At the two sessions of the National People's Congress in the past two years, Shi Yigong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has attracted much attention. On the member channel last year, Shi Yigong frankly said that "domestic basic research still needs more original breakthroughs." At this year's two sessions, Shi Yigong said that science and technology and education, as well as how to cultivate innovative talents, are still one of the topics he is most concerned about.
Shi Yigong said: "There is no shortcut to talent training, you need to be undistracted, go all out, do your own things well, practice your skills in a down-to-earth manner, don't rush to achieve results, and sit on the 'cold bench'." ”
Shi Yigong is a famous structural biologist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and president of Westlake University
For the sake of the university, he resigned as vice president of Tsinghua University
In 1989, Shi Yigong graduated a year ahead of schedule at Tsinghua University with the first place in his major, obtaining a bachelor's degree in biology, and also completed a double degree course in the Department of Mathematics.
Later, Shi Yigong went to the United States for further studies and studied for a doctorate in biophysics and chemistry at the world's leading Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In April 1997, Shi Yigong was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University before completing his postdoctoral research project.
In the United States, Shi Yigong has broad career prospects and superior living conditions, but in 2007, at the age of 40, he made a major decision: to return to China full-time and return to his alma mater, Tsinghua University. The reason for returning to China is not because of money, but because they want to change their alma mater, change Tsinghua students, and hope that one-third of Tsinghua students can have a big self in their minds when they personally strive to realize their self-worth.
In January 2018, Shi Yigong resigned as vice president of Tsinghua University and went all out to organize Westlake University. This is a new type of non-profit higher education institution organized by social forces and supported by the state.
On February 14, 2018, Westlake University was approved by the Ministry of Education. In April 2018, at the first meeting of the founding council of Westlake University, Shi Yigong was appointed by the council as the first president of Westlake University. On October 20, 2018, Shi Yigong and 5 Nobel Prize winners, more than 70 presidents of top universities at home and abroad, and nearly 100 donors gathered together to usher in the founding moment of Westlake University. At the inaugural meeting, Shi Yigong said: The university is not big, not the building, but the master.
When Westlake University welcomed the first batch of 19 doctoral students, Shi Yigong warned these members of the "Westlake Phase I" who stood out from more than 400 applicants and passed the strict interview of Professors of Westlake University, that Westlake University must cultivate the first sense of social responsibility, and the second is the top innovative talent.
According to the school's plan, it is expected that by 2026, the number of students enrolled in Westlake University will reach about 5,000. For the sake of the common dream, Shi Yigong hopes that all teachers and students of Westlake University can run side by side with him.
Since founding Westlake University, Shi Yigong began to pay special attention to the Nobel Prize, he said: "Because I realized that if I got the Nobel Prize earlier, it would create a very good public opinion environment for the establishment of the university, and westlake University would get more support and understanding from the society." But for me, ten Nobel Prizes can't be exchanged for one Westlake University. I hope that in ten or fifteen years, when both domestic and foreign tourists come to Hangzhou to see the West Lake, they will see the West Lake University at the same time, which is our goal, and I believe we can do it. ”
Who is the person who has the most important impact on his life
Some people say that in the process of children's growth, they will always have the shadow of their parents. What kind of person you want your child to be, you have to be what kind of person you want to be. In family education, the behavior of parents is the benchmark that guides children to the right path in life. Shi Yigong once wrote an article about his father's influence on himself-
"My father helped others all his life, which is his code of conduct."
At the age of two and a half, I followed my parents to Xiaoguozhuang in the countryside of Henan. Soon after arriving in the countryside, my father became a volunteer hairdresser in the village, and throughout the year there were often fellow villagers who asked my father for a haircut, and every New Year's Festival, he lined up to get a haircut at our doorstep. My father, on the other hand, was always a man of great generosity and generosity. My father lived through the most difficult years with such a code of life, but he was also highly respected for helping others.
When I went to the countryside, my family had a semi-new Shanghai brand sewing machine, and my father used it not only to be responsible for the production of our family's clothes and pants, but also to cut and make nearly 100 pieces of clothes and pants for the villagers for free before the Spring Festival every year. Because of various deeds, my father began to enjoy fame not only in the village, but also in the brigade and commune, and was very respected by the villagers.
My father's teachings and leading by example have deeply affected me, and this spirit of helping others seems to have flowed into the blood, even if I have traveled across the ocean, I have never forgotten it.
