She is the youngest full professor and doctoral supervisor at Tsinghua, and her achievements have repeatedly appeared on the cover of academic journals, and at the age of 40, she was qualified to become an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with her outstanding academic achievements.
Unexpectedly, after unexpectedly losing the election, she turned around and went to Princeton University in the United States, becoming the first tenured chair professor in related majors, and became an academician of the two academies of the United States a few years later.
Now she has returned to China with the invective of the year and has become the founding president of the Academy of Sciences of Shenzhen Medical College, which has aroused heated discussions among the people, and she is the controversial scientist Yan Ning of the year.
After graduating from Tsinghua, he chose to study abroad
Yan Ning was born in 1977 in an ordinary working-class family in Zhangqiu Boping Village, Shandong Province, and because her parents worked outside the home all year round, she lived with her grandmother until she was two years old.
As she grew older, Yan Ning also came to school when it was time to go to school, and in order to provide a better educational environment for her children, she was taken by her parents.
Since there is no supporting kindergarten in the place where she works, Yan Ning's enlightenment education is all from her parents' words and deeds, as well as villain books with pictures bought from the street.
The whimsical stories in the book attracted Yan Ning's attention and made her curious about the unreasonable behavior, she had asked her parents more than once, but apparently they didn't know, just told her that the answers were in the book.
This remark sparked Yan Ning's thirst for knowledge, and her grades were always at the top of her class after entering the school, even after her parents were transferred to Beijing for work reasons, her grades were still at the top of her class.
The continuous accumulation of knowledge made her curious about the biology course, and many doubts in her heart seemed to be able to find answers in this discipline, and this curiosity also laid the way for her future.
In 1996, after graduating from high school, Yan Ning was admitted to the Department of Biological Science and Technology of Tsinghua University with excellent grades and became a high-profile college student.
In this place where the pride of heaven gathers, Yan Ning still relies on her hard work and tenacity to not admit defeat, and she has made a lot of fame, and she can always rank at the top in the annual exam.
In her junior year, when others were still studying, she had been selected to work as a researcher in the Structural Biology Laboratory.
Doing scientific research is an extremely boring and boring job, but Yan Ning enjoys it, and every time she enters the laboratory, it can bring her new gains, and she likes this feeling of immersion in scientific research.
Near graduation, she easily received the coveted invitation to get a high-paying job as long as she was willing to go out of school, but Yan Ning gave up, and she preferred to stay in the school laboratory than in the workplace.
After graduation, Yan Ning chose to study abroad, and her selection of doctoral supervisors had been decided as early as her time in school, that is, Professor Shi Yigong, who taught at Princeton University.
Yan Ning wrote a letter and sent it to Professor Shi Yigong in the United States in the way of self-recommendation, and the words that were not humble or arrogant made Shi Yigong quite favorable, and after personally interviewing Yan Ning, he decided to accept the other party as his student.
Although Professor Shi Yigong is not well-known among the people, the Westlake University he founded has broken into the academic rankings of world universities in just three years, and his ability can be seen.
After returning from his studies, he became the youngest full professor at Tsinghua
Under the guidance of Professor Shi Yigong, Yan Ning received his doctorate in only four years, and then did two years of research at the Princeton Research Institute.
In 2007, Yan Ning was hired by the School of Medicine of Tsinghua University and became a professor in Tsinghua Garden, and in order to welcome her arrival, the school also set up a laboratory related to Yan Ning's major.
Yan Ning, who was only thirty years old at this time, also became one of the youngest full professors in Tsinghuayuan.
After returning to China, Yan Ning did not let go of her love for scientific research, and while teaching at the school, her favorite place to go was still her own laboratory.
The following years were the golden period of Yan Ning's academic progress, during which he published many academic papers of excellent quality and was rated as one of the top ten "Chinese scientific research stars" by the outside world.
In 2011, she won the title of National Outstanding Young Scientist and obtained her own laboratory, and the external honor did not interfere with Yan Ning's thoughts, because there were still too many doubts in her heart, waiting for her to solve.
In 2014, Yan Ning and his team analyzed the three-dimensional structure of human glucose transporters for the first time, and this problem has been a problem that has plagued the international biological community for fifty years.
From the moment Yan Ning's research report was released, it represented that domestic research in related fields had come to the forefront of the world.
After that, Yan Ning carried out in-depth exploration on the basis of research, and his published papers were published on the front pages of world journals, making the world realize that China still has such a female scientist.
2017 was a year that changed Yan Ning's orientation of domestic public opinion, in addition to becoming a doctoral supervisor at Tsinghua University, she was also selected as a candidate for academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He has been awarded the two academicians of the US Academy of Sciences and has now announced his return to China
At this time, Yan Ning was only forty years old, the youngest of all the candidate academicians, but with her achievements in the academic community, it seemed to the outside world that this was a stable thing, but unfortunately Yan Ning was unexpectedly unsuccessful in this review.
Just when the outside world was lamenting it and complaining on the Internet, Yan Ning made a decision that many people could not accept, that is, to accept the invitation of Princeton University to become the first Shirley. Tillman Chair Professor for Life.
Making such a choice at this juncture made many people feel that Yan Ning was gambling, and this matter also set off an uproar in China, and almost all the headlines on the front pages of the media at that time were related to this matter.
But in the face of the doubts of the outside world, Yan Ning seems very calm, since she stepped into the door of scientific research, what can make her fall in love is no longer honor, but the long and boundless scientific research road.
After more than ten years in Tsinghuayuan, she also wants to live in a different environment for a while, perhaps this will bring her new inspiration.
She is still a top presence at Princeton University, and her publication of a number of academic papers during this period has brought her great fame, which has also allowed her to be awarded the National Academy of Sciences in 2019 and the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.
After the news spread to China, it caused an uproar in public opinion, as if becoming an academician in the United States was a betrayal, and some people expressed many dissatisfied remarks about Yan Ning on the Internet.
But they didn't seem to notice that Yan Ning's nationality was Chinese from beginning to end, and he never changed his nationality even after becoming an academician of the United States.
The honor was earned by her own ability, not by changing her identity, and her research topics were shared globally except for cutting-edge content, and there was no betrayal.
If Yan Ning's only "fault" is perhaps, it is that the place where she was granted the status of academician is not China.
Although he has gained a high reputation in the United States, what he is most concerned about in Yan Ning's heart is still his own country, and he is always ready to return to China and reopen his own research path.
On November 1, 2022, Yan Ning suddenly announced at the "Shenzhen Global Innovation Talent Forum" that he would resign from his teaching position at Princeton University and return to serve as the founding dean of the Shenzhen Academy of Medical Sciences.
Once this news without warning was confirmed, it sparked heated discussions among the people, and Yan Ning's public opinion on the Internet also changed from the previous resentment and blame to the one-sided praise now.
I hope that after returning to China, she can go further on the road she has planned.