Lighthouse inheritance | Ye Shuhua, "Mother of Beijing Time": Every star has its own light

Have you heard of "Beijing Time"? Ye Shuhua, an astronomer, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the first female director of China's astronomical observatory, is the reason why the "Beijing Time" we are familiar with has become so accurate.

China Media Group launched the program "My Home and My Country". Host Wang Ning exclusively interviewed Academician Ye Shuhua. Let's watch it together.

She encourages women to break the "glass ceiling"

On November 2, 2021, at the first "Her" Forum held at the 4th World Top Scientists Forum, a 94-year-old female academician gave a 20-minute impromptu speech in English, encouraging women to break the "glass ceiling."

She is now the honorary director of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and is known as the "Mother of Beijing Time" because the "Beijing Time" we are familiar with has become accurate because of her.

Wang Ning: I grew up listening to “7 o’clock Beijing time”. Only when I grew up did I know that it was actually created by you.

Ye Shuhua: It's not just me. It was not created by me. This statement is not accurate. It was done by several people together.

During countless observation nights, Ye Shuhua stayed at her post.

Wang Ning: Is that interesting? Is it fun?

Ye Shuhua: It was boring and boring work. But once you know that the country needs maps and China does not have a unified map, the country cannot make many plans. Once you know that it is important, you are very willing to contribute and you don’t think it is too hard.

"Beijing Time" is accurate because of her

More than 50 years have passed, and the atomic clock developed by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory for Beidou navigation satellites is now so accurate that you can hardly imagine it. Mr. Ye said that it can be accurate to within one second in 10 million years.

This stems from her second major project - the VLBI network of the space tracking and control system. Without the precise escort of this tracking and control system, the Tianwen-1, Chang'e lunar exploration, Beidou satellite and other projects would be like having no eyes. In short, this technology is to place several small radio telescopes in Beijing, Urumqi, Xi'an and Kunming, and combine them to achieve the observation effect of a super-large telescope spanning thousands of kilometers.

In the eyes of host Wang Ning, Ye Shuhua's most amazing thing is her extraordinary foresight. Chang'e-1 was launched in 2007, but more than 30 years before that, in the 1970s, Ye Shuhua began to carefully plan, actively promote and eventually build VLBI. At that time, almost no one understood all this. It is hard to imagine how much tenacity and wisdom it took to accomplish this.

Two things that Mr. Ye is thinking about

Now Ms. Ye still goes to work at the Shanghai Observatory every day because there are two things that she is concerned about.

I have two dreams. One is about the SKA (Square Kilometer Array), and the other is to place two 30-meter-diameter low-frequency radio telescopes into space.

Ye Shuhua: They were the ones who actually achieved it, but I might not have been able to see it by then.

Wang Ning: There is also a requirement for your life. You must live to 105 years old. This is a baseline.

Ye Shuhua: This will scare everyone. A big old ghost has come.

Wang Ning: As you realize this dream, the quality of your life will also change.

Because the country needs it, I can work hard for my country

At the age of 95, she is still looking up at the sky. She has never stopped moving forward because of the needs of the country.

Whether she was studying or returning to China, she always adhered to her beliefs and devoted herself to her motherland.

Ye Shuhua: My father was against it, and it was during the Korean War, when the fighting was very intense. So when I told my father, I also wanted to stay in China, not in Hong Kong. This actually hurt him a lot, because he loved me the most among his children.

Wang Ning: Did he understand you in the end?

Ye Shuhua: No, we didn’t have the chance to meet because of the war.

Wang Ning: Is it a regret in your heart?

Ye Shuhua: This means you have a motherland and you feel you can risk your life for it.

Every star has its own light.

A 95-year-old woman has spent her entire life fighting for her beloved cause, breaking through the gender ceiling to the greatest extent possible.

Wang Ning: What qualities do you think women should have to gain respect?

Ye Shuhua: First of all, it should be independence.

Wang Ning: Does this independence have any specific meaning?

Ye Shuhua: Just have an idea. If you want to do something, as long as you do it well in the industry you are in, that’s enough. Even if you are sweeping the floor, you can do it the best.

What she pursues in her heart is not just equality between men and women, but equality for every individual, just like every star in the vast starry sky has its own light.

Source: CCTV News Client