37 years later, at the end of September 2009, I accompanied my mother and two sisters back to Xiaoguozhuang with my wife and children, and almost all the elderly villagers came out, enthusiastically pulled their mother and eldest sister, asked long and short questions, and repeatedly invited us to stay for a few days before leaving. After learning the news that my father had long passed away, many villagers expressed their gratitude and miss to their mothers, and the deep friendship of these villagers made the old mother's eyes wet and moved me.
"I didn't understand it at the time, but I thought science was cool."
After 1970, my father taught mathematics and physics in the only high school in the commune, and his lectures were serious and vivid, which was quite popular with students. Later, when he entered the city, his father led technicians in the local town machinery factory to carry out technological innovation of cemented carbide.
In 1977, in order for the children to participate in the college entrance examination, he tutored his cousin, cousin, and eldest sister to seriously review mathematics, physics and chemistry, and explained equations, thermodynamics, x, y, z...
Although I didn't understand it at the time, I felt that science was really cool, and this kind of environment had a very great impact on me. When we returned to Zhengzhou, my father went to Zhengzhou Institute of Technology to teach and give lectures to students. And then I went to the factory and did the management work...
"My father always wanted me to be able to do a better job."
The reason why Shi Yigong has been working hard to forge ahead is also related to his father's strict requirements since childhood. Shi Yigong said that when he did things, he always wanted to get praise from his father, who was both kind and strict with him, although he rarely criticized, but also rarely praised.
"Even for me to win the first place in the Henan Division of the 1984 National Mathematics League for High School Students, he only praised me lightly twice, and asked me to see that I was not arrogant and impatient."
"He always hoped that I could do a better job and not be content, and I always worked hard to learn and make progress in order not to disappoint my father, until now, when I do every big thing, I can always think of being worthy of my father's spirit in heaven." 」
Regarding the education of children, Shi Yigong said so
"Realizing the value of life is more important than making money."
I often tell my children and the students around me that what you think in your own heart and what you believe is always more important than what others think of you in the outside world and the public opinion of the whole society.
I think we are human beings, we are not simple animals, we have enough to eat and drink, if we are not short of clothes and wear less, why should we worry so much about earning a few dollars less and making more dollars? Even in that very poor era, I still think that science is great, science can change mankind, change society, and make China richer and stronger.
This is not to say that money is a bad thing, nor is it that money is not important, money is to be used to do things. I never think there's anything to do with money and self-worth, and I believe that as long as what I do brings value to society, it will allow me to realize my own value. So I've always believed that as long as you go your own way, you can always reach your goal.
"Teach children to suffer when they are young."
I once sent the children back to their hometown to experience life, so that they could study at a rural left-behind primary school in Zhumadian, eat and live with the children there, and receive education.
The two children were very happy to see the cucumbers, beans and other vegetables growing for the first time. For children in the city, it is common for children not to be diligent and grain-free, and children do not understand the hardships of farmers, so they cannot learn to cherish grain. Let the children go to the countryside, experience life, let them understand that everything around them is not easy to come by, and only when they understand can they learn to cherish.
"Observe the world with your own mind and make judgments based on your own observations and comparisons."
Whether it is a textbook, a teacher, a parent, a friend, or a small partner around you who has told you one thing or told a story, you must think about it after everyone is in the clouds, the truth of this story is right, and gradually form your own judgment.
In fact, any person in the process of independent thinking, at the beginning there will always be a variety of innovative ideas, maybe some views are not accepted by society, maybe some views are wrong, it does not matter, the value of independent thinking is a lifetime, not only in the learning will benefit, in the future work, go to society, or even go abroad, in any place, you will benefit from such a behavior and ability of your independent thinking.
"Scientific discovery is the most fundamental force that determines the present and the future."
Scientific discovery, basic research, is fundamentally the most fundamental force that determines us now and in the future. As a teacher, I also especially hope that students will think about how you can do more and better to play your potential, to the world, to this society, to the people who care about you, and to bring some contributions worthy of their innate.
I've been conducting scientific research for about thirty years, and every time a major scientific discovery or scientific breakthrough appears in my lab, when I see it, this sense of pleasure in me is difficult to express in words. It is an unforgettable pleasure, how to describe it?
I tried to make students understand, in the history of mankind, in the vast history, in the long river of the universe, you think, what can we leave behind? When you're in your lab, in your notebook, in the process of thinking, there's a major theoretical breakthrough, there's a core experimental observation, and that pleasure doesn't you think is more incredible than winning the lottery jackpot? This is using your own power to change the world and create miracles.