This is a "big event" that has been planned since the 80s...

A drop of water can reveal the vast ocean. Only by knowing how to see the big picture from the small details can we get the key to defeating the "devil in the sky".

——Wang Wenxing

01

Be a pioneer in the field of environmental science

In early 1976, Wang Wenxing was transferred to the Tianjin Environmental Protection Office. Facing the crossover from the field of chemical catalysis to environmental protection administration, he felt confused at first. However, he was deeply touched by the serious environmental pollution in Tianjin, especially the air pollution.

Recalling the pollution history of Manchester, England in 1973, and especially the painful lessons of the London smog incident in 1952, Wang Wenxing deeply realized the urgency of environmental protection. He understood the country's expectations and was determined to devote himself to the environmental protection cause, committed to the pollution control of the atmosphere and Haihe River, and held environmental protection knowledge lectures at Tianjin TV Station to contribute his own strength to the environmental protection cause.

02

The "big event" that has been planned since the 1980s

"In March 1980, I was suddenly given the opportunity to go to Beijing to participate in the preparations for the establishment of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences. This allowed me to return to the scientific research position I loved and to conduct research related to environmental chemistry. I was very happy to return to the scientific research unit I had not seen for a long time."

In the second half of 1979, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences began to be established. Wang Wenxing was invited to join in March 1980 because of his contributions in the field of environmental protection. He was full of joy and enthusiasm to return to the national research institute. Although the initial conditions were simple and there were only temporary board houses, he did not mind and devoted himself to scientific research.

In 1981, my country's first comprehensive observation of atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics combined with photochemical smog was conducted in Xigu, Lanzhou (Wang Wenxing is the second from the left)

Since 1981, Wang Wenxing has served as the project leader for acid rain science and technology in the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Five-Year Plans. He has been engaged in scientific research for 20 years, indifferent to fame and fortune, devoted to the country, and devoted all his enthusiasm to the cause of environmental protection.

He personally carried the monitoring equipment and went deep into 271 monitoring stations across the country, leaving his firm footprints in mountains, rivers, islands, cities and wilderness to ensure that the data was accurate and reliable.

In 1986, Wang Wenxing wrote a report outline on the "Acid Rain Research" project, a national key scientific and technological environmental protection project during the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" (exhibited at the Museum of Chinese Scientists)

Over the past 20 years, he has traveled all over the country, from the sunrise of the Tumen River to the top of Mount Emei, from Shengsi in the East China Sea to the Gobi Desert in Xinjiang, and he has found out the distribution, source and causes of acid rain in China. These studies have won China an advantage in acid rain control, avoiding the ecological disasters and economic losses that Europe and the United States once suffered.

03

I wish to serve my country with my life

"The country has trained me to go to university, so I should contribute to the country. When the country needed me, I felt obliged to do so. My idea was to work hard and live up to the country's trust!"

Academician Wang Wenxing's upbringing has shaped his firm decision to dedicate himself to the country. Born in 1927, he was determined to study and serve the country since he was young. During the Anti-Japanese War, he wandered around Anhui, Henan, and Shaanxi, and suffered from the war, which further strengthened his determination to contribute to the country and the people.

In 1947, he was admitted to the Department of Mathematics of National Anhui University. He cherished this hard-won learning opportunity very much. In 1949, he transferred to the Department of Chemistry of Shandong University and began his beloved chemistry career. During his three years in college, he did not even go home once.

September 12, 1951, Shandong University Chemistry Department, Qingdao, farewell photo of the 1951 graduates (Wang Wenxing, eighth from the right in the fourth row)

In January 1954, Wang Wenxing was transferred to the Physical and Chemical Laboratory of the Shenyang Comprehensive Chemical Research Institute of the Ministry of Heavy Industry to engage in research in the field of catalysis, officially starting his career as a scientist.

In 1999, when he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, he wrote the following: "If a person is born into a wealthy family, he may inherit a million dollars; if he is born into a poor family, he may inherit nothing. But for an ambitious and enterprising person, poverty may be a kind of wealth that can never be exhausted. It can motivate people to keep making progress."

Wang Wenxing gives a lecture to students at Shandong University

Today, 97-year-old Academician Wang Wenxing is still going in and out of the laboratory, just like every day for the past 71 years. What kind of spirit supports him to dedicate his life to environmental protection? I think it must be the spirit of a great scientist.

Academician Wang Wenxing delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the 24th China Atmospheric Environment Science and Technology Conference