They dived into the deep sea and built a "Xanadu" on land
——The Dignity and Perseverance of the Deep Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Operation and maintenance management of the two star submersibles "Deep Sea Warrior" and "Struggle", setting a record for China's manned deep diving of 10,909 meters, making China the second country after the United States to achieve 10,000 meters of manned deep diving ...The Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has created many brilliant achievements.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Relying on a series of measures such as the establishment of system standards to the improvement of the organizational structure, the daily strengthening of integrity and study style education to the introduction of reform evaluation mechanisms and other measures, the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has always practiced the scientific spirit and has become a scientific research. A model of integrity building.
Produced by Deep Eye Studio
Written by: our reporter Cao Xiuying and Cui Shuang
Planning: Liu Li
This is a very "high profile" team——
Operation and maintenance management of the two star submersibles "Deep Sea Warrior" and "Struggle", setting a record for China's manned deep diving of 10,909 meters, making China the second country after the United States to achieve 10,000 meters of manned deep diving .
So far, more than 150 domestic and foreign scientists have been sent to the deep sea, turning major powers into "deep-sea shuttle buses" on time.
They are often "named and praised" by science and technology authorities: they should be studied carefully, and their practices in scientific research integrity and style construction are worthy of appreciation and learning.
They are extremely "low-key", have very little public information, and are located in the southernmost part of the country.
People, like submersibles, sit firmly on the bottom in the deep ocean.
They are the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Deep Sea).
A research institute that has only been established for 10 years, with Superman's fighting spirit and professionalism, it has grown into the main force of China's deep-sea scientific research, and it has also become a banner of scientific research integrity.
Build a clean research institute
A neonatal research institute, before the public's attention has focused on "no entrustment, no greeting", it began its serious scientific research and integrity efforts.
10909 meters!
At 8:12 on November 10, 2020, the "Struggle" manned submersible with a localization rate of over 96.5% successfully dived in the Mariana Trench, creating the history of manned deep diving in China.
As the owner unit, the Deep Sea Institute has led dozens of dives.
In fact, the number 10909 does not appear directly on the screen like an "meter reading meter" as most people imagine, but is based on the data of the pressure/depth sensor mounted on the submersible through a series of calculations and calibrations.
This world-renowned data is not easy to come by.
"This figure is calculated through repeated calculations. We used various methods to optimize the error and strive for the accuracy of the data." Li Jiwei, a researcher at the Deep Sea Science Department of the Deep Sea Institute who participated in the first 10,000-meter abyss scientific expedition, recalled that there were some young people around him. Question, is it necessary to be so precise?
There are 5 countries that have entered the Mariana Trench in human history, and the measured data of the deepest part of the sea are different.
In 1957, the data measured by the echo of the Soviet research ship "Vitaz" was 11034 meters (36,201 feet); the data obtained by the British using the "Challenger II" in 1951 was 10,900 meters; the United States' Trieste The deep submersible "" set a world record for diving into the trench of 10916 meters in 1960; the Japanese "Takuyo" measured a maximum depth of 10920±10 meters.
How deep is the deepest place in the world?
Because different countries use different sensors and different parameters, the calculation formulas of the data are not the same, resulting in differences in the presented data.
But objectively speaking, there is only one data in the deepest place.
For the scientists of the Deep Sea Institute, this is a scientific question, and there must be no "almost" idea.
Is 10909 meters the closest to the true depth or the data with the smallest error?
The scientists of the Deep Sea Institute continue to do this work today, explaining the calculation method of the Struggle in the form of papers, and answering the questions of the Chinese and foreign scientific circles.
This clear and realistic style is written in the genes of this institute.
In the eyes of the investigators of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (hereinafter referred to as the National Natural Science Foundation of China), this kind of extreme pursuit of scientific research integrity and a good style of study is precisely why it is so young and not to take shortcuts. The root of vulgarity.
This is a plain-text law written into the red-head document of the Deep Sea Institute.
In August 2015, the "Five Requirements and Regulations of the Code of Conduct for Executive Leaders" was issued by the Deep Sea, which is still in preparation.
In the impression of the investigators of the National Fund Committee, this is the first rule to formulate rules and regulations in the name of the research institute, requiring leading cadres not to request or greet them.
In a complex human society, project review and awards, requests and greetings in various scientific research competitions have a long history, which not only seriously interferes with scientific research order and harms fairness, but also disturbs reviewers and scientific researchers deeply.
