What to be wary of behind age anxiety

■ Reporter Hu Minqi Trainee reporter Xu Keying

Newton, who was only 23 years old when he proposed the theory of gravitation, later wrote in a letter to a colleague: "Because I was in the golden age of invention at that time, and my interest in mathematics and philosophy was stronger than ever." ”

One of the founders of quantum mechanics, Paul Dirac, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics at the age of 31, once wrote in a poem: "Old age is a chilling fever, and every physicist is shocked by it." Once he has spent thirty years, he should not live easily than live. ”

With the passage of time, is youth still an absolute capital for creativity?

At the recent Nobel Prize press conference, the 54-year-old American molecular biologist and neurologist Adem Partabodian won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which is particularly striking, after all, the average age of Nobel laureates has been rising. In fact, not only that, but the average age at which Nobel laureates achieve results is about 10 years old from a century ago.

"Heroes from ancient times to teenagers" is no longer suitable for the current field of scientific research? Is this what causes age anxiety among researchers? Under the reality that scientific and technological talents are becoming more and more "late-ripening", how should young researchers maintain their concentration and stimulate vitality?

Scientific and technological talents tend to be older

In 2011, economists Benjamin Jones and Bruce Weinberg, economists at Northwestern University and Ohio State University, published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They sampled 525 Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine between 1901 and 2008. The survey found that in the early days of the Nobel Prize, the average age of scientists when they won the award was 37 years old, but after entering 2000, this average age increased to 47 years old.

After that, Chinese scholars did more detailed research. They counted data from 500 key Scientists who won the Nobel Prize between 1901 and 2011 and analyzed the change in the peak age of scientific creation. The results found that more than 50% of the winners aged 30 to 50 years old were found.

Over the past 120 years, the average age of Nobel Prize results has been rising, ranging from 44 to 47 years old as of 2010, and the trend varies by discipline. The average age of achievement for chemistry prize winners rose from the initial 34.73 years to 45.31 years, the physics prize rose from 35.15 years to 44.54 years, and the physiology or medicine prize rose from 38.47 years to 46.32 years.

In the field of scientific research, young heroes are becoming "endangered species".

The prominence of this phenomenon is related to the laws inherent in the development of science itself. Zhou Zhonghe, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and researcher of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained that science has developed into a towering tree, the knowledge system is becoming more and more large and complex, more and more methods and technologies need to be learned and mastered, and the preparatory period for students to grow into independent scientists has become significantly longer.

"Beyond that, a considerable amount of scientific research is no longer done alone, but rather as a team. Scientists need to exert their own advantages in methodology, experimental capabilities, and even equipment and funds in order to produce results together. Accumulating academic resources and better scheduling these scientific research elements all take time. Zhou Tao, a professor at the School of Computer Science and Engineering of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, said.

Together, these factors make it difficult for today's young researchers to make original and breakthrough results as early as in the past.

There is no need to talk about "old" discoloration

The study of the change law of the peak age of scientists' scientific research has always been a classic topic of concern in scientific sociology, because it is related to the management of scientific and technological talents and the allocation of scientific research resources.

Although scholars at home and abroad do not have very clear and unified conclusions on the research of "peak scientific research creation" and "peak age of scientific research creation", it is generally believed that the peak age of creativity of scientists is about 38 years old.

However, a 2018 study by the Institute of Complex Systems at Northwestern University in Nature shocked this traditional perception. They surveyed a large number of artists and scientists, studying the process by which high-impact works and achievements were produced at their peak. It turns out that most people's careers include at least one relatively brilliant period, and the emergence of this period is very random. This also means that in the past, people's understanding of the "golden age" of scientific research and innovation may have stereotypes.

Zhou Tao also believes that there should be no age limit for scientists. "In the past, we felt that young scientists were more creative mainly because young people were the most energetic and devoted the most time to scientific research. But at that age, the experience and ability to grasp big problems and mobilize various research resources is limited. Therefore, it is difficult to simply say what age has the advantage of scientific research and innovation. ”

He also pointed out that the deep intersection of disciplines has become an inevitable trend. Scientific research is shifting from method-centric to problem-centered, which are all major and real problems, often involving interdisciplinary research objects and interdisciplinary methodologies, which requires the strength of different disciplines, and this kind of leapfrogging between disciplines is more likely to produce unexpected innovations. Mastering interdisciplinary problems, older scientists have more resources, experience, and are more likely to produce results.

"But in China, there is indeed a unique problem of age anxiety, which is not endogenous, but caused by external institutional factors." Zhou Tao said bluntly, "We have spent a lot of effort trying to label scientists, wear hats, and set ratings, so as to allocate resources, resulting in many scholars making their own career plans based on these factors, and the time window close to the evaluation will be very anxious, because one step may be missed step by step." In fact, this anxiety is meaningless and has a side effect on real technological innovation. ”

The growth of a young hero

Innovation is certainly not just a stage for young people, but those who can stand out early in the increasingly "late-ripening" team of scientific and technological talents may help more young researchers to examine themselves.

Zhou Tao, 27 years old, was hired by the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China as the youngest professor, and at the age of 33, he was awarded the 2015 China Top Ten Scientific and Technological Innovation Figures.

In the eyes of others, he is a gifted person, who has achieved excellent results in mathematics, physics and computers since childhood, and likes history, philosophy and martial arts. Only he himself knows that behind the label of "genius" is his almost fanatical love of scientific research.

