"I didn't expect to be selected! Thank you very much for recognizing me and my discipline, 'Mycology'. 'Mycology' is not known to many people, and being recognized by the public can make our discipline develop better. ”
In the 2021 "Most Beautiful Science and Technology Workers" honor list, there is the name of Zhuang Wenying, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the vast field of "mycology", she poured 48 years of time into sleeping happily, illuminating the way forward in China's mycological research with her own actions.
Zhuang Wenying in the laboratory. Economic Daily reporter She Huimin photographed
Zhuang Wenying was born in Beijing in 1948, and she was almost a generation that grew up and developed with the Republic. In 1973, due to her full academic preparation, she entered Shanxi Agricultural College (now Shanxi Agricultural University), which opened the door to her understanding of the fungal world, and she devoted herself to learning and undistracted. In 1978, she was admitted to the first postgraduate degree in mycology from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing) after the resumption of the college entrance examination, and devoted herself to the mycological research she loved. In 1983, as a visiting scholar, Zhuang Wenying went to Cornell University in the United States for exchange studies. After returning to China, she quickly devoted herself to the comprehensive research of resources, classification, DNA barcoding, molecular systematics and other aspects of some taxa of ascomycetes.
Learning became her greatest pleasure, and anything unrelated to learning seemed to her to be a waste of life, whether it was further study in the United States or working at home, she squeezed her rest time to a very harsh point, and devoted more time and energy to scientific research. She said: "I want to go back to the 10 years I lost. ”
Engaged in mycology research for 48 years, step by step, methodically, Zhuang Wenying led the team to gradually step onto the international frontier of mycology research. With the efforts of her and her team, the resources of Trichoderma fungus with wide application potential in China have been renewed, and strains with application prospects have been found and screened.
Zhuang Wenying has always adhered to the scientific spirit of seriousness and truth-seeking, not blindly following authority, not superstitious dogma, wind and rain, iron shoes worn through, and strive to find out the bottom of China's fungal resources. She led the team to conduct field investigations in 26 provinces and regions in China, studied a large number of materials in 39 countries and regions, found 1 new family, 13 new genera, and more than 360 new species, clarified a large number of classification and naming problems, independently completed the world monograph research of 3 genera, and the taxonomic views were generally adopted by international peers, doubling the number of species in some taxa in China.
In addition to being strict with herself, Zhuang Wenying also strictly demands young researchers and students, and she loves them deeply. She said: "In practice, delve into exploration, not afraid of hardship, research dare to break into unfamiliar fields, will get some unexpected gains." Zhuang Wenying's rigorous and realistic, low-key and modest attitude to study has infected a large number of young researchers and students.
In recognition of her academic contributions at home and abroad, scholars have named her a new genus of fungi, the genus Munjenella, and a new genus of bacteria, The genus Haizhuang Veningella. She has been elected to the Executive Committee of the International Mycological Society three times, is the first Chinese executive committee member since the establishment of the organization, and is the first Chinese national elected of the Foreign Honorary Fellow of the American Mycological Society.
At the age of more than 70, Zhuang Wenying is still actively committed to improving the scientific quality of the whole people and strives to do her best for the popularization of science. As a member of the biology editorial board of the third edition of the Encyclopedia of China, she organized and participated in the writing of eukaryotic microbial articles; she entered the primary and secondary school classrooms and taught on public platforms such as the "Capital Science Lecture Hall" and the Cadre Network Academy of the Central Organization Department, and the video lessons were viewed more than 3.35 million times.
The judges of the "Most Beautiful Scientific and Technological Workers" said: "Looking back at Zhuang Wenying's scientific research work for decades, selfless dedication is the most dazzling quality in her body and an important spiritual force supporting her scientific achievements." The lofty academic prestige she has won stems from her noble personality. She is rigorous in her studies, indifferent to fame and fortune, humble in her heart, and promoted the development of fungal disciplines in China and even in the world, leading Chinese mycology to the world's advanced level. ”
◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Ma Aiping
Source: Science and Technology Daily