Young and middle-aged scientists have died one after another, and scholars have written articles calling for attention to the "premature death phenomenon" of scientists
On March 17, Cheng Peng, the former deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Department of Automation of Tsinghua University, died at the age of 48; on March 17, the famous molecular reaction dynamics expert Han Keli died of illness at the age of 59; on March 20, Shandong Province Bai Xiaohui, deputy director of the Clinical Medical Laboratory Department of Li Hospital, died of a sudden illness at the age of 42; on March 27, Zhou Jianfeng, an expert in hematology, died at the age of 56.
In ten days, many middle-aged and young scientists who are in their prime have reported unfortunate news, which is embarrassing.
After the above-mentioned obituaries were reported by the media, the domestic scientific and technological circles recently paid more attention to the topic of premature death of scientists, and called for "respect for scientific and technological workers should not stop at the level of intentions and publicity, but should actually pay attention to their working conditions and Mental health conditions, untie them from institutional arrangements.”
The Paper reporter noticed that an article "Why the phenomenon of early death of scientists deserves our attention" published in the April 2021 issue of the magazine "Democracy and Science" has been widely followed and forwarded in the scientific and technological circles recently.
The authors of the article are Wang Ke, a doctoral student at the Shanghai Jiaotong University Institute of Science History and Science Culture, and Li Xia, a professor at the Shanghai Jiaotong University Institute of Science History and Science Culture. Funded.
The article believes that in recent years, some young scientists have died early due to overwork in the heyday of their scientific careers, causing irreparable losses, which is called the "early death phenomenon" of scientists.
Objectively speaking, "early death" is a typical loss of the whole society and individuals caused by the unreasonable utilization of resources.
If some common causes of premature death can be found, it is possible to avoid such incidents to the greatest extent possible, which is equivalent to creating value for the whole society.
After studying the cases of 12 scientists who died of premature death publicly reported by the media, the author of the article believes that looking back at their causes of death, the results announced to the outside world are not due to illness, sudden illness, or sudden death, not accidental death.
As we all know, under the rigid scientific research evaluation system, maximizing the use of physiological time is the only way to increase time investment. After all, scientific research output is highly positively correlated with time investment, and long-term high-intensity work will keep the sympathetic nerves highly excited for a long time. state, which leads to vasoconstriction and blood pressure rise, which brings a great load to the heart, which can easily lead to sudden death.
The article points out that in the field of science and technology where knowledge changes rapidly and output is highly uncertain, the difficulty of scientific research, the evaluation system set up by social institutions, and the triviality of life, multiple pressures focus on a limited individual, and there is no corresponding relief. Speaking out, it is blunt to say that the superposition of these factors is tantamount to doing research with life.
In the reflection and suggestion section at the end of the article, the above-mentioned scholar's article pointed out: May 30 is the National Science and Technology Workers Day, which in a sense expresses tribute to science and technology workers, but this respect should not just stop at At the level of intention and publicity, we should actually pay attention to the working conditions and mental health of scientific and technological workers, and loosen the bonds of scientific and technological workers from the institutional arrangement.
The article suggests that the phenomenon of premature death of scientists is not accidental, and it warns us that, first of all, increasing scientific research output by infinitely increasing time is obviously a primitive approach that does not pay for itself. In addition to affecting the physical and mental health of scientific researchers, the benefits are not cost-effective.
Secondly, it is necessary to reduce the excessive frequency and intensity of external interference from the system, weaken the incentive mechanism, create a friendly scientific research cultural environment for scientific and technological personnel, and leave room for the release of academic freedom and creativity.
Finally, it is necessary to provide necessary psychological assistance and health guidance for researchers who have fallen into mental stress through overtime work.
The Paper reporter Yue Huairang