When you choose to be a scientist, you must choose a boring and hard life.

On July 28th, 1982, Xinhua News Agency sent a message: "Professor Huang Ziqing, a member of the 5th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an academician of China Academy of Sciences and a famous physical chemist, unfortunately passed away on July 23rd at the age of 82 ..." Compared with this brief news, people familiar with Professor Huang Ziqing know that the old man who passed away left behind not only heavy academic achievements, but also his lofty spiritual realm.

Huang Zhixun, doctoral supervisor of microwave engineering in Communication University of China, is Huang Ziqing's youngest son. When asked about the deepest memory left by his father, Huang Zhixun told a little-known story: 1980, Peking University held a grand 80th birthday celebration for Professor Huang Ziqing. After the meeting, Huang Zhixun went home to have a tea chat with his father and asked him why he insisted on returning to China. "I had two chances to stay in America, but I didn't. Of course, I also lost myself. His father's words made Huang Zhixun fresh in his memory.

Back in time to 1934, Huang Ziqing, who was in his prime, went to the United States again and came to MIT to do research. Compared with his first study in the United States, this diligent student has become a rising star in Ran Ran's physical chemistry field in Ran Ran. At that time, Huang Ziqing often took his lunch with him. After he entered the laboratory in the morning, he stayed outside all day. He carefully designed the experimental device, and after more than a year of repeated measurement, he finally completed an important experiment, that is, accurately measuring the triple point temperature of water, that is, 0.0098 1.00005℃. This is an important data in thermodynamics and the basic work in thermometry. Later, the American Bureau of Standards organized personnel to repeat the experiment, and the results were consistent with those of Huang Ziqing. 1935, Huang Ziqing received his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1938, the Journal of American College of Arts and Sciences published a paper by Huang Ziqing, Betty and Benedict, entitled "Experimental study on absolute temperature scale (V): the reproducibility of freezing point and triple point of water; Determination of triple point of water. 1948, Huang Ziqing's name was included in Who's Who in the World edited by the United States. 1954, the international temperature scale conference was held in Paris, which confirmed the above data again. On this basis, the absolute zero is set at -273.438+05℃. Education is a "responsible place"

There is a broad and strong feeling in the world, that is, love for the motherland and the nation. After getting a doctorate, the head of the chemistry department of MIT and the head of the Institute of Atomic Energy of the University of Chicago want to leave when Huang Ziqing is in his prime. They said, "Your country is like a broken ship. What are you doing back? " Huang Ziqing answered simply: "I am willing to share joys and sorrows with my motherland." In this way, Huang Ziqing returned to the motherland without hesitation.

1July 7, 937, China started its comprehensive War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Some professors went from Beiping to Tianjin and tried to go south. A 2000-ton boat jolted along the sea. In a cabin at the stern, there are physics professor Wu Dayou, writers Zhu Ziqing, Huang Ziqing and others. First at Changsha Temporary University, then at Kunming Branch of National Southwest Associated University, Huang Ziqing spent as much as 36 hours a week teaching and experimenting, but his life was very tense. Because there was no money to pay for the bus (there was no bus at that time), Huang Ziqing had to walk for more than an hour every time he went home, but he had no regrets. In his letter to his father, he wrote: "Today's bureaucracy is corrupt. I will never be an official, and I don't intend to drop out of school to do business. Although the education department is hard, it is also a responsible place. "

Physical Chemistry is the key course of the third grade in the Chemistry Department of National Southwest Associated University, which is taught by Mr. Huang Ziqing. According to students' later memories, Professor Huang Ziqing was very strict with his students. During the exam, he took two teaching assistants to supervise more than 20 students; The exam questions are also difficult. If you can get more than 80 points, you are the top student in your class. This is the way Huang Ziqing lives and works in a very difficult environment. Li Yunqing, a professor of economics in The National SouthWest Associated University, once wrote couplets for him:

The events of the day are always like this, trying our best to win only a few books and stems;

Living in Kunming is not easy. On this occasion, I hope to defeat the enemy for half a year and return home all the way.

From 65438 to 0948, Huang Ziqing went to California Institute of Technology for research for the third time, under the guidance of the chemistry department of the school and the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. At that time, China was waging a war of liberation. Huang Ziqing is anxiously reading newspapers and listening to the radio every day. He thinks about his motherland all the time. Professor Pauling asked him, "Huang, why don't you bring your family to work in America?" However, Ling Bao got the same answer as ten years ago: "I am from China, and my home is in China. I have to go back." Indeed, China is forever, and her son will not be pessimistic and disappointed.

