October 11
Xinhua Daily Telegraph
Ding Zhaozhong's Roots-Before and After the Construction of the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph, October 11
On the shore of the turbulent Yellow Sea, on the vast plain of Rizhao Bay, a strangely shaped building with brilliant lights day and night attracts people to stop and watch. Since its inception, this building has made the dreams of thousands of teenagers chasing science a reality, and made real scientific experiments appear in front of them.
The emergence of all these scenes is related to the Nobel Prize in Physics, Professor Ding Zhaozhong of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This starts with Ding Zhaozhong's roots.
Ding Zhaozhong pushed open the door of his hometown. (Photo courtesy of the author)
"I'm coming back, I'm coming back......"
"Rizhao big bay, Taoluo small Jiangnan."
Taoda Town is also known as Taokou. Because the town is located near Qingdao and is close to Shanghai by boat from the sea, it also had a prosperous time before and after the end of China's imperial system.
There are four largest businesses in Taoda Town, which were called the Four Great Records at that time. Among them, Yongji is run by the father of Professor Ding Guanhai (Ding Zhaozhong's father). Yong Kee has four sailing ships and is armed, and when the annual trade wind comes, Yong Kee sets sail full of local products produced by the residents of nearby villages and towns. Most of these sailing ships sailed to Qingdao, Shanghai and other places, sold local products, and then returned to the town with all kinds of imported goods from the big cities.
People live a life of peace and contentment in this town, and every day at dawn they first see a round of red sun, rising from the vast sea, and in the magnificent scenery of the East China Sea at sunrise, they can't help but chant: "The sun shines on the big bay, and the waves are small in the south of the Yangtze River!" ”
Year after year, the Ding family lives a leisurely and prosperous life in this small town near the sea and abundant products.
Soon, disaster struck, and Ding Zhaozhong's grandfather, who was only 38 years old, died. Ding Zhaozhong's father, Ding Guanhai, left his hometown at the age of 13 and went to Qingdao to study alone. In 1929, Ding Guanhai was admitted to the School of Civil Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Later, when he was studying at Guanghua University in Shanghai, he fell in love with a female classmate named Wang Junying and got married.
Due to her outstanding academics, Wang Junying was sent to United States University of Michigan for further study. After graduating from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Ding Guanhai used the money from his mother's house sale to buy a ferry ticket and also arrived in Michigan, United States. Soon after the two got married, Wang Junying became pregnant.
Ding Zhaozhong recalled: "I was born in the early days of the Second World War in a family of professors and revolutionaries, and my parents wanted me to be born in China, but when they visited United States, I was born early, and because of this accident, I became a United States citizen, and this sudden episode also affected my life......
When he was three months old, Ding Zhaozhong returned to China.
On one occasion, when he gave a report to young people, he said: "Because of the situation in China at that time, I had always been a refugee, constantly fleeing from one place to another. At that time, it was not possible for me to get any formal education, and it was only because my parents were university professors that we had enough to eat and could always find a proper place to live...... In terms of material conditions, my childhood may not have been as fortunate as that of the children in Beijing today. ”
More than half a century has passed, and one summer, Ding Zhaozhong and his wife Susan came to Rizhao City, where he visited his former residence, relatives and friends, and visited his ancestral grave. This time back to his hometown, he is very concerned about the education of his hometown, he said: "What kind of career needs talents, every time I come back in the past few years, I have been through the Ministry of Education, the Academy of Sciences, the national key universities to select the best students in physics to work with me, get a doctorate, unfortunately, so far there are no students from Shandong." ”
The next day, he returned with reluctance: "I still have to come back, and I have to come back......"
Ding Zhaozhong not only has deep affection for his hometown, but also cares deeply about his hometown and the growth of talents in Shandong. After years of struggle, he won the Nobel Prize, but he did not forget his roots, the ancient land that he dreamed of day and night, and the people who lived in his homeland. He made affectionate messages, earnestly exhorted him, and in disregard of the opposition of the United States authorities present, he rightly and confidently talked about his wishes.
On December 10, 1976, when Ding Zhaozhong accepted the Nobel Prize, he first delivered a speech in Chinese and then in English about his Nobel Prize in physics for discovering J particles: "Winning the Nobel Prize is the greatest honor for a scientist......
