"Flying geese stepping on snow and mud"! The 85-year-old academician made three wishes on his birthday...

"The seabed is so beautiful, with sea lilies everywhere, and it's so quiet that there's not a sound at all. You must come and see it!" In 1978, at a dinner party during a visit, a French expert described to Wang Pinxian the experience of diving into the Mediterranean Sea in a manned submersible. Since then, Wang Pinxian has had a yearning for the deep sea.

Academician Wang Pinxian walked out of the manned cabin of the Deep Sea Warrior in May 2018. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Jiansong

40 years later, in May 2018, at the age of 82, Wang Pinxian boarded my country's independently developed manned submersible "Deep Sea Warrior" and dived to the bottom of the South China Sea more than 1,400 meters deep three times in 9 days. Each time he conducted continuous observations and sampling on the seabed for more than 8 hours, and made a series of important new scientific discoveries in the deep sea, such as "cold water coral forest".

From paleontology research to deep-sea research, for the needs of the motherland

In 1953, Wang Pinxian graduated from Shanghai Gezhi Middle School. Having witnessed the brutality of the Japanese invaders since childhood, he longed for a strong, peaceful and stable country. "It is probably difficult for today's students to imagine the excitement in the early 1950s. I had just entered high school at that time. In the great tide of the times, students regarded studying in the classroom and joining the army on the front line as practical actions to devote themselves to a grand cause."

After studying Russian for two years at Beijing Russian Language College, Wang Pinxian went to study at the Department of Geology of Moscow State University. When he went abroad, even his socks were provided by the government. Wang Pinxian secretly made up his mind: "I really have to do my best!"

After returning from overseas, he went to East China Normal University to set up the Marine Geology Department, but the first batch of workers, peasants and soldiers were not recruited until 1970. In 1972, the Geological Bureau of the State Planning Commission issued a notice to transfer the marine geology major of East China Normal University to Tongji University, and Wang Pinxian followed the "Marine Geology Company" to Tongji University. In 1975, Tongji officially established the Marine Geology Department.

In 1978, Wang Pinxian participated in a delegation from the Ministry of Petroleum to the United States and France for a two-month investigation. At that time, the competition in marine science and technology between the world's major powers had already begun. Foreign major oil companies and famous universities were studying and exploring the ocean, but the domestic understanding of the marine economy was still very traditional, remaining at the idea of ​​"the convenience of boats and ships, the benefits of fishing and salt." "This visit really opened my eyes and made me want to do world-class marine scientific research."

Academician Wang Pinxian on the "Exploration One" research vessel in May 2018. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Jiansong

Three years later, Wang Pinxian received the Humboldt Scholarship and went to study at the University of Kiel in Germany. The University of Kiel is the center of marine research in Germany. There, he gradually realized that there are "more important things than paleontological research." After more than a year of cooperation and exchanges in Europe, he was eager to return to his motherland and truly put his knowledge into practice.

In 1985, Tongji University's marine geology major was awarded a doctoral degree, the first doctoral degree in China's marine geology major. Wang Pinxian became a doctoral supervisor as an associate professor. Wang Pinxian clearly remembers that the president at the time praised "this smallest department in the university is particularly promising."

"I have a schedule for what I want to do, and what I lack most now is time."

As early as 1991, Wang Pinxian was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. But he joked: "Others are postdoctoral fellows, but I am a post-academician." Because he believes that the "somewhat important" work he did was done after the 1990s, "it was not until my later years that I dug into the academic gold mine of deep-sea research."

In 1997, China officially joined the "International Ocean Drilling Program" (ODP). The proposal "The Record of East Asian Monsoon History in the South China Sea and Its Global Climate Impact" written by Wang Pinxian ranked first in the global competition and was implemented as the 184th voyage of ODP in the spring of 1999. Wang Pinxian was appointed as the chief scientist. In 1999, the drilling ship set sail from Australia and sailed into the South China Sea for a full ten days. In the Nansha waters, when the first well was drilled, Wang Pinxian still remembers the scene of the American captain ordering the Chinese flag to be raised: "The significance of that is beyond the scope of science."

