"The party and the country need to do their best"
[The Red Love of 100 Academicians]
Write the thesis on the land of the motherland, on the urgent needs of the country and the people.
In the winter of 1952, it was extremely cold.
In the depths of Daba Mountain, Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi, three PLA soldiers greeted them. They pushed a wheelbarrow full of weather observation equipment and walked on the rugged mountain road for 4 days.
The young man leading the team is the 17-year-old Li Zechun.
A year before, Li Zechun, who was still in his second year of high school, resolutely signed up to join the army and enlisted with a clear goal-to go to the front line to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
After enlisting in the army, he was assigned to the Chengdu Southwest Military Region Air Force Meteorological Training Class to learn meteorological observations.
"It was a little bit lost at the beginning." At that time, my country's meteorological talents were extremely scarce, and the national defense construction had a particularly urgent need for meteorological and aviation support. He quickly figured out-"The People's Army is the people, in the'melting pot' of the army, I have kept learning and gradually established a lifelong communist outlook on life, world outlook and values-the party and the country need to do my best."
Although Li Zechun was young, he achieved outstanding results. Many fighters kindly called him "little gentleman."
He first served as a meteorological instructor and then as a weather station observer. In 1955, he was selected to further study in Beijing, and then he was admitted to the Department of Physics, Peking University, majoring in meteorology.
In 1961, while still studying, he became a member of the Communist Party with honor.
Recalling the original intention of joining the party, Li Zechun said: “Follow the party, serve the people, and let the people live a good life.” For the next 60 years, he did not change his original intention and determined to study and judge the changes in the sky. “Serving the people is the honor of doing meteorological work. Where".
After graduating from graduate school, Li Zechun came to the Central Meteorological Observatory.
From forecaster to academician, he has always been on the front line of business for more than half a century, participating in and witnessing the breakthrough of my country's meteorological science and technology from scratch:
In the early 1980s, as the organizer and main performer, Li Zechun worked with multiple parties to jointly tackle key problems and established my country’s first short-term (1 to 3 days) numerical weather forecast business system, which ended China’s ability to rely on foreign numerical forecasts. Weather history
In 1990, my country's first medium-term (10-day) numerical weather forecasting business system established by Li Zechun's team was officially put into use, and my country entered the ranks of the few countries in the world that could produce medium-term numerical weather forecasts at that time;
Since the 1990s, as the chief scientist, Li Zechun has led a team to research and build my country's typhoon and rainstorm disaster weather numerical weather forecast business system, and apply parallel computing technology to numerical weather business forecasts, providing new opportunities for weather forecasting and climate forecasting. technology……
He often said: "As a party member, my growth is not passive, but to do a good job of innovation. I will catch up as soon as the opportunity arrives."
The arduous meteorological observations in his youth caused him to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, but he never wavered; when he was studying at Peking University, in order to fully grasp the computer knowledge and explore the possibility of numerical forecasting, he rode his bicycle to the Chinese Academy of Sciences every day to borrow computers; In short-term and medium-term numerical weather forecasts, in order to use the computer at the time "as he pleases", he always came to the computer room to adjust programs and make changes at two o'clock in the morning while everyone was sleeping.
In recent years, Li Zechun, who is getting older and older, has always been concerned about a problem, that is, how to promote the better role of weather in water resources, ecological environment and food security.
Faced with the credit of "the accuracy rate of weather forecasts in my country has been greatly improved in the past 70 years," Li Zechun still maintains a pragmatic attitude, "China is a country with complex geography and terrain and frequent natural disasters. Numerical weather forecast research is not just about improving forecast accuracy. More importantly, it is used to serve the lives of ordinary people.”
In Li Zechun's view, to do any research, we must first think about whether it is the work needed to develop the national economy and protect people's lives and property. "The only criterion for testing our work is whether we can always meet the needs of the people for forecasting and early warning. ."
(Reporter Yang Shu)