Gao Shiqi: For scientific research, unfortunately infected with the virus and paralyzed the whole body

Gao Shiqi is a famous scientist, popular science writer, educator and social activist in China, the pioneer and founder of China's science popularization cause, and a great disabled person in human history, enjoying a high reputation at home and abroad. During his stay in the United States at the age of 23, In the process of scientific research, He accidentally contracted the virus and left serious sequelae. For more than half a century, in the case of long-term total paralysis, he wrote millions of words of scientific sketches, science fairy tales, science stories and various forms of popular science articles with amazing perseverance.

On February 6, 1938, the first scientific and technological group in the border area was established by more than 20 scientific and technological workers including Gao Shiqi. Pictured is Coats in Yan'an.

Gao Shiqi, whose original name was Gao Shiqi, was born on November 1, 1905 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. He grew up in a literary family with a deep poetic attainment, and he was particularly fond of reading and pursuing new knowledge. When he was three or four years old, his grandfather began to use the "Thousand Character Text" as an enlightenment textbook to teach him to read, and then he found Tang poems to teach him to recite. In 1918, after graduating from Minglun Primary School in Fuzhou, he was admitted to Tsinghua School with the second place. At that time, Tsinghua was a preparatory school for studying in the United States, accepting students with high school graduation education for 8 years. Students are guaranteed to go to universities in the United States for further study after graduation.

During the May Fourth Movement in 1919, Gao Shiqi, who was studying at Tsinghua University, threw himself into this great patriotic student movement with high patriotic enthusiasm. This was the first time he had participated in the mass movement, and during the struggle he had personally felt the tremendous strength contained in the masses of the people and realized the importance of propaganda and education of the broad masses.

In 1925, the 20-year-old Gao Shiqi, full of the ideal of "saving the country through science", graduated from Tsinghua University with full honors and went to the United States for further study, and was transferred to the third year of the Chemistry Department of the University of Wisconsin in the United States to pursue an inorganic chemistry major. He thought chemistry could make more food and clothing for his country, but just as he was preparing to continue climbing in the field of chemistry, news of the spread of the plague came from the motherland, and he resolutely transferred to the Department of Chemistry and Bacteriology at the University of Chicago. After graduating from college in 1927, he entered the University of Chicago Institute of Medicine, where he pursued a doctorate in medicine and spent part of his time as an assistant in the bacteriological laboratory.

At first, Coats' research topic was "food poison bacteria", in order to study how food poison bacteria are harmful to the human body, he actually swallowed a pathogenic bacteria liquid. After swallowing, Gao Shiqi made a careful record. While the teachers and classmates were worried about Gao Shiqi, they were deeply moved by his dedication to science.

After the summer vacation of the following year, Gao Shiqi returned to the institute and began to study the encephalitis virus. One day in the laboratory, he accidentally broke a bottle containing the encephalitis virus, which entered the cerebellum through the left eardrum and destroyed the central motor nerve of the cerebellum. The relentless A encephalitis virus burrowed into Coats. One night, Gao Shiqi was reading in the library, and suddenly felt that his eyes did not listen to the call, he thought it was an eye disease, so he went to the ophthalmologist to check, but he could not find the cause. Later, not only did he have frequent episodes of eye diseases, but every afternoon, he became drowsy. Soon, his left ear also became a little deaf, his neck was also a little stiff, it was difficult to turn his head, and later even his hands were a little shaky, and his feet were not very agile. He hurried to the school hospital for examination. A neurologist confirmed that he had encephalitis after diagnosis and advised him to immediately stop school and return to China to recuperate. However, he considered that the ability to serve the people of his homeland had not yet been learned, and still insisted on learning with illness, and joined the American Chemical Society and the American Public Health Society.

After returning to China, he dealt with poisonous bacteria all day long and knew how poisonous bacteria endangered human life. Now, he encountered those humanoid germs in his life. Those corrupt officials, local tycoons and gentry, local hooligans, hypocrites, and false Taoism, one wants officials and the other wants money. These guys invade the bodies of working people like poisonous bacteria and poison their souls. Even in hospitals, there is no shortage of such humanoid germs. He gradually became cynical and widowed. He fought uncompromisingly against the dark ones. Finally, in a sharp clash with the dean, forced to leave his post, he lost his job.

After losing his job, Gao Shiqi's illness became more and more serious, and it was difficult to write. He settled down in a cramped pavilion in Shanghai. It is impossible to conduct bacteriological research: no assistants, no laboratories. He thought, isn't it also a very important task to tell the broad masses of the people what he knows about science and bacteria knowledge and to propagate science? In this way, he clutched his pen with a trembling and almost paralyzed hand and reclaimed the barren land of old China.

After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, with the help of the Ccp organization, Gao Shiqi left Shanghai, overcame many difficulties and obstacles, and arrived in Yan'an on November 25, 1937. When Mao Zedong met with him, he praised him as a "red scientist of China" and gave Gao Shiqi care in terms of life, study and work. At that time, he was assigned to work as a teacher at The Northern Shaanxi Public School and often lectured at the Academy of Natural Sciences. During his time in Yan'an, he studied Marxist theory, wrote many enthusiastic articles introducing the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and joined the Communist Party of China in January 1939.

In May 1949, Gao Shiqi returned to the liberated Peiping via Hong Kong, ending a turbulent life. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as an adviser to the Science Popularization Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, and later served as an adviser to the China Association for Science and Technology, the honorary chairman of the All-China Association for the Popularization of Science, a director of the Chinese Society of Microbiology, a director of the All-China Federation of Literature and Literature, and a director of the Chinese Writers Association. He was also a deputy to the 1st to 5th National People's Congresses and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

In his later years, even in his hospital bed, Gao Shiqi did not stop thinking for a moment, he still worked hard, with amazing perseverance, writing memoirs. On December 19, 1988, Coatschi died of ineffective medical treatment. People lament that "a scientific star, a star that has shone with special brilliance for more than half a century has fallen"!

However, Coatschi's revolutionary and scientific spirit, as well as the countless works he left behind, have deeply influenced and educated generations of people. In 1995, the China Association for Science and Technology established the "GaoShiqi Foundation Committee of the China Science and Technology Development Foundation" and set up the "Gaoshiqi Science Popularization Award", which is held once a year to commend outstanding young people who study science and use science in the country - this is also the best memorial to Gao Shiqi. #致敬大国科学家 #

Source: Comprehensive China Reading News, Chinese Communist Party News Network