Wang Dezi: Judging whether a subject is popular or not is not based on subjective assumptions alone.

At a freshman forum at the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering of Nanjing University, a student expressed his confusion to Wang Dezi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering of Nanjing University: "Nowadays, society believes that geology is unpopular and has no future..."

"To judge whether a subject is popular or not, we should look at its relationship with the national economy and people's livelihood, rather than relying solely on subjective assumptions. Since you are studying geology, you should be proud of studying geology and realize your own life value based on national needs," said Wang Dezizi earnestly.

From a young student determined to serve the country through science to a famous Chinese geologist, Wang Dezizi first proposed the concept of "subvolcanic granite" and was the first to discover S-type volcanic rocks in China... He has been sitting on what the outside world considers to be a "cold bench" for more than 70 years.

"My love for geological science will last a lifetime," said Wang Dezizi.

A heart dedicated to serving the country

In early 1949, the Communist Party Committee of the National Central University decided to recruit a group of outstanding young students from the "New Democratic Youth Society" as reserve forces. Wang Dezizi, who was studying at the National Central University, joined the underground party organization of the Communist Party after going through layers of examinations.

In 2021, 94-year-old Academician Wang Dezizi made a long-thought-out decision: he took out one million yuan of his personal savings to establish the "Zilan Scholarship" to reward outstanding students from the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering of Nanjing University who are both good in character and academic performance and love the cause of earth sciences.

Wang Dezi's love for geology began when he was a child. When he was in primary school, the school rented several wooden boats to organize senior students to tour the Yangtze River. That was the first time Wang Dezi saw the Yangtze River.

"That day, although the river breeze was chilly, the blue sky, white clouds and the shadows of sails on the Yangtze River were truly beautiful. My mind suddenly became clear. I thought at that time: When I grow up, I want to be a geographer like Xu Xiake and travel around the beautiful rivers and mountains of my motherland." This is Wang Dezizi's most vague feeling about geology.

When Wang Dezi was in high school, he learned about the deeds of Ding Wenjiang, one of the founders of geology in my country. In 1936, Ding Wenjiang died of gas poisoning while investigating coal mines in Hunan at the age of 49. Before studying abroad, Mr. Ding wrote a bold statement: "Why bury my bones in my hometown? There are green mountains everywhere in the world." Wang Dezi was excited when he read it.

From then on, Wang Dezi had his own ideal: "To be an outstanding geologist like Ding Wenjiang."

In the summer of 1946, after the National Central University was demobilized, it resumed enrollment. More than 30,000 people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai came to apply for the exam. However, the school only admitted 500 people, with an average of only 1 in 60 people. The competition was extremely fierce. In the end, Wang Dezi was admitted to the Department of Geology of the National Central University with excellent results, fulfilling his childhood dream.

In 1947, although he was still a freshman who had just left his hometown, Wang Dezi followed the senior students to participate in the "May 20th" student movement. They took to the streets with the slogan "anti-hunger, anti-civil war, anti-persecution" to petition the Nationalist government, but were violently suppressed. The Kuomintang military police and police used high-pressure water hoses to attack the parade and beat the students with iron rods. More than 100 people were injured on the spot and more than 20 were arrested. Faced with the threat of reactionary forces, Wang Dezi and his classmates were fearless and confronted the Kuomintang cavalry that blocked the parade.

This epoch-making student movement was like a prairie fire that quickly spread from Nanjing to the whole country and won the support and solidarity of the people across the country. "Study hard without forgetting to save the country, and save the country without neglecting study." The atrocities committed by the Kuomintang further strengthened Wang Dezi's belief in pursuing progress.

So, Wang Dezizi eagerly learned geological science knowledge. In addition to studying seriously, he joined a progressive society called "Natural Science Society" and later joined the "New Democratic Youth Society", an external organization of the Chinese Communist Party's underground party.

In early 1949, the CPC General Branch Committee of the National Central University decided to recruit a group of outstanding young students from the "New Democratic Youth Society" as reserve forces. Wang Dezi, who was studying at the National Central University, joined the underground party organization of the Communist Party after going through layers of investigation. In a residential building next to the Kuomintang's "Jiangsu First Prison" in Laohuqiao, Wang Dezi was responsible for the editing and printing of the progressive publication "Nanjing Student Union", risking his life to spread progressive ideas.

