Editor's note
"The professor with glasses is in space!" "Three astronauts, two post-85s" "Scientific researchers embrace the 'sea of stars'"... On May 5, the Shenzhou 30 manned spacecraft was successfully launched, and three Chinese astronauts flew into space. Among them, Gui Haichao, a 3-year-old university professor and payload expert, and Zhu Yangzhu, a space flight engineer of the same age as him, two "new faces" caused heated discussions as soon as they appeared: both are scholars, are promising young people, especially Gui Haichao, as China's first non-military astronaut, wearing glasses and polite appearance, it is clear that they are the division commanders and friends around us.
The grand launch and the deeds of the astronauts have produced strong repercussions among the teachers and students of colleges and universities and even young students, further stimulating their interest in advocating science and exploring the unknown, and also strengthening their belief and confidence in realizing the "aerospace dream, scientific dream and innovation dream" in their hearts. Our reporters went to colleges and universities, primary and secondary schools to listen to the voices of young people and teenagers, and feel the power of youth dreams and the passion of science and technology to serve the country.
"It's cool that payload experts go to space." Seeing the story of Shenzhou 16 astronaut Gui Haichao, Liu Yihui, an undergraduate student in the Department of Engineering Physics of Tsinghua University, could not hide his excitement. "Our entire team is more confident in the experiment now. The load experts of the future are among us. ”
What makes Liu Yihui feel close is such a growth trajectory - in 2003, when Chinese astronauts first explored space, two high school sophomores looked up at the starry sky from the sea of book questions. 20 years later, they became members of the Shenzhou 16 crew and flew to the depths of the firmament they once looked up to... Gui Haichao, a "bespectacled astronaut" who came out of the mountain town of Baoshan in Yunnan, and Professor Gui Haichao of Beihang University, and Zhu Yangzhu, a space flight engineer and former associate professor of the Aerospace Engineering University of the Strategic Support Force, have made countless young people think about it.
As China's space station fully enters the application and development stage, more space science experiments and technical experiments will be carried out in this national space laboratory in the future. The new generation of China, who grew up with space dreams and scientific dreams, will have more opportunities to "move" their experiments into space and write fiery dreams into the vast universe...
Unlimited interest Raise the sails of exploration
"There is a clear picture in my memory: I was lying on a bamboo bed in the courtyard when I was young, raised my head, and the stars were shining in my eyes... Since then, whenever I am asked why I like spaceflight, I will think of this scene. That curiosity and yearning has always been with me. Liu Yihui told reporters.
He is the fourth leader of the student interest team of the "Tiange Project". This is a space science program for undergraduates, students try to develop their own satellite payloads, observed through multiple star networks, in order to capture the physical characteristics of bright gamma-ray bursts. At this moment, the satellite payload of the "Tiange Program" is operating in an orbit 500 kilometers above the ground, and the first batch of scientific data has been transferred to the National Space Science Data Center and is open to the scientific community.
Seeing the astronauts successfully stationed on the Chinese space station, Zheng Hao, a professor at the School of Physics and Astronomy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, couldn't help but think of the moment when his scientific research dream took root. "The entire material world, as large as the vast starry sky and as small as quarks, can be accurately described by physics. The simple, profound beauty of physics fascinates me. I've always dreamed of becoming a physicist and exploring the workings of nature. ”
Wu Yafei, a professor at the School of Resources of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), whose interest in geology can be traced back to the Dabie Mountain Range behind his hometown in the southern mountains of Anhui. Because of love, there is no fear of hardship. When he was in college, he used the summer vacation to sleep rough, braving bad weather and lack of oxygen to travel to the Qinling Mountains and inaccessible areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
When he was a child, his grandfather made a remote-controlled aircraft "Lingbo Microstep", which made Jia Zheng, a long-term associate professor at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Zhejiang University, fascinated by "air buoyancy". After graduating with a Ph.D., he has been working in the field of mechanics for almost 10 years.
"I have been involved in the research of soft materials such as large deployable antennas in space, soft robotic fish swimming in the Mariana Trench, and human tissue binders. I am very fortunate to have chosen the path of scientific research, which makes my life always full of challenges and fun. Jia Zheng said.
Persistently practice and cultivate innovative thinking
Go to heaven, into the earth, into the sea, to the pole... The stage for Chinese scientists is becoming broader.
"Seeing Gui Haichao's students say, 'My mentor went on a business trip to space,' I can feel the pride in their hearts." Quan Ronghui, director and associate professor of the Institute of Space Science and Technology of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, once participated in China's 37th Antarctic scientific expedition, "In the year I went to Antarctica, the students became very self-disciplined and diligent, and they actively communicated with me whenever they had the opportunity, and asked questions that were deeply considered. I understand that it's pride that drives it. ”
During the inspection mission, Quan Ronghui was mainly responsible for space environment observation and equipment operation and maintenance such as the high-altitude atmosphere of Zhongshan Station. "In harsh climates, equipment is particularly vulnerable to damage. How to repair equipment without spare parts? It is important to grasp the principle and find a suitable alternative, which tests the ability of scientific thinking. Quan Ronghui deeply believes that practical exploration is crucial to the improvement of thinking ability, "It is from my university days, through continuous participation in scientific research projects, learning how to break down a big problem into small problems, and then solve them one by one, I gradually learned the way of thinking of scientists." ”
To embark on the road of scientific research, we need not only the guidance of scientific thinking, but also the spirit of innovation and exploration. Sun Yongsheng, a young scientist at Northeastern University, believes that although he is engaged in research on prospecting and beneficiation deep in the earth, like astronauts, he is also "obsessed with the loftiness and depth of the field of scientific research."
