In the last century, the Li family successively produced three academicians, namely Mr. Li Siguang, a famous Chinese geologist, who was first elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955.
His daughter Li Lin and son-in-law Zou Chenglu, experts specializing in physics and biochemistry, respectively, were elected as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980, thus creating an honorary event for three academicians.
Li Siguang's family of four and three academicians
Many scientists are not well-known, and even many people cannot purely understand their fields of expertise, and it may be difficult to know their great contributions to the development of national science from the contributions and honors.
"He is the founder of biochemistry in modern China, and created Zou's formula and Zou's drawing method."
Mr. Zou Chenglu is no different, but the position of "synthetic insulin" in the history of Chinese science must be known to everyone, and Zou Chenglu is a legendary creator of Chinese insulin history.
Zou Chenglu in his youth
The main role of insulin is to control blood sugar, as early as the early 20s of the 20th century, this hormone has been widely used in clinical trials abroad, saving tens of thousands of patients who have died of diabetes, the importance of insulin can be seen.
However, until the founding of New China, China has not successfully developed insulin for clinical treatment, and many people suffering from diabetes in China can only treat it as an incurable disease, and doctors, relatives and friends have no choice but to watch a living life die.
Premier Zhou Enlai has repeatedly put forward the slogan of "developing scientific undertakings", and everyone from the country, leaders to scientists has gathered enough energy to make efforts to move forward for the development of national science.
There are not many scientific talents in China, and funds, equipment, and materials are stretched, but the poorer and whiter, the more energetic scientists are.
Just in time for the boom in the world's biochemical research in the 50s of the 20th century, the predecessors have studied the sequence structure of bovine insulin very thoroughly, and the next project to be completed is how to "synthesize it".
The task is arduous, but led by several researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the project was created, a project team was established, and in order to make the "new China born in the cradle" gain a firm foothold in the world as soon as possible, the project period was set for only 5 years.
In 1959, the Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences established a project team
In 5 years, the project team composed of more than 30 researchers aimed at synthesizing bovine insulin, and they began to be turbulent, and Mr. Zou Chenglu was one of the initiators.
In 1941, Zou Chenglu studied chemistry at Southwest United University, and after graduation, he won the opportunity to study abroad at public expense with the first place, and he continued to study biochemistry at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and he and his wife Li Lin were both students of Cambridge University, so they got acquainted.
Zou Chenglu and Li Lin are at the University of Cambridge, UK
Under the tutelage of Professor Keeling, a well-known scholar in the field, he published a single-signed paper in the British Journal of Nature during his graduate studies.
In 1951, he returned to China immediately after graduation and joined the Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Zou Chenglu, who successfully graduated
Young people are like-minded, towards a common goal, not afraid of hardship and fatigue, build their own factory without a factory, and wear gas masks to produce without amino acids.
What was missing, they all made up for it with a fearless spirit, but for months, the research did not progress, and the members who were originally full of strength were inevitably hit.
Fortunately, it did not take long for the group led by Zou Chenglu to win the first battle and complete the first step of synthetic insulin, which is also the most difficult and critical step: the dismantling of natural insulin, Zou Chenglu is mainly responsible for the disassembly of insulin A chain and B chain, which also makes scientists once again hopeful.
Zou Chenglu at work
However, at that time, the development of China's scientific undertakings was carried out in secret, and it was not publicly published and communicated internationally, so it missed many "firsts" and passed by important international awards such as the Nobel Prize many times.
Less than a year after Zou Chenglu achieved this major progress, American scientist Anfenson won the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his technique of disassembling and joining biochemical substances.
Artificial insulin synthesis project team commemoration
Zou Chenglu's discovery was exciting, and for a while, more and more researchers joined the research team of synthetic insulin, as many as hundreds, but there were no further results for a long time.
In the four years from 1960 to 1964, the project of synthetic insulin came to a standstill, coupled with the impact of three years of natural disasters, the already modest scientific research funds were even worse, and the lack of concentration of resources delayed the progress of the project.
Meeting to discuss future progress of the insulin program
On the basis of Zou Chenglu's invention, the state decided to streamline institutions and personnel, concentrate resources and advantages to focus on key research, fortunately, a few months later, the technology of insulin A chain and B chain synthesis had good results.