On the eve of the founding of New China, under the organization and leadership of the Nanjing underground party of the Communist Party of China, Wang Dezizi actively participated in the struggle of "responding to changes, protecting the school, and welcoming liberation". Together with teachers and students, he smashed the Kuomintang government's plot to relocate the school and ushered in the new dawn of Nanjing University.

The three-foot podium educates new people

Wang Dezizi set three goals for himself: first, to give lectures without a script, instead of reading from a book; second, to grasp the key points and explain them in depth; third, to dare to face the students, instead of facing the blackboard.

In 1950, Wang Dezi, who had just graduated from university, stayed at the university to teach. At that time, China was in a state of disrepair. In order to quickly train the construction talents that the country urgently needed, the Department of Geology of Nanjing University opened a junior college in 1952, setting up two junior college majors: mineral survey and exploration and hydrogeology and engineering geology, recruiting 400 people a year to quickly train technical and skilled talents for the country. At one time, there were dozens of times more students than before who needed to take petrology courses, and the teaching pressure doubled.

Wang Dezizi, who was still an assistant teacher at the time, received the task of teaching a petrology course. "I had no choice but to do it. I prepared lessons at night, wrote lecture notes carefully, and gave trial lectures behind closed doors. If it didn't work the first time, I would try again." Wang Dezizi set three goals for himself: First, to teach without a script, not "reading from a book"; second, to grasp the key points and explain them in depth; third, to dare to face the students, not the blackboard.

"Teacher Wang pays great attention to the art and skills of lecturing. He is good at using heuristic and discussion-based teaching methods rather than simple indoctrination, thereby arousing students' interest in learning." The classroom scenes from decades ago often emerge in the mind of Wang Dezizi's student, Liu Deliang, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China.

To teach a good rock course, experiments and lectures are equally important. However, the learning conditions were limited at the time, and there were too few polarizing microscopes. During the experimental class, five students shared one microscope, and each person could only use it for 24 minutes. Therefore, the laboratory was open as usual at night, and every brightly lit night, Wang Dezi could be seen guiding students in doing experiments.

He taught during the day and tutored at night. Students were moved by Wang Dezi's professionalism and wrote a special report published in the Nanjing University Journal, titled "Teaching Assistant Wang Dezi, Deeply Loved by Students". Recalling this incident, Wang Dezi felt very gratified. The greatest affirmation for a teacher is to stand firmly on the podium.

Under the difficult conditions at that time, the Department of Geology of Nanjing University cultivated a large number of geological and technical talents with solid foundation and strong field work ability for the country. Most of them became the backbone and experts of my country's geological industry and the mainstay supporting the development of China's earth sciences.

In 1963, after Wang Dezi was transferred from the department to the school, he served as the deputy dean of academic affairs and vice president of Nanjing University. Even though he was busy with work, he still took time to guide students in the Department of Geology, give lectures and guide their field and laboratory research.

At that time, in addition to the lack of talent, university textbooks suitable for Chinese students were also a gap that needed to be filled. In addition to teaching courses and administrative work, Wang Dezi also wrote textbooks such as "Crystal Optics" and "Optical Mineralogy", which were published in the early 1960s. Among them, "Optical Mineralogy" is the first textbook in my country that systematically introduces the optical characteristics of rock-forming minerals after the founding of New China. It is widely used in geological disciplines in colleges and universities across the country. Until the 1980s, the book was out of stock, and students could only use photocopied versions.

In 2006, Wang Dezizi accidentally discovered that the 1974 reprint of "Optical Mineralogy (Second Edition)" was still being reprinted by the school. Due to its age, the handwriting was gradually blurred and some content needed to be updated and enriched. Wang Dezizi, who was already 80 years old, revised and published "Optical Mineralogy (Third Edition)" with the assistance of another colleague.

Wang Dezi has always been very caring towards young people. When Liu Deliang was alone on the border between Jiangsu and Shandong provinces looking for diamond and rutile mines that were in short supply in the country, Wang Dezi walked dozens of miles from the county town to visit him in the absence of buses. He sat under a dim oil lamp and listened to Liu Deliang's work report.

