At the beginning of 2020, when the epidemic in the country was at its most severe, a shocking cyberbullying swept in. Scientist Yan Ning announced in public that he liked actor Zhu Yilong, but was bombarded by fans of another traffic actor Xiao Zhan. This seemingly unbelievable event reveals the extraordinary challenges faced by scientists as a community in the age of social media.
Yan Ning's life is full of legends. In 1977, she was born in a rural family in Zhangqiu District, Jinan City, Shandong Province, and her parents implemented a free-range policy for her, as long as she was healthy and happy. This informal growth environment has cultivated Yan Ning's extraordinary curiosity and open-minded character.
After graduating from high school, Yan Ning was successfully admitted to Tsinghua University and began her academic exploration in the field of biological science and technology. However, she faced a huge dilemma during her doctoral studies at Princeton University, an internationally renowned university. At world-class Princeton, she felt that her experimental skills were not enough to meet the demands of her mentor. However, Yan Ning did not give up lightly, but thought calmly, continuously improved himself by observing the learning methods of his classmates Xi, and finally successfully completed complex biochemical experiments independently.
Yan Ning's scientific research achievements have caused a sensation in the industry, and she has led the team to analyze the structure of multiple membrane proteins, becoming one of the world's high-profile biological scientists. However, at the peak of his career, Yan Ning chose to return to China, gave up the superior conditions in the United States, and returned to his alma mater, Tsinghua University, to teach. The decision was impressive, and she became the youngest professor and doctoral supervisor at Tsinghua University.
Although Yan Ning has gained wide recognition in China, she has not been carried away by the praise. On the contrary, she continued to work silently in the field of structural biology, overcoming seemingly insurmountable problems one after another. In 2014, she led a team to resolve the three-dimensional crystal structure of the human glucose transporter GLUT1 for the first time in just six months, an achievement that was described as a "great achievement" by Nobel laureate in chemistry Brian Kobir.
However, Yan Ning's career has not been without smooth sailing. After being elected as a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, she faced online rumors and malicious attacks. A series of false remarks spread, and some people even fabricated Yan Ning's remarks when he was elected as an academician of the Academy of Sciences, causing public outrage. Yan Ning himself had to clarify on Weibo, and at the same time, the Nanchang Internet Police dealt with the rumor-mongers.
It is incomprehensible that the private preferences of scientists have become the trigger for online violence. Yan Ning's appreciation of Zhu Yilong caused dissatisfaction among Xiao Zhan's fans, and it turned into a crazy cyber violence against Yan Ning. The "A03 Xiao Zhan incident" highlights the vulnerable position of scientists on social media that are vulnerable to outside interference.
After this turmoil, Yan Ning kept a lower profile and focused on his scientific research work. In November 2022, she announced that she would return to China to serve as the president of the Shenzhen Academy of Medical Sciences, which once again attracted public attention. In the face of various speculations and doubts about her on the Internet, Yan Ning said that she was just returning to China to realize her dream and return to her motherland's scientific research career.
Today, 46-year-old Yan Ning is still unmarried, and her persistence and talent are admirable. In this era full of changes, as a scientist, she has shown her persistence in scientific research and open-mindedness to her personality. Her life was a perfect combination of science and art, and an inspiration to those who tried to break the shackles of tradition.