"Cross" out of a beautiful life

In 1987, Shen Shizhao (center) carried out a model test at the Chaoyang Gymnasium in Beijing. Profile photo

The reporter took you into HIT

Discover the beauty of the Great Span

Listen to Shen Shizhao's life story

【Striving for Youth, No Regrets Decision (2)】

Someone on zhihu asked: "What kind of cattle people in China have a large cross-structure?" The answer with the highest praise was: "The most cattle in China should still be Shen Shizhao." ”

Who is Shen Shizhao? He is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the recipient of the highest achievement award of the China Steel Structure Association. 68 years ago, he chose to take root in the Northern Ice City and became one of the famous "Eight Hundred Heroes" of HIT.

From the Asian Games venues and bird's nests to the large-span spatial structure of the active reflection field of the world's largest radio telescope, the Sky Eye, Shen Shizhao and his team must be a masterpiece - "Our time and energy are not allowed to be wasted on routine projects." ”

In the course of his 88 years of life so far, Shen Shizhao has experienced many peak circuits. At every juncture in life, "whether it is beneficial to the country" is the only criterion for him to make a choice.

Obsessed like an academician of Iron One

In the autumn of 1953, Shen Shizhao, who had just graduated from the Structural Engineering Department of Tongji University in Shanghai, carried a notice of registration and embarked on a special train to the north with 1,500 university graduates and rushed to the northern Xinjiang of the motherland. Coincidentally, this day is September 10, which is the day of Teachers' Day. Since then, his whole life has been closely related to the sacred profession of teaching.

After three days and three nights of riding the train, and through the bumps of the carriage, Shen Shizhao finally came to Harbin Institute of Technology and began his career as a teacher and graduate student in the "domestic Stay in the Soviet Union".

Li Chang, the old president of HIT, once said that Harbin is the "three most" places with the coldest weather, the lowest treatment and the most bitter life. From the gentle and rich Jiangnan water town, to the modern and prosperous Shanghai, and finally settled in the northern ice city, Shen Shizhao said, "It feels very good."

"Very good feeling", the reference object is the suffering experience and feeling of the old society. In 1937, Shen Shizhao was 4 years old, and his hometown of Jiaxing fell. When the country suffers, why should the people be at peace? It goes without saying that his father, who was still in his prime, fell ill with typhoid fever and died because of the war and could not get timely medical treatment. Since then, the family's livelihood has been struggled by the mother, who works as an obstetrician and gynecologist.

When New China was founded, a hundred wastes were to be rebuilt, and a hundred industries were waiting to be lifted. "Learning the professions most needed by the motherland and going to the places where the motherland needs them most" became the only ambition of Shen Shizhao and the young intellectuals of that era.

From 1955 onwards, Shen Shizhao continued his studies with Professor Kagang, the leader of the Soviet union's wood structure discipline, and his character and talent were appreciated by Kagang. 1956 was an important milestone in the history of China's modern science and technology development, the Party Central Committee issued a call to "march to science", and it was also in this year that Shen Shizhao, who finished his postgraduate studies and planned to return to the south to work, was invited by Professor Kagang to stay at HIT as Professor Kagang's assistant and continue to engage in the teaching and research of wooden structures.

This was an important turning point in life. But Shen Shizhao didn't think much about it: "Okay, no problem." A simple answer has become a solemn commitment to take root in HIT and the northern Xinjiang of the motherland for a lifetime.

At that time, there were many young talents like Shen Shizhao who stayed at HIT. By 1957, there were more than 800 young teachers with an average age of only 27.5 years old and almost all teaching and scientific research tasks, and they had a common name - hit hit the "eight hundred heroes". In just over a decade, they have founded 24 new majors and created a number of emerging disciplines, adding an unforgettable stroke to the history of China's higher education and industrialization.

There are two groups of "eight hundred heroes" shining in the depths of history - the "eight hundred strong men" of the Sihang Warehouse are talking about indomitable perseverance in difficulties, while the "eight hundred strong men" of HIT are talking about the hard work in hope, and both show the glorious side of nationality.

Immersed in teaching and hard research, Shen Shizhao became a well-known wood structure expert in China in the 1960s and 1970s. However, the turning point in life has once again come by accident. The lack of wood resources in China has led to the application of wood structures in engineering less and less, and the development of wood structure disciplines has encountered bottlenecks.

In 1978, Shen Shizhao won the first batch of opportunities to study abroad with the first place in English in Heilongjiang Province, and in 1979, he went to the Fritz Institute of Engineering of caspian University in the United States for two years. Therefore, Shen Shizhao's research direction "crosses" to the field of steel structure, the reason is very simple - with the development of China's economy and society, the construction of large public buildings will certainly be more and more, and large-span spatial structures should be useful.

Large-span spatial structure generally refers to various types of structures that span more than 60 meters in three dimensions, and are mostly used in large public buildings such as airports and sports venues, which is an important symbol of the development level of national building science and technology. As one of the founders and pioneers of China's large-span space structure, shen Shizhao's scientific research career has several key words throughout.

