The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was won by American scientists Eric Betzig, Wilhelm Mona and German scientist Stefan Hale. However, after the list was published, it caused dissatisfaction among many experts who believed that the judges had serious racism and sexism, so why did this situation occur?
It turned out that the three scientists who won the award were awarded for the development of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy technology. A Chinese female scientist named Zhuang Xiaowei also invented an ultra-high resolution imaging method based on single-molecule fluorescence detection in 2006. Even her achievements in this area are greater than those of the three scientists, so everyone thought that her winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was a matter of ironclad. Unexpectedly, she was not on the list of the most deserving awards, so everyone was unfair to her and accused the Nobel Prize in Chemistry of being unfair.
So, what kind of person is Zhuang Xiaowei, and what kind of attitude does she have towards this matter?
(Zhuang Xiaowei)
Born in 1972 in Rugao, Jiangsu Province, Zhuang Xiaowei's parents were scientists and both of them held professorships at the Academy of Engineering Sciences at the University of Science and Technology of China.
Before Zhuang Xiaowei was 5 years old, due to her parents' busy work, she was fostered in her grandfather's house, and it was not until she was 5 years old that she was picked up by her parents.
Zhuang Xiaowei said that she made a wish to become a scientist at a very young age, on the one hand, under the influence of her parents, on the other hand, it was also related to the affirmation of her father Zhuang Lixian.
According to Zhuang Xiaowei' recollection, it was an incident that happened shortly after she was picked up by her parents.
At that time, Zhuang Lixian was examining his brother's physics problems, and Zhuang Lixian asked his brother: "A glass of water is placed on the table, how much force has this water cup received?" The brother affirmed, "There is the gravity of the water and the cup and the support of the table." Zhuang Lixian asked tentatively, "Is there any other force?" The brother said without hesitation: "Just these kinds of forces, after they are balanced, the water cup will not move." Zhuang Xiaowei, who was playing next to him, interjected: "Air also has a force on the water cup." Zhuang Xiaowei's answer made Zhuang Lixian very happy, and he praised him one after another: "Xiaowei has never studied, but he actually understands this truth, which is really very physical talent." ”
In fact, Zhuang Xiaowei did not understand much at that time, but because her father was a professor of aerodynamics, after his father asked the question, she subconsciously thought that the answer must be related to air, so she made that answer.
Zhuang Xiaowei is particularly proud to be able to become a child with physical talent in the eyes of his father. She thought at the time that she would grow up to be a scientist like her father.
Zhuang Xiaowei did not go to kindergarten, did not learn pinyin, and even recognized words, but only after she lived with her parents did her parents teach her intermittently. However, when she reached the age of study, her parents did not send her to the first grade step by step, but directly let her go to the second grade of the Secondary School of Science and Technology.
Zhuang Xiaowei indeed belongs to the genius girl, although she was in the second grade at the beginning, but she did not feel difficult in learning, but she developed a good habit of prep early, she has a strong self-learning ability, learning very quickly, her parents simply put the primary school textbooks on her desk, let her learn by herself, such a result not only cultivated Zhuang Xiaowei's good habit of thinking, but also her grades have always been among the best.
Zhuang Xiaowei is not a girl who only knows how to study, she is also very self-reliant in life. Her parents were busy with work, so she cooked and swept the floor herself and did some housework as much as she could.
After attending junior high school, Zhuang Xiaowei won the first place in the national mathematical, physical and chemical competition for middle school students and was recommended to beijing Jingshan School to study in the preparatory class of the University of Science and Technology of China. Later, her parents considered that she was too young, and half a year after she enrolled, Suzhou Middle School also opened a preparatory class for the University of Science and Technology of China, so they transferred her there to continue her studies.
(Genius prodigy of the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China)
In 1987, 15-year-old Zhuang Xiaowei was admitted to the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China with an excellent score of more than 600 points.
Zhuang Xiaowei's session recruited a total of 22 prodigies with superior intelligence from all over the country, of which only 5 were girls, and Zhuang Xiaowei was one of them.
In this school where geniuses gather, Zhuang Xiaowei's grades are still among the best. For Zhuang Xiaowei's achievements, her teacher also commented when mentioning her many years later: "She is very attentive in class, and she is particularly able to endure hardships in learning, her curiosity is stronger than that of ordinary people, and she always does not understand and does not stop for learning problems." ”
The study of the junior class is not divided into majors in the first two years, and students can concentrate on intensive learning according to their own hobbies. In this learning process, Zhuang Xiaowei has always liked physics, especially with the deepening and difficulty of physics learning, she is more interested in physics, in her view, physics is a very logical discipline, she in the process of reasoning, often lament the beauty and rigor of physics, which also makes her feel endlessly happy.
In order to master more physics knowledge, Zhuang Xiaowei often reads books on physics when others are playing, and studies more laws of physics from them.
Due to her eagerness to learn and drill, Zhuang Xiaowei created a miracle that no one has broken in the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China so far, that is, she easily scored a full score in the four major mechanics examinations, which is an unprecedented thing. Zhuang Xiaowei also became famous and became an enviable god of learning in the school.
In 1991, after the 19-year-old Zhuang Xiaowei obtained a bachelor's degree in physics, she, like most of her classmates in the junior class, chose to study abroad. At that time, she was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley to pursue a doctorate in physics. Five years later, Zhuang Xiaowei successfully obtained a doctorate with the results of physics research. With the encouragement of her mentor, the Chinese scientist Shen Yuanyang, she decided to try to find a faculty job first.
