Excellent young scientists used to play mahjong as a toy when they were young

In all walks of life, there are young people who shine in their jobs and their role is crucial.

In the scientific community, there is also a group of young people who love scientific research. They are diligent and pursue excellence, walking step by step on the road to truth.

Today, Tadpole has listed several representatives of young scientists for you. Let us take a look at the charm of contemporary young scientists!

01

The first Chinese winner of the Young Scientist Award

Recently, Chen Hui from the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Zhejiang University was awarded the "Young Scientist Award" by the American Society for Experimental Psychology. This award is given to only four scholars each year, and Chen Hui has become the first Chinese winner since the award was established.

Chen Hui (first from left)

Chen Hui is deeply involved in the field of psychology, with research interests in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, including cognitive and neural mechanisms of attention, memory, consciousness, and the mechanisms and brain basis of cognitive disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. In traditional cognitive psychology theory, "attention" has always been the beginning of memory. As long as a person pays attention to something, the memory of that thing begins.

However, in a recent study by Chen Hui's team, he found that "expectation" is the gate that opens memory. If the human memory process is compared to a camera, "attention" is like the focus lens of the camera, and "expectation" is the shutter. Only things that meet one's "expectations" will enter memory.

Illustration of theoretical research by Chen Hui's team

This theoretical achievement of Chen Hui's team will be conducive to further research on mental illnesses, such as autism and schizophrenia. Chen Hui often tells students that scientific research is like climbing a hill. You will encounter many setbacks, and you will not reach the top of the mountain in one go. For contemporary college students, Chen Hui believes that "pattern" is the most important quality that students need to have in scientific research. For students with scientific research capabilities, only if they have a pattern and great ambitions can they abandon all kinds of temptations and interference from the outside world and finally make gratifying academic achievements.

02

Challenges keep me growing

Tang Qiuhong is a researcher at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was selected into the CAS "Hundred Talents Program" in 2010 and won the CAS Young Scientist Award in 2021. Tang Qiuhong's research field is global change hydrology. He has continuously proposed new models, methods and technologies in the relationship between terrestrial water cycle and global change, water security risk assessment and response, and made contributions to the research and utilization of national water resources.

Tang Qiuhong (first from right), Image source: Tsinghua Alumni Association

In 1997, Tang Qiuhong, who was still in his second year of high school, took the college entrance examination with a try-it attitude and applied to Tsinghua University. Surprisingly, he succeeded in the first attempt. As he was not familiar with the major of "water conservancy", Tang Qiuhong hesitated for a while. But after thinking it over again and again, Tang Qiuhong decided to take up the challenge. In this way, he entered Tsinghua University and started his research in water conservancy.

In recent years, Tang Qiuhong has continued to challenge himself and expand global change hydrology. In his opinion, relying solely on an unchanging model to conduct batches of repeated scientific research is a very scary scientific research comfort zone. Only by maintaining creativity and curiosity at all times can we explore more scientific unknowns. Guided by such ideas, Tang Qiuhong's team has become a creative research team, and is constantly moving into new fields to explore more possibilities.

03

From "Junior Class" to "Research Professor"

Zhou Tao is currently the director of the Internet Science Center of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. When Zhou Tao was young, he was weak and sickly, and the hospital became his most familiar place. Despite this, Zhou Tao showed a superhuman memory since he was a child. He used mahjong as a toy and had an amazing ability to remember cards. Before the age of 6, he completed 4 years of primary school courses by self-study, and then studied in the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China and received a bachelor's degree in science. At the age of 27, he joined the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and became the youngest professor in Sichuan Province.

Zhou Tao, Image source: Southwest University of Science and Technology News Network

Zhou Tao has devoted himself to the professional fields of network science, information physics, big data algorithms, etc. His papers have been cited more than 14,000 times, and 8 of them have been selected as ESI highly cited papers. He is not only the youngest winner of the 12th China Youth Science and Technology Award, but also was elected as one of the top ten scientific and technological innovation figures in China in 2015 along with seven individuals including Tu Youyou and three teams including Beidou Navigation.

04

Refuse to limit your life

Liu Ying, Vice Dean of Peking University School of Future Technology and Professor of Molecular Medicine Research at Peking University, won the 15th "China Young Women Scientist Award". At the age of 29, Liu Ying became a doctoral supervisor at Peking University, and her research results have been published in many international academic journals. This is the "cheating" life that many people envy. Liu Ying's original intention of scientific research has never changed. Her curiosity and love for things have always supported her scientific research and life, and have become the source of her motivation to move forward.

Liu Ying, Image source: China Association for Science and Technology

Liu Ying is engaged in the research of cell stress and homeostasis regulation. She likes to explore everything about cells. She said, "My job is to explore the mysteries of life, and doing scientific research is more to satisfy my curiosity." The research topics of Liu Ying and her team are closely related to common metabolic diseases, aging diseases, and cancer, and have very important application value.

Constantly expand the boundaries of human knowledge and refuse to live a limited life. As a scientific researcher and a woman of the new era, Liu Ying truly interprets the meaning of passion. Unlike the image of a conservative scientist in people's minds, Liu Ying likes to run marathons, is good at making cakes, and also likes fashion and celebrities.

She condensed her scientific research experience into three key words: curiosity, diligence, and thinking. She often tells her students: "If you don't push yourself, how can you know your limit?" Only by persisting in the career you love can you live a wonderful life.

05

Science has nothing to do with gender, it only matters what you are interested in

Wormholes, time travel, universe, space... In stereotypes, these may be more in line with boys' interests, but Wang Linghua, a researcher at the School of Earth and Space Sciences of Peking University, tells you that women can also show their brilliance in all aspects. Wang Linghua's scientific research motivation is very simple, that is, interest. Because of her strong interest in the universe, space, and physics, she was admitted to the Department of Geophysics of Peking University to explore the mysteries of the universe.

Wang Linghua, Image source: Tencent

Wang Linghua's daily work is to use satellite observation data for specific analysis. But the road of scientific research will never be smooth sailing. Facing setbacks, Wang Linghua is not discouraged, but more motivated to continue research. In her mind, any difficulty will not be a stumbling block to progress, but a driving force in another direction, and it may open up another unknown research path.

As a female scientist, Wang Linghua naturally pays more attention to her female classmates. She found that some girls have strong thinking ability and solid basic knowledge, but they are not confident due to the constraints of traditional concepts. Wang Linghua said: "Two of the four milestone events in space physics were discovered by female scientists. Therefore, science has nothing to do with gender and age, but only with interest. Both men and women can make important contributions."

The times are changing, and the younger generation is coming one after another. There are far more outstanding young scientists than the ones introduced today. There are also many scientific research talents who are silently dedicating themselves to their posts, overcoming difficulties, and working hard for their scientific research dreams!

END

Review expert: Zhu Guangsi, member of Beijing Science Writers Association

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/My Neighbor Totoro