In January 2019, the National Natural Science Foundation of China issued the "Open Letter Concerning All Parties Seriously Performing Their Commitments to Create a Clean and Positive Review Environment", which requires applicants and participants to promise not to listen to unpublished review expert information and unpublished information in any form. For review information, contact review experts and staff for entrusting or lobbying.
In December 2020, the National Natural Science Foundation of China revised and issued the "Measures for the Investigation and Handling of Misconduct in Scientific Research of the National Natural Science Foundation of China" to include misconduct such as "please entrust and greet" into the scope of investigation and handling.
At the end of 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the "Regulations on the Handling of Requests in the Review of Science and Technology Activities (Trial)", which proposed more specific and clear rigid handling measures for requests.
The Deep Sea Institute is ahead of all this.
The 2015 document clearly stipulates that administrative power and administrative resources must not be used, and any form of public relations, lobbying and other activities shall be carried out in order to obtain their own honors, such as applying for academicians, outstanding youths, merit evaluation, etc.
Our firm will not recognize the honors obtained from these undesirable activities; it is not allowed to use the convenience of the position, deviate from the normal procedures, and occupy scientific research funds; it is not allowed to obtain the signature of academic papers and scientific research results by virtue of administrative status.
A neonatal research institute, before the public's attention has focused on "no entrustment, no greeting", it began its serious scientific research and integrity efforts.
They hope to "build a clean research institute" from head to toe.
The integrity of scientific research cannot be overemphasized
With their pure pursuit of academics and their love of marine science, they desperately want to create a pure scientific research environment.
Scientific research integrity is a common topic, and it has been a matter of repeated orders by the country in recent years.
The reason why it has received much attention is that China has indeed reached a time when it must rely on science and technology to take the road of high-quality development, and scientific research integrity is the foundation of the development of science and technology.
But at the same time, despite the continuous release of various documents at the national level and various warning and education activities, incidents of scientific research misconduct still occur from time to time, and a clean scientific research ecology has not yet formed.
For this reason, a "clean research institute" such as the Deep Sea Institute is particularly valuable.
An industry insider familiar with the history of the Deep Ocean Institute revealed that the “cleanness” of the Deep Ocean Institute is inseparable from the background it was established and the importance attached to scientific integrity by the leadership team.
The ocean is a treasure house of human resources.
my country's deep-sea research has made rapid progress in recent years, but there is still a big gap between having the right to speak in deep-sea research.
Liu Xincheng, the chief consultant of the Deep Sea Institute, once told the media: "Having the right to speak is equivalent to participating in the formulation of international game rules. Doing a good job in deep-sea research and having the right to speak can protect national interests."
In 2011, the Deep Sea Institute, China's first dedicated deep-sea research and development institution, began preparations for the establishment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the People's Government of Hainan Province, and the People's Government of Sanya City.
On May 10, 2016, the Deep Sea Institute passed the general experience receipt and officially started operation.
In order to promote the important and urgent task of my country's deep-sea scientific research and engineering progress, people from all over the world came to Sanya.
At the beginning of the preparations, the leadership team of the Deep Sea Institute took the construction of scientific research integrity as one of its important tasks.
In recent years, some serious scientific misconducts in China have seriously damaged the foundation of China's scientific and technological undertakings.
The pure pursuit of academics and the love of marine science make them eager to create a pure scientific research environment.
Therefore, the integrity of scientific research is something that the leadership team has taken pains to emphasize.
On April 20, 2020, in a meeting, the leaders of the institute pointed out that scientific research should first pursue "seeking truth" and "seeking truth". As a group most trusted by society, scientific researchers must strictly abide by the spirit of contract and strictly abide by integrity. .
In December 2020, the Deep Sea Institute held a warning education meeting and emphasized that scientific research integrity is the cornerstone of scientific and technological innovation and a prerequisite for the long-term development of the institute...
There is a system, but it needs to be implemented
The establishment of an independent scientific research integrity construction office, which is handled by a dedicated person, is rare in major domestic research institutes.
In recent years, the Deep Sea Institute has gradually established a "1+1+N" scientific research integrity system.
"The first '1' refers to the "Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Responsibility System for the Construction of the Party's Work Style and Clean Government (Interim)" issued in 2019, which includes the organizational system and execution system for the construction of scientific research integrity, and who will implement and rely on the construction of scientific research integrity Supervision has been stipulated. This is the outline.” Dai Liang, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee of the Deep Sea Institute, introduced. The personnel, financial and other departments must abide by the code of integrity in all links such as the use of funds, staffing, talent training, and talent introduction, and must embody "1".