An innovation. Taking "Tianyan" as an example, the active reflection surface cable network structure scheme pioneered by Shen Shizhao's team successfully solved the problems that had not been solved by many scientific research institutions before, and provided strong technical support and guarantee for the project. In view of hit-and-file contributions, the National Astronomical Observatory applied to the International Astronomical Union to name a newly discovered asteroid "HIT Star".

Two days hard. Shen Shizhao's students still keep for him more than a foot thick scratch paper, which is densely packed with calculations and formulas. This is a draft of shen shizhao's calculation formula for the derivation of the structural scheme when he participated in the design of the Jilin Skating Hall in 1982, and there was no computer that year, and the calculation of the amount of days was all done manually.

The three days attach importance to basic theory. Shen Shizhao believes that it is indispensable to work in colleges and universities and do some theoretical research. Since the 1980s, he has led students to immerse themselves in the theoretical study of spatial structure. "The construction of basic theory is to gnaw hard bones." His student, Professor Fan Feng, who is now the assistant to the president of HIT and doctoral supervisor, said, "Under the leadership of Mr. Shen, the large-span spatial structure team of HIT is like building a building, brick by brick from scratch, little by little, from stability, wind resistance, earthquake resistance and other aspects to build a complete theoretical system, and turn our theoretical achievements into norms to guide the development of the industry." This is one thing that doesn't have much economic benefit, and it's also one thing that needs to endure loneliness. ”

Gentle as a jade true gentleman

Behind Shen Shizhao, who is obsessed with his career like iron and diligently pursuing, there is another Shen Shizhao who is indifferent to fame and fortune and a humble gentleman. The two serve as footnotes to each other, forming a rich and self-consistent polyphony of life.

In Shen Shizhao's office, an inscription of "Thick Planted Tuk Xing" hangs in the most conspicuous place. why? "Continuous accumulation and thick roots can achieve foresight, lift heavy weights, and do not invade obliquely, and govern and behave in the same way." Practice what you preach, unite knowledge and action, and constantly improve yourself while serving the society, which is a gentleman's deed. ”

Thick planting must first be deeply cultivated. HIT is located in the northern Xinjiang of the motherland, and in the past, traffic and information were relatively closed. This is beneficial in the eyes of Shen Shizhao and his disciples: "We are doing basic research, we do not rely too much on the external environment, there is not much transactional interference, but it is conducive to us to calm down and have some improvement in theory." ”

All along, Shen Shizhao always consciously pushed his disciples to the front desk, not only to put pressure on them, but also to build ladders for them. Fan Feng also remembers that the research direction of his doctoral project is the seismic resistance of large-span spatial structures. This is part of a major project of the State Natural Science Foundation of China during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, and when the project was first approved, the person in charge was Shen Shizhao; at the time of acceptance, Shen Shizhao wrote Fan Feng as the person in charge of the topic. In the structural design of the "Heavenly Eye", although Shen Shizhao played the main guiding role, he let the disciples Fan Feng and Qian Hongliang come to the forefront.

Shen Shizhao laughed and said, "This feeling is like a father leading his children forward." Under such a new and old inheritance, the disciples have become industry leaders who can be reused, and the collective "Spatial Structure Research Center" has become a first-class academic team with combat effectiveness.

The wind and bones of the world are always there. Shen Shizhao is a person with a high satisfaction with life, in his view, half a steamed bun and a cup of milk is a hearty meal. And for the cause, he never said that he was satisfied. For 19 years, Shen Shizhao and his team, who have been on the front line of scientific research and engineering, have not submitted any national awards. "I don't think much of those who apply for the award every year, we have to be like this before we can take it out." ——This is the only time that the reporter heard about Shen Shizhao's denial of others in the whole interview. In the year of the 2016 Annual Report Award, Shen Shizhao's team won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the first prize of that year was vacant.

"To do learning, the first thing is to learn to be a person, otherwise learning is not big." Shen Shizhao said. Dry civil projects, it is easy to get fame and fortune, but he never lets team members undertake the design of ordinary projects. "Is there any reluctance?" In the face of reporters' questions, 38-year-old associate professor Zhang Qingwen sincerely replied: "Every progress we make represents the progress of the international span of space. ”

Gentlemen are square, gentle as jade. People who have seen Shen Shizhao always say that he smiles and squints at anyone. "He didn't fall down when he never did." Fan Feng recalled.

On the day of the interview, Shen Shizhao was taking a group photo with the graduating master's students of the Spatial Structure Research Center of the School of Civil Engineering of HIT. In order to mobilize everyone's atmosphere, the photographer asked loudly: "Is the academician handsome?" With an age difference of one nail, the students of the disciples and great-grandchildren replied in unison: "Handsome! ”

Sitting in the middle, 88-year-old Shen Shizhao was happy like a child. For him, the beauty of the big span is not only in the spatial structure, but also in the life without regrets.

(Reporters Zhang Yan, Zhang Shiying, Chang Ying)

Source: Guangming Daily