Ding Zhaozhong and his son took a photo under the street sign of their ancestral home. (Photo courtesy of the author)
8 root-seeking trips
Over the next 40 years, Professor Ding Zhaozhong has made eight journeys to find his roots.
On the west bank of the Olympic Water Park in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, the core area of the city's central vitality area, the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum, covering an area of 192 acres, with a construction area of 20,000 square meters and an exhibition area of 12,000 square meters, has risen from the ground. The author has interviewed Li Zhiyi, director of the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum, many times, who has experienced the whole process from putting forward the proposal for the construction of the Science and Technology Museum to planning and design, exhibition planning and design, model production and exhibition arrangement, and opening management and operation. Li Zhiyi said that the foundation stone of the Science and Technology Museum started on July 21, 2017, partially opened to the public in October 2019, and fully opened for trial operation on June 1, 2020. Professor Ding has returned to his hometown eight times, four of which have visited the construction site of the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum.
On June 28, 1985, Ding Zhaozhong and his wife, Dr. Susan, returned to their hometown of Rizhao, Shandong Province after a 47-year absence, to seek their roots and worship their ancestors, and accepted the invitation of the municipal government to serve as the honorary principal of Rizhao Marine Fisheries School.
Ding Zhaozhong wrote: "I am glad to see the progress of my hometown, I feel deeply gratified, and I thank you for your hard work. ”
On this return to his hometown, he visited the coal terminal, his former home and paid homage to his ancestors.
In 2002, he returned to his hometown. After paying homage to his ancestors' tombs, he said, "I really should bring my son back, let him see it, let him know that his roots are here." ”
After the visit, he had a cordial conversation with the villagers.
On June 17, 2005, after returning to his hometown, Ding Zhaozhong, together with his wife and son, went to the ancestral residence of Taoda Town, Donggang District, Rizhao, and attended the unveiling ceremony of the ancestral home science and technology exhibition hall, and visited the ancestral home "Chongde Hall" and the science and technology exhibition hall. When visiting the ancestral tomb, he said to his son Ding Mingtong: "Your root is here! Your roots are here! ”
On July 14, 2012, Ding Zhaozhong led his family back to their ancestral home. After walking around, he entered his childhood study, sat on a wooden stool, felt the ancient national culture, and chatted cordially with the students in his hometown.
On October 9, 2014, Ding Zhaozhong returned to Rizhao again, participated in the design plan seminar of the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum, took his son Ding Mingtong back to his hometown and took a photo with his son under the street sign of "Ding Zhaozhong's ancestral residence".
On July 21, 2017, Ding Zhaozhong returned to Rizhao. This time, he participated in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum, awarded the "Ding Zhaozhong Scholarship", and paid homage to his ancestors.
On July 19 and October 1, 2018, he came to Rizhao again to participate in the review meeting of the exhibition plan of the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum and the completion ceremony of the main body of the building. During this period, he returned to his ancestral home and paid homage to his ancestral grave.
Li Zhiyi said that the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum takes "exploration, discovery, experimentation, and truth-seeking" as the concept, and the permanent exhibition hall is based on Professor Ding Zhaozhong's scientific experiments and discoveries to explore the material world, especially the six famous experiments that have a huge impact on the development of world physics. The museum also has a special exhibition hall, a temporary exhibition hall, a multi-functional academic lecture hall, a youth science studio, a special effects theater and other functional areas. Designed by Cui Kai, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the building embodies the concept of "Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)" that Professor Ding Zhaozhong explores the origin of the universe.
Since its opening and operation, the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum has focused on building a characteristic science popularization platform, carried out a series of fruitful work, and innovatively created a number of brand projects such as "Science Classes in the Science and Technology Museum", "Rizhao Science Lecture Hall", "Rizhao Science Games" and "Science and Cultural Relics Popularization". It has won more than 100 national, provincial and municipal honors, such as the first batch of national popular science education bases, the first batch of national scientist spirit education bases, the provincial patriotism education base of Shandong Province, and the provincial research base for primary and secondary school students. In addition to the popular science education function of the conventional science and technology museum, the Rizhao Museum also has the functions of collection, research, cultural museum and academic exchange, and is a unique science museum in China.
Source: Xinhua News Agency