He insisted on letting students conduct independent investigations, hoping to cultivate their ability to think independently and to endure hardships, but he was often worried about their safety. This kind of silent care has influenced generation after generation of students.

Whenever new students enter the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering of Nanjing University, Wang Dezizi always encourages young students to embark on the road of earth science research with his own life experience, and often encourages them to have more ideals, more love for science, and more persistent pursuit of truth.

Stick to the original intention and climb to the top

"Do not go back too much when doing field geological surveys." This is what Wang Dezi often teaches his students. In his opinion, field work requires hard work in the brain, eyes, legs, hands, and mouth, and as much field survey as possible.

An ordinary piece of rock often contains billions of years of secrets of the Earth. Generations of geologists have measured the earth with their footsteps and revealed the history of crustal movement.

In 1956, the Party Central Committee called for "march toward science". Despite the heavy workload of party and government work and teaching tasks, Wang Dezi still seized every moment to carry out scientific research.

"To climb a mountain, you must reach the top; to move, you must walk." This sentence by Ding Wenjiang before his death became Wang Dezizi's life motto and also his action guide for his lifelong geological research.

There is an east-west Ningzhen Mountain Range between Nanjing and Zhenjiang, which is one of the earliest birthplaces of geological survey in China, but the study of lamprophyre is its weak link. Wang Dezi targeted this weak link to carry out scientific research.

Field work is full of hardships and loneliness. In the morning, he carried a suitcase and simple dry food, took the earliest slow train from Nanjing to the mountainous area, and crossed the mountains alone to observe, collect specimens, and draw pictures. After completing a day's work, he took the latest slow train back to school, carrying dozens of kilograms of stone specimens.

In this way, after more than ten trips back and forth, plus indoor experimental work, Wang Dezizi's first academic paper "Research on Xiashu Lamprophyre in Gaozi, Jiangsu" was published in 1957, filling the gap in the research of lamprophyre.

In the mid-1960s, Nanjing University had five scientific research achievements that were renowned both at home and abroad and were known as the "Five Golden Flowers" of Nanjing University. One of them was "Research on South China Granite and Its Mineralization Relationship."

In 1957, Xu Keqin, a geology professor at Nanjing University, and his colleagues discovered two 400 million-year-old Caledonian granites while investigating granite and tungsten mines in South China. Traditionally, it was believed that only Yanshanian granites about 100 million years old existed in South China. This discovery caused a stir in the geological community and was opposed by many people.

Therefore, Xu Keqin sent Wang Dezi and others to southern Jiangxi to carry out a four-month field research, from collecting specimens, measuring measured profiles to drawing sketches and observing thin sections with a polarizing microscope. In the end, the research results proved that the "granite porphyry" arbitrarily believed by opponents was actually a special "granite clastic rock". In 1966, the results of the project were listed as major scientific research achievements after the founding of New China by the Ministry of Higher Education. In 1980, it was selected as a major geological achievement in my country by the Geological Society of China, and won the National Science Conference Award, the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award and other awards.

After that, Wang Dezizi continued to advance granite research to a deeper level through decades of research, and combined the research of granite with volcanic rocks, achieving significant results and progress.

In 1980, Wang Dezi and his team discovered that the foot of Mogan Mountain was granite, while the top of the mountain was rhyolite. In order to find out the relationship between them, the team took geological hammers and hammered from the foot of the mountain to the top, not missing any "outcrops", but they could not find the contact boundary of the two rocks, but found a gradual transition.

This investigation made Wang Dezizi realize that there is a "blood relationship" between granite and rhyolite. Granite is the "root" of volcanic rock. They are a whole and belong to the same magma system. He thus proposed the new concept of "subvolcanic granite", ending the academic community's long-standing tendency to artificially separate volcanic rocks and granite.

"Don't go back too much when doing field geological surveys." This is what Wang Dezi often teaches his students. In his opinion, field work requires hard work in the brain, eyes, legs, hands, and mouth, and as much field investigation as possible. "The knowledge in books is the summaries of predecessors in the field and indoors. You should not only learn knowledge from books, but also seek knowledge from nature, discover problems from it, and solve problems. Original research is the most valuable," said Wang Dezi.