For example, in the recruitment of personnel, the judges participating in the review meeting need to make an honesty questionnaire to indicate whether the applicant is a relative, teacher or student, etc., and whether the applicant has received the request information.
The system is established, who will implement it?
In September 2018, the Deep Sea Institute set up a special supervision and audit office.
According to the provisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, research institutes with a staff establishment of more than 500 and an annual expenditure of more than 300 million yuan must establish a supervisory and auditing work agency, and most units place them in the office or the party office.
"Although our firm has not reached this size, we still set up this institution separately and work independently." said Lin Xueping, director of the Supervision and Audit Office of the Deep Sea Institute.
In March 2020, the Deep Sea Institute established a Scientific Research Ethics (Integrity) Construction Committee. The committee members are composed of 13 scientific research backbones and heads of functional departments related to scientific research integrity construction. The office established the Scientific Research Ethics (Integrity) Construction Committee and set up 3 part-time scientific research integrity commissioners.
According to the reporter's understanding, the establishment of an independent scientific research integrity construction office is under the responsibility of a dedicated person, which is rare in major domestic research institutes.
Lin Xueping has been too busy since he was engaged in the construction of scientific research integrity full-time.
Every year when he goes to work after the Spring Festival, his top priority is to organize honest business and scientific research integrity talks.
The party and government leaders and members of the Scientific Research Integrity Construction Committee will discuss with key scientific researchers and young scientific researchers.
According to him, the content of the conversation mainly included the latest documents and regulations on scientific research integrity issued by the state, and the rules and regulations of various departments, such as the "Opinions on Further Promoting the Spirit of Scientists and Strengthening the Construction of the Style of Study" and "On Further Strengthening of Scientific Research". Opinions on Integrity Building, etc., combined with recent cases of untrustworthy scientific research, such as cases announced by the National Fund Committee and hot events in the society, sounded the alarm.
Then, in combination with each person's position, talk about the responsibilities and obligations he should perform, and the possible risks.
Tian Chuan, deputy director of the Deep Sea Engineering Department of the Deep Sea Institute, still remembers the conversation early last year.
"It was Yang Ning, deputy secretary of the party committee, who talked to me. The main content is to emphasize that the use of funds must be regulated, ideologically must not be relaxed, and money must be carefully calculated and not lavish." Tian Chuan said, he believed it.
As a backbone force, the Tianchuan team has a relatively large amount of funding, and therefore has become a key target of the scientific research integrity education of the Deep Sea Institute.
"I often emphasize to my colleagues that every penny is taxpayer's money, and the annual purchase of consumables during the experiment is very large. If not strictly managed, the waste caused will be amazing." Tian Chuan said, for example. Speaking of electronic components, although these chips or components look small, many of them are still relatively expensive. "If these'small' components are not well managed, or due to improper initial design, they will be wasted during the experiment. "
"Many parts of marine instruments and equipment are still mainly imported. Some materials and parts look small, but they cost tens of thousands of yuan each. Therefore, for each marine experiment, we must control every technology for our designers. At the link, you should guard it as if you are looking at your own children, for fear of accidents." Tian Chuan said.
A paradise of peace of mind for scientific research
The clean scientific research environment produces exciting results.
The Deep Sea Institute has made breakthrough progress in deep-sea access and deep-sea exploration.
These tasks are not formalism of "doing nothing for nothing, and doing it for nothing".
Long-term and consistent publicity and education have strengthened the bottom-line awareness of scientific researchers, and made scientific research integrity and excellent style of study internalized in action and self-discipline.
"The various scientific integrity regulations issued by the institute have drawn a red line for us." said Wang Dawei, a researcher from the Deep Sea Science Department of the Deep Sea Institute. Clear regulations".
This is about the dignity of scientific researchers.
In July 2017, the leadership team of the Deep Sea Institute stated in an email to the whole institute: Truth is the foundation of everything, and it is the prerequisite for the continuity of scientific research and the dignity of our scientific researchers.
"Sometimes I hear some greetings. If under the same conditions, others get something, we don't have something, and we may have some opinions." Li Jiwei, who has worked at the Deep Sea Institute for 8 years, said frankly, "But in fact, everyone We all despise this kind of behavior, and we don't pay much attention to such things as superficial honor and'hats'."
A baton that believes in clean and fair will wave the academic breeze of self-esteem and self-love.
Tian Chuan feels the same: "The evaluation of the Deep Ocean Institute values everyone's contribution to a specific scientific research project. My team plus students are less than 20 people. As the team leader, I know everyone's contribution in work. "
"The Deep Sea Institute is like a paradise. You can really do scientific research here with peace of mind," he said.