For Zhuang Xiaowei, who had a smooth sailing on the way to study, with her superior conditions, it is said that she had a good chance to get an assistant professor position, so she followed Shen Yuanyang's advice and submitted her information to several institutions of higher learning.
Soon, Stanford University threw an olive branch to Zhuang Xiaowei, saying that he was very satisfied with her personal conditions and planned to leave her a position.
At the time, studying with Zhuang Xiaowei or still being a postdoctoral student a few years before her, she felt that she could become an assistant professor at Stanford University at the age of 25, which was really remarkable. Therefore, Zhuang Xiaowei was proud in his heart during that time, and people also became somewhat proud.
(Zhuang Xiaowei studying abroad)
However, to Zhuang Xiaowei's surprise, it was not long before Stanford University sent another letter to her, and the school thought that she was not ready, so it did not plan to hire her as an assistant professor for the time being, but welcomed her to the school for postdoctoral studies.
This result made the proud Zhuang Xiaowei unable to accept it for a while, and she cried several times for this reason. However, after calming down, she thinks that Stanford University is right, she is too eager to make quick profits and too vain, and she wants to achieve something in science, which is the biggest drawback.
Therefore, Zhuang Xiaowei went to Stanford University to continue his postdoctoral studies and studied under Professor Chu Steven, a Chinese scientist.
Not only is Professor Chu the winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics, but he is also obama-nominated Secretary of Energy and influential in the physics community.
After Zhuang Xiaowei studied under Chu Stevens, one day Chu asked her if she wanted to engage in cross-research between biology and chemistry. In fact, Chu Diwen hopes that Zhuang Xiaowei can make updated research across professional fields.
Zhuang Xiaowei was never afraid of difficulties, and she agreed at the time, and then she shifted from the field of physics she had always been good at to the unfamiliar field of biology.
At the beginning, Zhuang Xiaowei could only learn in continuous exploration. At that time, failure and frustration were commonplace, although there was no result for a long time, Zhuang Xiaowei was not in a hurry, she silently insisted, and at the same time, because of her ability in physics, she often combined the knowledge of physics and the content of biology when doing experiments. The most damning thing is that when she came up with an idea that she thought was great, Chu never encouraged her after listening to it, but hit her a lot.
Under the strict requirements of Chu Steven, Zhuang Xiaowei has become the leader among postdoctoral students.
In 2001, the accomplished Zhuang Xiaowei was invited by 7 top universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT. At the suggestion of his parents, Zhuang Xiaowei chose to become an assistant professor at Harvard University.
Soon after, Zhuang Xiaowei won the MacArthur Genius Award for her outstanding talent in studying the characteristics of individual molecules, becoming the first Chinese female scientist to win the award.
(Zhuang Xiaowei and her Chinese doctors)
In 2005, Chuang was selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute from more than 300 nominees in the United States, and received $7 million in funding over the next seven years.
In 2006, Zhuang Xiaowei was hired as a double-disciplinary full professor at Harvard University because of his outstanding talent in physics and chemistry. A double-material professor like her is still very rare, and she has a single-molecule biophysics laboratory named after her because of the school's attention.
That same year, Zhuang Xiaowei invented the ultra-high resolution imaging method for the detection of individual molecules by fluorescence spectroscopy. This innovation greatly contributed to the progress of biomedical research and caused a huge sensation in the scientific community at that time.
In 2015, Zhuang Xiaowei not only published a high-quality paper on single-molecule imaging technology in Science, but she also improved fluorescence spectroscopy imaging technology to further accurately record the whole process of virus infection cells.
Because Zhuang Xiaowei's invention has made great contributions to mankind, coupled with the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, it happens to be the same subject as Zhuang Xiaowei, so everyone thinks that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was not awarded to Zhuang Xiaowei, which is really unfair. That's why they think it's racism and discrimination against women.
For everyone's dissatisfaction, the Nobel Prize Committee gave an explanation, they believe that one is that Betzig published a paper as early as 1995, he put forward the idea of the technology; the other is that Betzig's paper was received several months earlier than Zhuang Xiaowei.D.
That is to say, although Zhuang Xiaowei has made great contributions to this technology, she is not the first to conduct research, which is why she did not win the Nobel Prize.
However, Zhuang Xiaowei had no opinion on this. In her opinion, she likes to do research, and the research she does contributes to human beings, which is her life plan. If you just rush to the Nobel Prize, you can't do scientific research.
In fact, Zhuang Xiaowei as early as the beginning of studying abroad, in order to get more and better research conditions, she joined the United States citizenship. However, after Zhuang Xiaowei became a professor at Harvard University, he trained a number of Chinese doctoral students and supervised postdoctoral research. In addition, Zhuang Xiaowei also cares about the motherland, often returns to China to teach undergraduate and graduate students of the University of Science and Technology of China, and also jointly trains doctoral students. In addition, after Zhuang Xiaowei was hired as a chair professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, she also actively promoted the construction of the Integrated Imaging Center of the National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, and has been cooperating with domestic professors in research. In addition, in order to inspire more people in China to devote themselves to scientific research, she has also organized several high-level academic conferences and lectures.
It can be seen that such a great female scientist as Zhuang Xiaowei, although she has joined the United States nationality, she still regards it as her responsibility to cultivate more scientific talents in the motherland and spares no effort to promote the promotion of science and technology in the motherland. This is indeed worthy of praise.