"Traditional mineral processing technology and equipment are difficult to achieve clean and efficient utilization of strategic and difficult iron ore resources. We draw on the experience of other industries, carry out interdisciplinary development, and develop a complete set of technologies and equipment for efficient and clean utilization of hydrogen-based ore phase conversion of complex and difficult-to-select iron ore resources, which provides security for national strategic iron ore resources. Sun Yongsheng looked proud.
What impressed Gui Xiahui, a young teacher at China University of Mining and Technology, was the series of hardships Gui Haichao went through in order to "go to heaven" - an extremely rigorous selection process, more than two years of rigorous training in more than 200 subjects. This reminded him of a sentence from his mentor when he first went to graduate school: "We must remember: the road of scientific research must be able to endure hardships." "So, throughout his graduate level, he spent three full years in the coal mine, completing one scientific training after another in the inky black, and even his doctoral dissertation was completed in the coal mine guest house." This laid a solid foundation for me to lead the team to technical research later. In 2012, Gui Xiahui stayed at the school to work. In the past ten years, the young research team led by him has grown to more than 80 people. "Professor Gui Haichao's story of 'fulfilling dreams' once again reminds us that in a great era, every young person with dreams can find a stage that suits him. Especially for young scientific and technological workers in colleges and universities, as long as they have the 'great of the country' in their hearts and continue to strive in the direction, there are infinite possibilities. He said.
Love for home and country, personal dreams are integrated into the Chinese dream
"Seeing the stories of astronauts, I am reminded of my ten-year journey of 'chasing dreams' - from Nanjing to New York and from New Jersey back to Shanghai." Zhong Ruidan, an associate professor at the Lee Cheng-dao Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, recalls that because her father was a construction engineer, she became interested in concrete, cement, mortar and so on after playing on civil construction sites since she was a child. After graduating from Southeast University, she went abroad for further study, focusing on the field of materials physics.
After receiving faculty offers from many scientific research institutions in the United States and China, she chose to return to China, "The vigorous development momentum of the motherland, rich and diverse resources, and active academic environment deeply attracted me." At the end of 2020, Zhong Ruidan returned to China with his family and invested in the construction of the "New Quantum Materials Laboratory".
Tiangong into orbit, Chang'e running to the moon, Zhurong fire detection, Xi and day by day... Wang Jingyu, who has studied abroad for many years, is also thrilled by the "heavy weapons of a big country". With a wide range of employment opportunities in image automation and information processing, he chose to return to China without hesitation and work at the School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, applying what he learned to explore the vast universe. "Perhaps the seeds of comet observation activities when I was a child were planted, the spirit of senior scientists inspired me, and the broad prospects of intelligent processing of space-space exploration information inspired me to run and strive for my dreams." Wang Jingyu said.
"I can't choose my own research direction abroad, but the motherland has given full support in terms of policies, funds, and the environment, which gives me a lot of scientific research autonomy and can do the topics I want to do." Zheng Hao told reporters that Shanghai Jiao Tong University provided strong support, allowing him to focus on developing a set of scanning tunneling microscopes in ultra-high vacuum environment, which made his dream in centrifugation closer and closer.
During the several years of working at Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zheng Hao was completely immersed in scientific research and exploration, and constantly improved his scientific research ability and academic level. After years of hard work, he and his team solved a difficult problem in the field of condensed matter physics that has been unsolved for more than 50 years, confirmed the existence of superconducting segmented Fermi surfaces, made a major breakthrough in basic research, and won the "Top Ten Advances in Chinese Science in 2022".
"In the more than ten years of studying and working in the field of high-energy physics experiments, I have deeply felt the rapid development of science in my motherland, and I have also strengthened my dream of serving the country with science." Hu Zhen, associate professor of physics at Tsinghua University, said that basic scientific research is to lay the foundation for a happy life for future generations, and the more cutting-edge scientific uncertainty, the higher the uncertainty. "Although we spend most of our time sitting on the 'cold bench', the dream of seeking scientific breakthroughs remains the same, and sometimes we can make new discoveries in the unknown scientific research ocean for a long time."
Wang Yin, head of the development team of the "Tianwen-1" emergency beacon device and deputy dean of the School of Astronautics of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, was also immersed in the joy of seeing the successful launch of Shenzhou 16, and was also excited that his "fellow scholars" became astronauts. "The development of science and technology in the aerospace field has been deeply rooted in the genes of patriotic innovation and dedication since its inception. Not everyone has the opportunity to serve the major tasks of the country, and serving the development of the country is worth everyone's all. It is this transmission of spirit that has become a great driving force for us to continue to move forward on the road of scientific research. ”
(Guangming Daily reporter Liu Bochao and Deng Hui)