Wang Dezizi's team also discovered and confirmed the existence of S-type volcanic rocks in my country for the first time in Jiangxi, and confirmed the close relationship between large areas of olivine and tectonic rocks in many regions of my country and gold mines. This has greatly enriched the relevant theories of granite and volcanic rocks and promoted China's petrology research to a new level.

"Scientific research must focus on key points and stick to them. We must organize a good scientific research team that has both leaders and successors so that the characteristics of scientific research can be inherited and carried forward for a long time," said Wang Dezizi.

When it comes to scientific research, Wang Dezizi has always advocated interdisciplinary research. He once wrote in a letter to his student Liu Deliang: "When studying metamorphic rocks, you cannot follow the path of pure petrology. On the one hand, you must connect with regional geology, and on the other hand, you must conduct research from the perspective of physical chemistry." In his view, interdisciplinary research is not only conducive to solving complex scientific problems, but also the only way for new disciplines to grow.

Passionate about popularizing science and benefiting the public

"I am a geologist. I should give back to society with my professional knowledge and actively engage in popular science education. This is my responsibility."

Although Wang Dezizi has always strived for excellence in geological research and solved many scientific research problems, he never thinks that this science should be put on the shelf.

Entering the 21st century, Wang Dezizi, who was over 80 years old, decided to open up a new battlefield in his life - engaging in popular science work.

"I am a geologist. I should give back to society with my professional knowledge and actively engage in popular science education. This is my responsibility." In his view, resources, environment and disasters are closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood, but people know very little about earth science.

Wang Dezi often goes to the community to interact with community residents and primary and secondary school students. It is a great pleasure for Wang Dezi to give back to society by giving science lectures and using his knowledge.

He has given many popular science lectures entitled "Nature, Resources and People", vividly explaining the relationship between man and nature to the public, and raising people's awareness of cherishing resources, protecting the environment, and reducing and preventing disasters. He also explains hot issues, such as the mechanism of the Wenchuan earthquake, how the Icelandic volcano erupted, and the relationship between earthquakes, tsunamis and plate movements.

When he was teaching science to the children, he loved to use analogies: "The earth is like a big peach. The innermost peach pit can be regarded as the 'core', the thick flesh in the middle is equivalent to the 'mantle', and the thin outermost peach skin is like the 'crust'..." The children were all amused when they heard this. He often recalled with the children his school days and scientific research career "going up to the sky, into the earth, and into the sea", answered their questions, and encouraged them to engage in scientific research when they grow up.

In order to help the public improve their level of "stone appreciation", Wang Dezi opened a popular science lecture "Chinese Ornamental Stones" to popularize science to the public from the perspective of integrating geology and art. He also edited popular science books such as "Ancient Wonders - Nanjing Yuhua Stone" and "Ancient Relics - Nanjing National Geopark". By writing these books for "outsiders", he wants to convey: "Geology is interesting."

In addition to popularizing science, Wang Dezi still insists on field investigation. In September 2003, the Organization Department of Nanjing Municipal Party Committee and the Nanjing Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly organized the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing to visit Pukou, Liuhe, Qixia and Jianye districts. Along the way, Wang Dezi was heartbroken to see that due to the immediate interests, people were wantonly quarrying and the geological relics in Nanjing were seriously damaged.

"You know, geological relics are the 'treasures' left to us by nature. Once destroyed, they cannot be regenerated and the loss is immeasurable!" After in-depth research, Wang Dezi, together with 8 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing, wrote to the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee to urgently call for "stopping mountain quarrying and protecting geological relics." The Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee attached great importance to the collective suggestions of the academicians and quickly took decisive measures to preserve the precious geological relics in Nanjing.

He also participated in many riverside surveys, "Pukou" ecological surveys and geological relic protection work, and advocated for environmental protection, which gave rise to the construction of Nanjing Riverside Scenic Belt, Pukou Ecological Demonstration Zone and Tangshan-Fangshan National Geopark.

…

“Man, even after traversing all the green mountains, his ambition remains unchanged; his blood is boiling, and the sky is still filled with clouds.” This poem presented to Wang Dezizi by his students is a wonderful portrayal of his scientific life.

Author: Jiao Yixuan

Source: China Education News