/kloc-in the summer of 0/949, Huang Ziqing returned to Tsinghua. 1952 In the national adjustment of colleges and universities, Huang Ziqing was appointed as the director of the physical chemistry teaching and research section of the Department of Chemistry of Peking University, and was awarded as a first-class professor and academician of China Academy of Sciences (later promoted to the Standing Committee of the Department of Mathematics and Physics). His family moved from Tsinghua Campus to Yannan Garden near Weiming Lake. From then on, he was always seen in the small building until his death.

Warn young people

Don't always want to be famous at once.

In Huang Ziqing's view, chemistry, like physics, is an experimental science. Theory is only the result of abstract induction through a large number of experiments. He once said vividly: "Take the carriage as an example, the horse is like an experiment and the car is like a theory;" The horse should be in front and the car should be behind. If you put the horse in the back, the car won't move. " Huang Ziqing believes that correct and good experiments are permanent and wrong theories are worthless. Of course, only experimental data is not science; Only when the experimental data are systematically processed and become more or less generalized theories can such content be called science.

Looking back at Huang Ziqing's views on science, the reporter suddenly felt that what he said was not only the interpretation of physical chemistry, but also a scientist's interpretation of life. Accurately determining the triple point of water made Huang Ziqing famous, but he pointed out that there have been eight models of water structure theory since 1933, and it is difficult to say which model represents the objective truth. For decades, there have been hundreds of papers on the structure of water (H2O), but none of them have been satisfactorily solved. How to treat this situation? "The model is not equal to the real objective reality behind the phenomenon. The objective reality is complex, while the model is simplified, which can only reflect a part (even a small part) of the objective reality. If other different models can explain the same experimental phenomenon, it will have the value of existence. "

In another article, Attach Importance to Experiment and Chemistry, Huang Ziqing sincerely warned the younger generation, "Some young people make theory very easy, as if they could invent a theorem casually. Actually, it's not. Doing theory is a very serious job and it takes a long time to sum it up. ..... I have received many letters from young people, but most of the' theories' are unreasonable. Therefore, I advise young people to overcome vanity and impatience and not always want to become famous in one fell swoop. " No one can fully understand his class.

As a scientist who has been dead for many years, the reporter found that Professor Huang Ziqing not only left profound academic achievements, but also found Huang Ziqing's cuteness and preciseness in the memory of future generations. Wang Yizhen, then dean of Peking University, once recalled: 1993, the graduates of Peking University Chemistry Department 1963 returned to school for discussion. I asked them which teacher has been teaching at school for six years and which one has never forgotten. It is said that teacher Huang Ziqing's Physical Chemistry. I asked Mr. Huang what was good about his class, and they smiled and said, "I never fully understood it in class." "But because physical chemistry is very important, if you don't understand this course, you will learn chemistry in vain. If you don't understand, you must study by yourself and chew on reference books to understand. I spent a lot of time and understood it deeply, so I remembered it. "

To understand a scientist, we must know something about his scientific research achievements, but for journalists with liberal arts background, the articles of scientists like Huang Ziqing are undoubtedly equivalent to gobbledygook. This concern of the reporter was broken by Huang Zhixun. He recommended the reporter to read the preface of Introduction to Electrolyte Solution Theory. "You will know that a professional paper can still be described vividly and humorously." In this preface, I wrote: "Too long mathematical derivation will not only make the proportion between value and length disproportionate, but also make readers indulge in the mathematical process and forget the science itself ... If a theory has only strong mathematical logic, it has no practical significance, just like Su in a street pavilion, talking on paper, getting cold feet and the whole line will collapse. However, this theory still has its uses, just as horses are still used as military advisers, but it should not occupy too much space. Practicality and strict scientificity are important standards of theory and do not depend on the quantity and depth of mathematics used. "

Of course, Huang Ziqing's scientific thought is not limited to the relationship between theory and practice. He is good at summarizing the regularity of scientific work with concise words and pointing out the direction of progress. Students and younger generations often ask him, "What is science?" To this question, he simply replied: "The core of science is a' new' word: new theory, new method, new formula, new technology and new data." In other words, we should not stop exploring and pursuing until the last breath of our lives. Huang Ziqing made it himself. Science is his God, his soul and his universe! Besides physical chemistry, there are poems.

The older generation of scientists in our country are often people who are knowledgeable and knowledgeable. Huang Ziqing is not only a master in the field of physical chemistry in China, but also has profound classical literature accomplishment, and has written many old-style poems with far-reaching interests.