The clean scientific research environment produces exciting results.
Since its establishment in 2011, the Deep Sea Institute has made breakthroughs in the technical research of "deep sea access", "deep sea exploration", and "deep sea development".
Genealogical deep-sea equipment such as "Tianya", "Haijiao", and "Wanquan", and international first-class deep-sea scientific research platforms such as the "Discovery No. 1" scientific research ship, the "Discovery No. 2" scientific research ship and large ultra-high pressure simulation test equipment have been constructed. The world’s advanced marine equipment system that penetrates the sea surface-water body-abyss-seabed; "Deep Sea Warrior" deep submersible operation and maintenance team has realized normalized application, "Explore One" successfully carried out my country's first comprehensive 10,000-meter abyss scientific research, marking This means that our country has the capability to detect and operate in the deep sea and abyss.
Commendable persistence
We are insisting on some things-some things that have never been scientific evaluation indicators, but reflect our capabilities.
"We are insisting on some things-some things that have never been scientific evaluation indicators, but reflect our ability." said Peng Xiaotong, deputy director of the Deep Sea Institute.
Except for them, no one in the world can dive at the maximum wind speed of 30 knots, and no one can complete the recovery of the submersible under the condition of the maximum wave height of 4 meters.
No one can complete 3 dive missions and perform regular night dives in two days, and can guarantee that each time in the water is not less than 8 hours.
They have dived more than 100 times for two consecutive years.
These commendable persistence have brought more undercurrent changes to our country's deep-sea research.
The A-type lifting frame is changed from imported to domestic, and the shallow profiler that could not be made before has been made.
Some people have already dived more than a hundred times in the special profession of submarine.
In the early sea trials, "Deep Sea Institute" was printed on the back of the work clothes. Later, "China Manned Deep Diving" was printed uniformly on the clothes. Boarding the scientific research ship is a member of the manned deep diving. It is better for everyone to explore together. Possible.
These changes may not be reflected in the "hats" and awards, but they reverberate in other ways: the large-scale ultra-high pressure simulation test device was completed on time, and the combined technical indicators of pressure and volume reached the industry's highest level, which guaranteed the "struggle" in time. The pressure test requirements of the titanium alloy spherical shell and buoyancy materials of the manned submersible No. 1; organized and completed the 10,000-meter sea test of the “Struggle” manned submersible. Relying on the self-developed “Canghai” video lander, It was the first time to realize the live video broadcast of 10,000 meters under the sea; the discovery of cold-water coral forests in the South China Sea has achieved important original results in Chinese white dolphins and abyssal lionfish...
Through open sharing, "Deep Sea Warrior" supported 179 people from 38 units across the country to carry out research and experimentation in the deep sea.
A group of young researchers have grown up on this platform.
Among these people is the geophysicist who took the "Deep Sea Warrior" for the first dive.
He said that when he got on the ship, he saw everyone on the front line and saw the main leaders of the Deep Sea Institute screw the screws in the unair-conditioned backup room. He was immediately encouraged.
There was a young man who used to fish for shrimp in the small river in front of his hometown in Shaanxi when he was young.
He said: "You don't know where a small river at the mouth of the village will flow." He won the 2020 National Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Youth Science Fund.
...
Recently, the “Thirteenth Five-Year” national key R&D plan “Key Deep-sea Technology and Equipment” key special project “Overall, Integration and Sea Trial of Deep-Sea Deep Manned Submersibles” came to a successful conclusion.
my country's 10,000-meter-level manned deep diving has entered the era of routine scientific examination operations, which will greatly promote human understanding and understanding of the deep sea, especially the abyss.
As General Secretary Xi Jinping said in his congratulatory letter when the "Struggler" completed the 10,000-meter sea trial and returned to the voyage smoothly, from the "Jiaolong" and the "Deep Sea Warrior" to today's "Struggle", you use rigorous and scientific The attitude and the courage to be self-reliant and self-reliant, and practice the Chinese manned deep diving spirit of "rigorous and realistic, unity and cooperation, hard work and dedication, and bravely climbing the peak" have set a model for technological innovation.
Relying on a series of measures such as the establishment of institutional norms to perfecting the organizational structure, the daily strengthening of integrity and style of study education to the introduction of reform evaluation mechanisms and other series of measures, Deep Sea Institute has always practiced the spirit of science and has become a model for the construction of scientific research integrity.
Soon, the Struggle will set sail again and continue to carry scientists to explore the deep sea. Her dignity is at the bottom of the sea.