Now there is only the last step, that is, the synthetic A chain and B chain produce the same substance as natural insulin, so as to ensure the efficacy and effect of synthetic insulin.
Member of the project team in the study
After Zou Chenglu determined the route of total insulin synthesis, Du Yucang, a young scientist in his team, took on the final synthesis experiment.
He worked day and night in the laboratory, and finally completed the total synthesis of crystalline bovine insulin on September 17, 1965.
So far, the results that the entire project team has been waiting for for six years have finally been realized, and many people have burst into tears to welcome this major theoretical and applied invention.
After the test in mice, the synthetic bovine insulin was consistent with the natural bovine insulin in structure, biological activity, physicochemical properties and crystal shape.
The success of this project is inseparable from the hard work of hundreds of people behind this project, and even more inseparable from the founder Mr. Zou Chenglu, who opened the door of this project and pointed out the future route.
Second from right Du Yucang
In 1965, China "born" the world's first synthetic protein, synthetic insulin has left a strong mark in the entire history of Chinese science, and Zou Chenglu, who made important contributions to the project, has also won many honors.
In 1966, Chinese biochemists Wang Yingli, Zou Chenglu and Gong Yueting were invited to participate in a joint meeting organized by the International Society of Biochemistry, where they presented the results.
This marks the first shot of China to the international biochemical community, and since then, the scientific barriers between domestic and foreign countries have gradually melted, which is not only a praise for the efforts of Chinese scientists day and night, but also a recognition of China's scientific development strength.
Mr. Zou Chenglu's contributions to the academic field of science speak for themselves, and during his 10 years at Cambridge, he accepted many advanced Western ideas and returned to China immediately after completing his studies.
In 1970, after the successful completion of the synthetic insulin project, he was transferred to the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and finally ended his long-term separation from his wife (his wife Li Lin had previously been transferred to Beijing to do physics and atomic materials research because of work needs), and the family was finally reunited in Beijing.
Zou Chenglu and Li Lin
In 1978, Mr. Zou Chenglu, who was 55 years old, continued to be active in the field of scientific research, and in order to continue to pass on the scientific spirit and scientific knowledge, he recruited the first batch of graduate students and began to send talents to the biochemistry community.
Mr. Zou Chenglu is the most pure and true person, he does not have so many twists and turns, whether in the field of scientific research or academia, his philosophy has always been "stand with the truth".
He is like a "fighter of truth" who will never fall, and the reason why he says this is because Zou Chenglu has always been outspoken, he does not care about "offending" others, and he never tolerates some default rules.
He has repeatedly called for rectifying unhealthy tendencies such as "paper signature hitchhiking" and "paid publicity", defending the dignity of science, and fighting for national scientific research, which shows his love for science.
Because of Zou Chenglu's outspoken personality, there are also many "legends" that are unfavorable to him, and where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and even the fact that Yuan Longping's grandfather failed to evaluate the academician was also held on Mr. Zou Chenglu's head.
But in fact, because the country's setting of academicians at that time was limited to "scientific exploration", hybrid rice, although it made great contributions, did not belong to this field division, so there was no possibility of Zou Chenglu, then director of the biology department, "black box operation", and even he did not participate in the discussion of Yuan Longping's selection meeting.
Today, China has established academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Grandpa Yuan Longping is also among them.
"Mr. Zou Chenglu is a patriotic scientist, and there is no doubt that he is also a person with personality and characteristics.
He has never been afraid of academic battles, and his true and frank character is famous in the circle, such as publicly criticizing the "phenomenon of academic moral slippage", "academic fraud", "false exaggeration of achievements" at the two sessions, etc., and once said to students: "You don't have time to deal with these offending things, or I will do them."
This fighter who always stood by the truth and defended the dignity of science was such a real person, from the beginning of his studies, he clearly dedicated his life to the country and science, and his life never forgot his original intention, always practicing the principle of "striving for scientific truth and avoiding the pursuit of newsworthiness".
In 2006, Academician Zou Chenglu died of illness in Beijing at the age of 83, a journey that left wonderful results for China, the people and the world.
The students, scientists, and ordinary people like us who were influenced by him will be the embodiment of his scientific spirit, and his dedication and dedication deserve to be recorded and remembered by more people in a longer chapter and time.