He is the first Chinese to win the "Nobel Prize for Meteorology" and made a bold statement: "Let foreigners catch up with us"｜Time Letter

Nowadays, weather forecast has become a piece of news that each of us checks before going out, but our ability to enjoy such complete and accurate weather forecasts is inseparable from the hard work and wisdom of generations of meteorologists.

In the history of the development of meteorological science in New China, there was a meteorological scientist named Ye Duzheng, who devoted his entire life to studying meteorology and once made a bold statement: "Let foreigners catch up with us."

Ye Duzheng's work photos

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

In 2003, Ye Duzheng reviewed the humiliation suffered by the Chinese people during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the discrimination they suffered while studying and working in the United States in his article "Talking about the Past, Present and Future of the Chinese Nation from My Life Experience". Looking at the present situation, he said that "China has truly stood up in the world."

If someone asks me, "You have had a very rich life experience. What is the most profound feeling among them?" I will answer without hesitation, "When I saw the news that President Bush Jr. of the United States named China as a 'strategic rival', I felt that China has truly stood up in the world. There is no longer the humiliation of being trampled underfoot in the past."

Manuscript

Manuscript and edited content

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

When the nation was in danger, Ye Duzheng actively participated in the student movement. For this, he was almost expelled from school when he was about to graduate from middle school. It was also during middle school that Ye Duzheng set the goal of serving the country through science. He said: "Nankai Middle School's science education is very good. It has cultivated my interest in science. I am determined to study science and make it a good science in the future. The Chinese people are really bullied too much! I feel like many feet are stepping on me and I can't breathe."

Photo of Ye Duzheng graduating from Nankai Middle School in 1935

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

In the autumn of 1943, Ye Duzheng went to study in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Chicago, where he studied under the famous American meteorologist Rossby. After graduating with a doctorate in 1949, he flatly rejected the high salary offered by the U.S. Weather Bureau and returned to China in 1950.

Ye Duzheng's graduation photo at the University of Chicago in 1948

Source | Senior Scientists Academic Growth Data Collection Project

After returning to China, Ye Duzheng quickly devoted himself to the preparation and establishment of my country's atmospheric science research institutions, pioneered a series of innovative theories, and guided the construction of China's meteorological business system.

In 1979, Ye Duzheng led a Chinese meteorological delegation to visit the United States. A former classmate asked him, "Do you regret it?" Ye Duzheng said, "I don't regret it at all now. First, I am Chinese. I work for China and for the Chinese people. Second, the United States will not give me such a platform to make suggestions and make plans."

Over seventy years of hard work, Ye Duzheng has made great contributions to the development of atmospheric physics in China and the exploration of the field of global climate change, and has also trained many outstanding meteorologists.

Ye Duzheng

(1916-2013)

Meteorologist

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Winner of the National Highest Science and Technology Award