Hou Xianglin: An old man who is "related" to oil

　　He often said that he was just an ordinary person, but he did extraordinary things. He has received countless honors in his life, but he has never been ostentatious. He is Hou Xianglin, the pioneer and founder of science and technology in China's refining industry and an academician of the two academies.

　　Hou Xianglin, who has been with chemical technology all his life, initially became interested in chemistry from the "off-topic" of a chemistry teacher in middle school, who told the students that there is great energy in the nucleus of the atom, and if it is released, it will have great power. Hou Xianglin, who was impulsive as a teenager, was very excited to hear it, and he did not understand that this was physics and not chemical research, so he became fascinated with chemistry and determined to take the study of chemistry as his lifelong career. In 1944, Hou Xianglin crossed the ocean to the United States for further study. After receiving his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1948, he did research at the Fuel Research Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. In May 1950, Hou Xianglin resolutely gave up the superior scientific research conditions abroad and returned to the motherland. First, he worked as a researcher in the Fuel Research Office of Tsinghua University, engaged in artificial oil. Later, he went to Dalian Industrial Chemistry Research Institute to organize oil refining scientific research.

　　Chinese who lived through the energy shortages of the 1960s will not forget this scene: walking on the street, oil-free cars carrying heavy gas bags, gasping like heavy cattle... At this moment, China is facing a nationwide "oil shortage" and urgently needs the "blood" to maintain the operation of the country.

　　Daqing Oilfield solves the raw material problem, but black oil needs to go through a refining process to be converted into gasoline, kerosene and diesel. Hou Xianglin, then vice president of the Petroleum Research Institute and deputy head of the leading group of new materials of the Ministry of Petroleum Industry, took over the task of studying "blood" for the motherland, and proposed: as soon as possible, he mastered the refining technology related to fluidized catalytic cracking, platinum reforming, delayed coking, urea dewaxing, and related catalysts and additives related to the production of gasoline, diesel and lubricating oil. After several years of efforts, five new refining technologies have been successfully developed, so that the self-sufficiency rate of four major categories of products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel and lubricating oil in China has reached 100%. Since then, China's refining technology has achieved a major leap forward, and thus created a new situation of independent development of China's refining technology.

　　At the end of 1978, China's crude oil production exceeded 100 million tons for the first time, but the demand for oil in the development of the national economy grew rapidly, and the contradiction between production and marketing became increasingly prominent. Hou Xianglin, who was already vice minister of the Ministry of Petroleum Industry at this time, put forward the theory of "implementing unified command, unified sales, unified foreign trade, and strengthening the in-depth processing of crude oil by large oil refineries and chemical plants using oil as raw materials, based on his own thoughts for many years and the investigation and research of many experts."

　　Even though he has long become a titan in the scientific community, Hou Xianglin has always been indifferent to fame and fortune, and he never allows renting a special car in order to save the country's foreign exchange when he goes abroad. Although the achievements achieved are enough to go down in history, Hou Xianglin still maintains a low profile and humility, he said: "I am a very ordinary person, and what I do is also very ordinary, and I have no legendary color in my life, and there are no outstanding deeds." If there is a little achievement, it is also the result of working together with colleagues, and there is nothing to be proud of. ”

　　In 2004, Hou Xianglin, who was 91 years old at the time, personally led the leader of the research group of "Sustainable Development of Oil and Gas Resources Strategy Research" and completed the task with excellence. How can such a scientist with a noble personality not impress us? Hou Xianglin is extraordinary, not only because of his contribution to the country, but also because of the master spirit that shines in him.