Lighthouse inheritance | Lu Yuanjiu: The scientific spirit is to work honestly

On June 29, 2021, the "July 1st Medal" awarding ceremony was held in the Great Hall of the People. Among the 29 recipients of the "July 1st Medal", the oldest is 101 years old. Born in 1920, this old man is named Lu Yuanjiu. As an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, he is not only a famous inertial navigation and automatic control expert in my country, but also one of the pioneers of automation technology.

China Media Group launched the program "My Home, My Country". Host Wang Ning exclusively interviewed Academician Lu Yuanjiu. Let's watch it together.

In the mid-1940s, Lu Yuanjiu became one of the first batch of government-funded students to study in the United States. At that time, Chinese people were discriminated against in the United States, and even the infamous "Chinese Exclusion Act" had not yet been repealed. On the ship to the United States, Lu Yuanjiu was subjected to unwarranted insults and humiliation. But this did not make him retreat, but instead strengthened his belief in "studying science well to save China".

Make learning a lifelong endeavor

When choosing a major, Lu Yuanjiu was determined to learn something "new" that his country did not have. He eventually chose instrumentation, a major he had never heard of before, from the list of majors, and studied under Professor C.S. Draper, a world-renowned automatic control expert.

Due to the high difficulty of the major, not only did it require learning new courses, but it also required passing the qualification exam before completing the thesis. Even Americans were deterred from this major. In the end, there were only two students in the entire major, in addition to Lu Yuanjiu, the other one was also Chinese.

During his three years of study, Lu Yuanjiu only went between his dormitory and the school, and rarely went anywhere else. With his hard work and solid research skills, he eventually brought the world's most advanced inertial navigation concept back to China almost single-handedly.

Wang Ning: Why did you choose the major of inertial navigation?

Lu Yuanjiu: When I arrived at MIT, there was no inertial navigation. There was nothing in the space at that time. We relied entirely on inertial technology to determine where the rocket was and in which direction after it went into space. That was my job. My mentor, Draper, had been to China and he said that the Chinese were very good. Previously we had Qian Xuesen, and now we have Lu Yuanjiu.

Wang Ning: When you were applying for his doctorate, were you the only Chinese?

Lu Yuanjiu: Foreigners refuse to read it. The first one was me, the second one was also a Chinese, and there was no third one.

The standard for astronauts: 99 points is a failure

On February 14, 1996, the Long March 3B rocket and satellite were destroyed due to a problem with its flight attitude. Since then, China's space program has not conducted any international commercial launches for a full decade. As the person in charge of inertial devices, Lu Yuanjiu rushed to Xichang to investigate the cause of the accident. He was already 76 years old that year.

In three months, Lu Yuanjiu almost forgot to eat and sleep in order to find out the cause of the accident, and took four times more sleeping pills every day than usual. Finally, after continuous analysis and research, he finally locked the cause on a small "golden wire" - the bidirectional thyristor - among countless complex clues.

This is where the famous saying that has been passed down to this day came from: "99 points for something from God is a failing grade."

Wang Ning: I think you mentioned later that for these heavenly things, 99 points is considered a failing score, and 100 points is considered a passing score.

Lu Yuanjiu: Launching rockets in the future, especially those with people on board, will be life-threatening. So I set a requirement of 99.9%, leaving a little wiggle room. This regulation is so strict.

Wang Ning: Mr. Lu, what kind of scientific spirit do you think we should have?

Lu Yuanjiu: You must be serious and work honestly, and you cannot tell any lies.

The recipient of the July 1st Medal was also a naughty boy

Lu Yuanjiu's father was the last scholar of the Qing Dynasty. He was taught from a young age that "doing things should not be done carelessly". However, this future super "student" was actually a naughty boy who often failed Chinese when he was young.

Wang Ning: Were you a good student when you were young?

Lu Yuanjiu: When I was a child, I didn’t know how to study at all.

Wang Ning: Everyone thinks that scientists must have been studious since childhood.

Lu Yuanjiu: No, I was naughty. There were people singing Peking Opera, so I ran to take a peek.

Wang Ning: You are particularly good at math, physics and chemistry. Are you good at Chinese?

Lu Yuanjiu: I often failed in Chinese. I was afraid of writing essays, and whenever I had to write an essay, I would look for books to copy.

Now, there are still many copies of "Reader" on Mr. Lu's desk. Mr. Lu said that this is because he can't walk around now (because he is old), and he always wants to find a book to read.

Source: CCTV News Client