Huang Ziqing has read a lot of poetry books since he was a child, and he has a good knowledge of ancient Chinese. In his study, in addition to a large number of natural science books and periodicals, there are many books on history and literature. There are often books such as Zi Tong Zhi Jian, Zhi Yi Lu Jian, Quan Tang Poetry, Song Ci Jing Lu on the bedside of the desk. In their spare time, old people often blurt out some old-fashioned poems of five or seven sentences and occasionally write words. According to Huang Zhixun, his father's poems were copied on a book and written vertically with a brush, and there were about dozens of them. But after the Cultural Revolution began, Huang Ziqing's house was copied and his poems were destroyed. At that time, Huang Zhixun just tore off two pieces of paper from the book in a hurry, leaving three poems written by Huang Ziqing on it. These two pieces of paper have been treasured by Huang Zhixun so far.

So far, there are only a few scattered poems by Huang Ziqing. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, Qi Xueqi, who graduated from the American Army University in his early years, served as a division commander of the Chinese Army. 1942, China and the United States launched a campaign to open up the Burma Road. Qi Xueqi led his troops through Kunming and went to the National Southwest Associated University to visit his old friend Huang Ziqing. Soon after, Qi Xueqi died in the anti-Japanese battlefield. When the bad news came, Huang Ziqing was heartbroken and wrote this sad poem:

Eden lost his horn and wailed,

Nobody opens the door at midnight;

Suspected to be a feather,

Full moon and river dream.

During his stay in Kunming, Huang Ziqing was in his prime, but his life was very poor. His poems reflect the situation at that time:

Thirty years (194 1 year-author's note) autumn, malaria lingering; Selling Qiu Shu to buy medicine has recovered after many years. Recalling the past, I can't help feeling sad:

Mi Zan's abdomen is half empty,

Vimo's sickbed is full of sadness;

Caotang poetry is difficult to drive malaria,

It is both Autumn Collection and a book.

If these poems are compared with his wife Xia's poem "Homesickness" (avoiding the hubbub, Zhuang Shen; The chaotic mountains cover up the vulgar thoughts, and the still water opens the Zen mind; Children miss their mothers, and poor families don't want gold; After years of well mortar work, there is no hairpin for a long time. Compared with reading, we can perceive that they are not proud of their sufferings, but are thinking about the information that has spread more and more widely in China, the ominous and difficult time of the war of resistance against Japan, and when the war can be won. Therefore, then we can understand the joy that Huang Ziqing felt:

Thirty-four years (i.e.1945-author's note), it rained at night and went to bed early. The siren of Tsinghua College suddenly sounded, followed by cheers, but it was the good news of Japanese surrender:

Autumn wind Wan Li guest border town,

Vaguely yanyun homeland;

Eight years after the blackout,

Three flutes in the rain.

198 1 Professor Huang Hongjia, an academician of China Academy of Sciences, sighed when he first read these two poems: "The songs are quite charming!"

However, the mainland was not calm after the end of the Anti-Japanese War. Professor Wen Yiduo of The National SouthWest Associated University was shot and killed, which shocked China and foreign countries. Huang Ziqing wrote the following elegy with indignation:

Brother Wan Wen Yiduo

Benevolence is a righteous life to heal the wounded and rescue the dying, giving Bizhi a crimson curtain and hating Mount Tai infinitely;

Poetry becomes stagnant water, and it is more talented to make up the history.

This was a protest by a natural scientist at that time! Science and literature were almost the same art thousands of years ago; Scientists and writers are brewing things of eternal value. Why do some people think they have the right to end their old friend Wen Yiduo's life? !

1in the autumn of 976, the gang of four, which had been rampant for 10, finally fell. The broad masses of intellectuals, such as the long drought and the rain, greeted this great event with joy. At this time, the 76-year-old Huang Ziqing happily wrote such a poem:

Yingdian Snow meets Chun Yan,

Everything in society is fresh;

A thousand miles of hate,

I don't know the year when the red experts were together.

This poem was discovered by family members on 1989, and the manuscript was written on the back of the subscription notice for foreign periodicals sent by Beijing Foreign Languages Bookstore on August 1976. Huang Ziqing told reporters that the original poem was untitled and probably written by an old man, but his joy and enterprising spirit jumped from the paper.

Although Huang Ziqing is an outstanding scientist rather than a poet, his rich experience, profound thoughts and beautiful writing enable him to write beautiful poems comparable to poets.

I had two chances to stay in America, but I didn't stay, but I don't regret it, because the country needs people like us to contribute to her. "

"I am willing to share joys and sorrows with my motherland."

"I come from China and my home is in China. I must go back. "

"I advise young people to overcome vanity and impatience and not always want to become famous in one fell swoop."

—— Huang Ziqing