After two months of ocean drilling, 17 holes were drilled at six deep-water stations in the north and south of the South China Sea, and more than 5,000 meters of deep-sea cores of unprecedented quality were obtained. This is the first systematic deep-sea research in my country's waters. It not only established the best paleoenvironment and stratigraphic profile in the western Pacific in the past 32 million years, but also discovered the characteristics of long-term climate changes in the monsoon region. Combined with new accumulations later, a new view of "low-latitude drive" was proposed. From 2014 to 2018, Wang Pinxian promoted my country's marine geology community to achieve three and a half ocean drilling voyages in the deep-sea basin of the South China Sea, explored the formation mechanism of the South China Sea, and proposed a new mechanism of "plate margin rifting" in the marginal sea, challenging the traditional international understanding originating from Europe.

In Wang Pinxian's view, the development of science is local, especially earth science and macrobiology. "No one has the ability to study the entire earth, only a certain part of it." Earth science originated in Europe and has a strong Eurocentric imprint. "Europe is the standard for everything, and I don't accept this. Things in the Atlantic Ocean may not be correct when moved to the Western Pacific. This is what we found in the South China Sea."

On May 21, 2018, Academician Wang Pinxian walked into the "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Jiansong

Since 2011, Wang Pinxian has led my country's South China Sea ocean drilling and the unprecedented South China Sea deep-sea research program, promoted the establishment of a major national scientific and technological infrastructure project for the submarine scientific observation network, and led my country's earth science to the international forefront of deep-sea research. After eight years of hard work in 30 laboratories across the country, my country has won international dominance in South China Sea deep-sea research. "International ocean drilling has lasted for 50 years, and China has been drilling for 20 years. Our progress is the fastest in the world. Now we can confidently say that it is China that is leading the deep-sea research in the South China Sea."

On the one hand, he is ambitious, and on the other hand, he cherishes time. On the evening of April 7, 2021, at about nine o'clock, the background of Wang Pinxian riding a bicycle in the drizzling spring rain swept the entire Internet. He did not go home after class, but went to the office to continue working. Since he had a serious illness last year, Wang Pinxian adjusted his work and rest schedule, but the evening is still his important working time.

"The only time I can really work hard is in the next few years. I have made a schedule: what should I do before I turn 85? What should I do after that if I am still alive? So what I lack most now is time."

I hope to see our country truly become a leader in marine science.

In the spring semester of 2017, Wang Pinxian opened a public elective course called "Science, Culture and Ocean" for all students of Tongji University, encouraging students to combine science and culture and to bravely devote themselves to scientific research. This year, Wang Pinxian also started a live broadcast. At 7 pm on March 24, the second lecture of the "Science and Culture" course, "Science and Vision", attracted a total of 120,000 viewers in less than 2 hours.

Screenshot of Academician Wang Pinxian's popular science video page

In order to let more people understand marine science, young friends also helped Wang Pinxian move the science class to the video platform. The video "Is the legend of the Bermuda Triangle true or false? Did the underwater gas outburst lead to the disaster?" has been played more than 3.7 million times. As soon as the video was opened, "Hello, Grandpa!" "Hello, Academician!" "Hello, teacher!"... The barrage filled the screen.

In Wang Pinxian's view, the barrage of comments gives him a feeling of being "overwhelmed". "My world may have been limited to classrooms and research institutes before, but here, marine science is spreading to more people, which is a good thing." He likes it most when fans call him "Hello Grandpa" in the barrage of comments. He jokingly said that he is already a "living fossil" at his age, and he feels proud that he can still find common interests with young people.

On September 15 this year, Wang Pinxian and his wife Sun Xiangjun donated their savings of 2 million yuan to establish the Tongji University Ocean Scholarship. On November 9, Wang Pinxian was awarded the title of National Moral Model.

November 14th was Wang Pinxian’s 85th birthday. On that day, he talked about his three wishes: “First, I hope to work until I am 90 years old, and I can plan longer and work longer, not just live longer. Second, I hope Sun Xiangjun (my wife) can be as healthy as me and stay with me. She promised to stay with me. Third, I hope I can see our country truly become a world leader in marine science.”

In Wang Pinxian's view, life is like what Su Dongpo said, "A flying goose steps on snow and mud": "If you can really leave a footprint, and it is a footprint of social progress, that is your greatest happiness."

Editor-in-charge｜Zhai Qiaohong Editor｜Jiang Yue

Source: People's Daily Online - Shanghai Channel Wang Wenjuan, intern Wu Feifei, original title: "Carrying forward the spirit of scientists: "Flying geese stepping on snow and mud", he left Chinese footprints in the depths of the ocean"