What is the spirit of scientists?

On Youth Day, I saw a trending search on the topic of youth: "As a young science and technology worker, walking at the forefront of future science and technology, what kind of spirit do you think you need to learn from the scientists of the past?" What is the spirit of scientists? I will not go into the positive energy here, as the big guys have already explained it in detail.

Today, I am going to say something different, which may cause dissatisfaction among many scientific researchers, but this is also my observation and thinking.

01. Scientists are also human beings

We have always seemed to have a tendency to mystify or elevate scientific research. When we talk about scientists, we often use words like "hard work" and "ambitions since childhood", so much so that sometimes I even begin to doubt it.

Although, I admit that I grew up in a poor family and have come this far, just like what Dr. Huang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences wrote in the acknowledgments, it is not easy to talk about it. However, I feel that it is not that serious. At least, I enjoyed it at every stage. Moreover, I have asked many scientific researchers, and everyone has similar experiences. After all, that was the state of social development at that time.

As for ambitions from childhood, I can only say that when I was in kindergarten or elementary school, when teachers asked about my ideals, I would say scientist (after all, scientists, teachers, and doctors are almost the top three ideals for children). But to say that I have always been determined to engage in scientific research and strive for it all my life, I think this is a bit too high.

So, for quite a long time, I was actually quite doubtful of myself. I always felt like a traitor who had infiltrated scientific research, and I often wondered if I had taken the wrong path.

However, as I spent more time in scientific research and met more people, I began to think about what the "scientific spirit" is.

I am fortunate to do scientific research in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is probably one of the places with the highest concentration of scientists in China. I dare not say naughty words like there are PhDs everywhere and masters are not as good as dogs, but I have met a lot of Academicians, Outstanding Young Scientists, and Thousand Talents. After all, I see them every day. As for Excellent Young Scientists and Young Thousand Talents, they are right around me, and many of them went through student days together.

It can be said that after observing many people, I began to have an idea, that is: scientists are actually ordinary people.

Almost all the phenomena you observe in society can be seen to some extent among scientists.

They will fall in love and get married.

They would smoke and drink.

They watch movies, play games, read online novels...

They also work 996 or even 007, they also complain about housing prices and academic qualifications, they also talk about whose car is better or worse, and family matters are a daily routine.

As for the negative news within the scientific community, you can see it from the news; it is not uncommon.

Well, this may have shattered many people's beautiful fantasies, but this is the real situation among the scientific community. Should these people be expelled from the scientific community?

So, after reading a lot and thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that scientists are also human beings.

It’s just that the scientific research industry, because it pursues the most cutting-edge knowledge of mankind, has given them a kind of group aura.

However, most scientists should not hide themselves in the halo.

So, with this kind of observation and thinking, I found that some problems, including the "spirit of scientists", can be solved to some extent.

02. To do scientific research, you must first be a good person.

In fact, in recent years, as scientific research continues to advance by leaps and bounds, we have also seen a lot of things, such as various revelations of scientists not complying with academic norms.

In fact, I think an important issue behind this is that these people did not act as human beings first.

A lot of knowledge and virtues that we learn from childhood to adulthood, including the values ​​​​advocated by society, are the basic essentials of being a human being. If a person cannot even do these well, then he will face more or less temptations and risks in his scientific research career.

For example, the most typical example is academic fraud. People like to use some great content to give academics a beautiful appearance.

For example, Aristotle's saying "I love my teacher, but I love the truth more" was suddenly glorified, as if it was such a noble thing.

However, isn’t this a basic principle for doing scientific research? Isn’t this also a basic principle for being a human being?

Some people plagiarize large sections of other people's works and still look innocent in the end. I wonder, even from childhood to adulthood, no one has ever told you that plagiarism is right, right? Why is it special in academia?

Some people falsify papers, fabricate data, and forge results, and still feel aggrieved. I'm just curious, if you falsify papers, it's wrong regardless of whether it's scientific research or not, right?

There are even cases of collective fraud in a field that ended up collapsing and becoming a joke. Could it be that these people really couldn't tell the difference between truth and falsehood when they were doing research?

Why does it become "righteous" and "excusable" once it becomes related to academics?

Therefore, I think that the spirit of scientists that we talk about is actually often the basic principles of being a human being.

In fact, every industry has its own basic norms. In an industry like academia that pursues truth, if you really want to play it this way, it is up to the industry itself.

At least, some of the people I know who are engaged in this kind of fraud have basically lost their reputation in the industry. For example, someone who was exposed for fraud, as far as I know, was not invited to some industry conferences.

03. The spirit of a scientist is a basic requirement and a natural outcome

Let us think further, what exactly is the spirit of scientists?

In fact, this concept is very complicated. I looked for it roughly, but found that these spirits are not that difficult.

For example, the pragmatic spirit of pursuing truth and rigorous scholarship.

This is the common spirit of scientists, but isn't this what scientists should do?

Scientific research, the purpose of this profession is to pursue knowledge and truth. No matter whether it is government funding or corporate funding, they give it to you to solve some problems. So, isn't it your job to solve these problems?

Many people use grand narratives to whitewash themselves. However, in fact, I have rarely seen such outrageous demands. For example, when we were carrying out a major special project, we felt that we might need to involve more topics and content to make the project appear richer. However, the experts from the Ministry of Science and Technology directly and seriously pointed out that we should not get carried away. With the current technology, manpower and time, if we can solve one of the problems we raised during a project, it would be a great progress.

In fact, over the years, I have seen many scientists and project establishment and evaluation, and basically everyone is more pragmatic. After all, this is scientific research, not bragging.

I personally think that some other scientists' spirits are more of personal pursuits. For example, being indifferent to fame and wealth. I must say that this is really a personal spiritual pursuit. In a person's life, there are many pursuits, and no one can achieve all of them. After all, human energy is limited.

But there are times when one of your pursuits outweighs the others.

Take me for example. For a while, I particularly liked being online. But later, I found that many real pursuits in society were very attractive to me. Recently, I suddenly felt that scientific research was very interesting. It was like deciphering a secret, exploring new things step by step. Every step I took was more or less unnoticed by others. I really felt happy. Therefore, I became less demanding in my daily life and had no energy to take care of those trivial matters. They would only delay the progress of my research. So, I felt that I seemed to have the spirit of a scientist.

From this incident, I seem to have touched upon a threshold of the scientist's spirit, that is, this thing comes naturally.

Instead of thinking about how to be a scientist from the beginning.

I even think about some great scientists and the process they went through. Sometimes I think that pursuit may surpass other pursuits in the secular world at a certain moment. (Of course, due to my own realm and status, I am just a young scientific and technological worker who has just started, so I may not be able to imagine those great things.)

04. Some Conclusions

When I saw the question, I felt confused and suddenly realized something. Then after thinking about it, I seemed to have the answer in my mind.

The spirit of scientists does not come out of thin air. The basic spirit of scientists, such as rigorous and pragmatic, and the pursuit of truth, is self-evident because it is the basic principle of being a human being. The more advanced spirit of scientists is a natural result.

If I have to say one thing: Just seek peace of mind.