she received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Young Scientist Award. Founded in 1953, the institute is the world's largest non-profit private research institute.
In December of the same year, she won the China Young Female Scientist Award.
In 2014, her team solved the three-dimensional crystal structure of the human glucose transporter GLUT1 for the first time in the world.
In 2015, she received the International Protein Society Young Scientist Award; In October of the same year, he received the Sackler International Biophysics Prize.
(The Sackler International Biophysics Prize is designed to promote results in original and outstanding biophysical research, generally for scientists under the age of 45.) ）
In 2017, at the age of 40, Yan Ning became the first Shirley Tillman tenured chair professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University.
Shirley Tillman is not only a world-renowned molecular biologist, but also the first female president of Princeton University in more than 200 years, a title that is considered unique in the sequence of American professors.
Just two years later, Yan Ning, who was in his early 40s, was elected as an academician of the American Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the United States, this is one of the highest academic honors after winning the Nobel Prize.
From 2018 to 2021, she also received eight major awards.
These include: Research Excellence Award (Asia and Oceania Alliance of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists), Outstanding Scientist Award, Weizmann Award for Women in Science, China Youth Science and Technology Award (12th), Beijing Outstanding Contribution Award, "Pei Shizhang" Biophysics Young Scientist Award, Beijing Youth May Fourth Medal (27th).
Just looking at these achievements is enough to show Yan Ning's status in the academic field.
And for a mentor-level figure with a very high status like Yan Ning, he will live well wherever he goes.
And when everyone ate melons to watch the excitement and criticized Yan Ning constantly, Yan Ning focused on scientific research and solved one world problem after another on the way to hard work. At only 45 years old, he became one of the world's top structural biologists.
Going abroad and returning to China, how did Yan Ning respond?
When he left China, Professor Yan Ning himself came out to clarify.
She said that she agreed to become a tenured professor at Princeton University in the United States because:
I am afraid that if I stay in an environment for a long time, I may be complacent and do not know it. Changing the environment is to give yourself some new pressure, stimulate yourself to get inspiration, and hope to make new breakthroughs in science.
On the other hand, Tsinghua University and Princeton University are my alma maters, and it has always been my dream to teach at these two alma maters that I am proud of.
Yan Ning said that there are two alma maters that have had the greatest influence on him - Tsinghua University and Princeton University. In Tsinghua University, Yan Ning entered the Department of Biology for undergraduate study, and Tsinghua's rigorous academic style and solid training gave her the foundation for learning;
At Princeton University, Yan Ning studied under Professor Shi Yigong at the doctoral and postdoctoral stages, and then developed a strong interest in life processes in the microscopic world, and Princeton University's rigorous scientific research training also gave her colorful wings to fly in the field of science.
And this time back to China, Yan Ning also responded on Weibo. With Tsinghua's four words of "actions speak louder than words", she simply and forcefully responded to various comments of netizens. It means to be truthful in words and to testify by deeds.
Yan Ning's father said: "Yan Ning asked us for advice a year ago, and her mother and I fully supported it. Whether in the United States or back to her homeland, she is for the development of biological science in her country and the world. ”
Therefore, whether it is in China or the United States, Tsinghua or Princeton, for Yan Ning, it is just a different environment to do scientific research and contribute to the cause of mankind. She is an international scientist representing the future.
In Yan Ning's eyes, scientific research has no borders. Pure science is her long-term dream.
More and more outstanding Chinese are returning to China
Nowadays, with the growth and maturity of a new generation of international students, more and more Chinese scientists have been recognized by the American academic community.
In addition to Yan Ning, we have many other outstanding Chinese who choose to return to China after achieving extraordinary achievements in the United States. Many of them are leading figures in American academia, and most have also won the honor of American academician.
Several of them have returned to China full-time to work. For example: Yan Ning's master Shi Yigong, Nobel Prize winner Yang Zhenning, Ding Zhaozhong, mathematician Qiu Chengtong, Wang Xiaodong, the second director of the Beijing Institute of Biological Sciences, Li Jiayang, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and so on.
Wang Xiaodong, a Chinese-American scientist, is an academician of the American Academy of Sciences, a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. In 2010, he resigned from all positions in the United States and returned to China full-time to serve as the second director of the Beijing Institute of Biological Sciences. In early 2011, he initiated the establishment of BeiGene (Beijing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. to develop the world's leading new anti-cancer drugs.
There are still many who have not returned to China, and they have more or less cooperative relations with China.
For those who question why others return to China, it is better to think from another angle, no matter how the world changes, these truly competent and capable people can come back and develop, doesn't it just show that the country is getting stronger and stronger, and the support policy for talents is better?
And these outstanding talents have come back to do their best and make positive contributions to the development of science in China. Isn't that also good?