When he entered the Zero Class of the University of Science and Technology of China as an undergraduate, he and his dormitory classmates put some mathematical problems torn from books in their pants pockets every day, and they would take them out to see when they walked, ate, and even went to the toilet. At night, after the dormitory lights go out, everyone begins to "report" the results of the day's solution, if a problem is not solved on any day, or the solution method is not clever enough, it will be "despised" by the roommates.

During Zhou Tao's phD in physics at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, he could live in a laboratory and work 16 hours a day, even when he first arrived at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

"The human heart is in danger, the Tao is weak, and the essence is the only one, and it is allowed to cling to it." Zhou Tao once explained his values in this way, people should adhere to sincerity, single-mindedness, and abandon all things that are not essential. It was his way to success and something he later passed on to his students. "Firmly believe in the value of science, and enjoy the joy of scientific research, young people only have this initiative, in order to play the potential of scientific research and innovation."

In 2021, the School of Engineering of Westlake University came to the youngest research group leader (PI), 28-year-old Wang Rui. On September 16, he was selected into the Forbes China 2021 30 Under 30 list.

Rui Wang is engaged in perovskite solar cell research, an emerging field with great potential. His main work is to find defects in perovskite materials and prescribe the right medicine, thereby improving the conversion rate of perovskite solar cells.

From studying for a doctorate to joining Westlake University, Wang Rui's working habit is to read literature anytime and anywhere, maintain freshness and curiosity, accumulate a little new idea every day, and once he feels feasible, he immediately rushes to the laboratory to do it. He experimented with countless materials and devices, which was his favorite thing to do as a student.

In 2018, the coffee-loving man had a flash of inspiration during a chat with a colleague: coffee can make people emotionally stable, can it also make the "mood" of perovskites more stable? He further experimented and found that there are two functional groups on the caffeine structure, which are the same as the team's previous research found to control perovskite crystallization and make the material grow better. When he added caffeine to a perovskite solar cell, the output power of the battery was indeed greatly improved.

Wang Rui has not always been so "lucky", but has failed countless times to cultivate such a vision. "I have a requirement for myself and my current students not to follow the big team." Be sure to have your own character and don't be afraid to try and fail. ”

He told China Science News that this belief has also been repeatedly hammered out by his mentors, especially his mentor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Yang Yang, a well-known scientist in the field of photovoltaics in the world.

Yang Yang once said in his self-statement that he has a unique student training model, and before they officially leave the research team, encourage them to come up with whimsical "ideas" that must not have been done before. He also provides a small "start-up fund" to help students research these "ideas." The purpose is to cultivate students' spirit of adventurousness and creativity.

In addition, Wang Rui is also very good at cooperating with people, focusing on the accumulation of interdisciplinary theories and knowledge such as chemistry and biology. He said that this is also inseparable from the guidance of the mentor, who at that time had many members from different disciplinary backgrounds in his team, and interdisciplinary communication was a very important way to stimulate the vitality of innovation.

There is no sense of security where the spirit of adventure comes

It is worth reflecting on that in addition to the objective reasons for the development of science and technology, the institutional environment and scientific research culture make it easier for the current young people to set limits to a certain extent, which is not conducive to the stimulation of their early innovation ability.

In this regard, Liu Guorui, president of the International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and tenured professor at the University of Maryland, shared a unique experience with China Science News.

When Liu Guorui first went to the West Coast of the United States to study, he often ran to the beach to watch people surf. Later, he gradually discovered that scientific research innovation, especially basic research innovation, is very similar to surfing.

"Scientists are like surfers, waiting for a wave, a trend, an opportunity. However, when the wave will appear, where it will appear, whether it will be big or small, cannot be accurately predicted. Liu Guorui explained.

"How a country and a society can ensure continuous innovation, first of all, we need to encourage a large group of people to dare to surf, and everyone should be scattered in different positions; second, we must cultivate a group of people who have the ability to surf, they can't just ride on the wave and fall down; third, we must find more people who can rush the big waves." In this way, we can ensure that no matter where the waves hit, big waves and small waves, someone can always succeed. ”

It's like building a huge talent echelon, and the base of the echelon must be young people, who must continue to participate in this adventure game.

What kind of mentality should young people who surf have? Liu Guorui often told his students: Don't ask about the harvest, only ask about cultivation. "The heart of success or failure is too big, and soon there will be no reluctance to take any more risks because they cannot accept failure."

"However, originality and risk are just twins, and if a society is afraid of failure and cannot accept failure, there is no way to encourage more young people to take risks." Liu Guorui said.

Zhou Tao also admitted that today's young people are indeed lacking in risk-taking spirit. "This is because we have set up a lot of policies that make young people very anxious, especially at their doctoral level, to hurry up and publish articles, to get stable positions, to fight for more resources." A highly competitive, desperately utilitarian society has very low fault tolerance, so that young people have no sense of security, and where does the insecure people get the spirit of adventure? ”

Zhou Zhonghe pointed out that the core of these anxious policies is digital evaluation. The existing evaluation system exacerbates young people's self-limitation and self-imposed imprisonment during the most energetic period. He believes that controlling excessive competition, on the basis of taking into account efficiency and fairness, giving young people more guaranteed resources, so that they can do their favorite research relatively freely, is the fundamental way to motivate young people to be bold and innovative.

Source: China Science Daily