The son's "invention" is similar to his father's research, is there an "academic spelling father"?

■ Observer

Reject the "fight daddy" of the academic community, and return the stage of the youth science and technology innovation competition to the teenagers.

Recently, Liu Jianguo, president of the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was accused of using the scientific research results of himself and the laboratory team for his son Liu Mouyang to win the award. It is understood that his son has won two invention awards, both of which are highly similar to his father's research results. In this regard, on October 26, Liu Jianguo responded to the media, saying, "Don't just look at the appearance, go and see what is different." On the 27th, the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences also issued a statement saying that it had investigated the matter.

In response to the above matters, some netizens call this the scientific and technological innovation version of "Spelling Daddy"; some netizens think that it is normal, the father is a scientist, the child follows the study, there is nothing wrong. What needs to be recognized is that Liu Jianguo is in the field of scientific research, and has natural convenience in guiding children to learn, and it is blameless to guide children to learn science and technology.

However, it is worth noting that directly writing the child's name on the team's scientific research results "changing the soup without changing the medicine" and the guidance of the child only stay at the "point dial" level are two different things. If it is the former, it is not only disrespectful to the work of its own project members, but also unfair to the other players participating in the competition.

Of course, at present, the matter has not yet been conclusive, and the voices of the personnel involved have not yet been fully reflected, and we cannot arbitrarily say that there must be cattiness in it. Whether Liu Mouyang uses the scientific research results of his father's project, and whether Liu Jianguo has violated the law to help Liu Mouyang, in the final analysis, it depends on whether the operation of both sides is in line with the norms. If Liu Mouyang directly takes the scientific research results of his father Liu Jianguo's team as his original content, this is a problem. The truth of the incident still needs to be strictly investigated by the relevant departments.

What needs to be clear is that the reason why this matter has caused controversy is that many people are vigilant about the "big hand holding small hand" behavior in the academic community. Such incidents are not isolated. For example, in July 2020, the news that "primary school students made master's and doctoral scientific research results were suspected of being fake" was on the hot search, but in the end there was no public investigation results.

It should be noted that the original intention of the youth science and technology innovation competition is to cultivate the innovative spirit and practical ability of young people, improve the scientific and technological quality of young people, and promote the popularization and development of science and technology education. However, if the parents secretly violate the "assist", it is obviously contrary to the original intention of the competition.

Some experts have pointed out that some parents participate in various competition activities at any cost for utilitarian purposes such as their children's enrollment and further education, which seriously violates the original intention and intention of the competition. This seriously affects the fairness of further education admissions. These "divine operations" may also lay the groundwork for the counterfeiting of Chinese academia.

In recent years, a number of people who have participated in such competitions have revealed that some of the scientific research projects participated in the competition are fraudulent, and many scientific research topics and experimental difficulties have reached the level of master's and doctoral degrees, and are not able to complete independently by primary and secondary school students who are busy with their studies.

When these artificial "geniuses" emerge in the public eye, their impact is obviously very bad, and it is not only these children who are "fed" scientific research results, but also the new generation of reserves who are really interested in academia.

At present, the matter is still under investigation. But in any case, the field of scientific research must resolutely resist the "fight daddy" game, return the stage of the youth science and technology innovation competition to the teenagers, so that the teenagers who are truly interested in academics can more confidently display their talents.

□ Ding Hui (Media Person)