Edit | Lao Na
13 years old, becoming the youngest college student in China. At the age of 23, he received his Ph.D. in electronic engineering from George Washington University and became the youngest member of the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in a hundred years. This is Zhang Yaqin. At the age of 34, he was in charge of Microsoft Research Asia. At the age of 38, he became the global vice president of Microsoft. At the age of 54, he was the president of Baidu, responsible for a number of core businesses.
Now, the Baidu warrior suddenly announced that he would retire after half a year and no longer serve as the president of Baidu. The former Chinese prodigy said: Spend more time with your family.
Young prodigy, many honors added.
Zhang Yaqin was born in a teacher's family in Taiyuan. He has a gift since he was a child.
At the age of five, Zhang Yaqin's childhood ended prematurely with his father's death. "The time when I spoiled in front of my mother ended long ago. I spent almost all my childhood at my grandmother's house in a small town in southern Shanxi. The first school I went to was like a rural primary school. " Zhang Yaqin recalled.
1977, 12-year-old Zhang Yaqin advanced placement to Grade 3. A year later, Guangming Daily published a story about "child prodigy": Ningbo, a child prodigy of 13 years old, was admitted to China University of Science and Technology 1978 juvenile class, which greatly stimulated Zhang Yaqin and changed his life track to some extent.
After reading the story of Ningbo, Zhang Yaqin couldn't sleep all night and kept thinking, "I want to go to college, and I want to be admitted to China University of Science and Technology". At this time, there are still 7 months from the college entrance examination that year. How to get the entrance ticket for the college entrance examination in the past six months is a difficult problem.
According to the regulations at that time, only freshmen can take the college entrance examination. As a middle school teacher, my mother found the principal and wanted him to go directly to Grade Two-this is the only way to make him meet the requirements of the college entrance examination. The headmaster said, "Ya Qin is very smart, and I am happy to help, but he must be admitted to the top class of grade two, so that class can have a chance to go to college."
In order to catch up on her lessons, Zhang Yaqin studies for 20 hours every day, and even recites words and does math problems during walks and breaks. Unexpectedly, in just one month, Zhang Yaqin completed the two-year high school course, was admitted to the top class of Grade Two, and got the admission ticket for the college entrance examination. Unfortunately, Zhang Yaqin was not admitted.
After the first college entrance examination missed out on the Chinese University of Science and Technology, the juvenile class founded by the Chinese University of Science and Technology provided another channel for Zhang Yaqin, that is, the entrance examination independent of the college entrance examination. Subsequently, Zhang Yaqin became the youngest student in the lower grades of the Chinese University of Science and Technology, and the only one among the students who got full marks in mathematics. This incident caused a sensation throughout Taiyuan.
Genius is often shrouded in aura, and it is easy to get lost. However, Zhang Yaqin is immune to the surrounding noise, which is largely due to his mother.
In the face of sudden praise, Zhang Yaqin will inevitably feel a little proud. But at that time, his mother poured cold water on him: "You have nothing for others to learn, you are just like others." After entering the juvenile class, Zhang Yaqin really put away his pride.
Eight years later, Zhang Yaqin graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China with a master's degree in electronic engineering and went to the United States alone. Zhang Yaqin later recalled that he gained a lot in his study career at China University of Science and Technology: the first point was to broaden his horizons and learn a lot; The second point is to enhance self-confidence; The third point is to cultivate an idealistic color and hope to devote myself to science and ideals.
When he first arrived in the United States, Zhang Yaqin's tutor, Professor Buckhull of Washington University, threw him a bunch of manuscripts from IEEE magazine and asked him to study them thoroughly within two weeks and give his comments. In order to complete the task, he borrowed more than a dozen professional books and a dictionary from the library, and kept himself in his room, constantly calculating and deducing.
Finally, Zhang Yaqin not only completed the task, but also found several defects. "You can write a doctoral thesis now. You have reached the doctoral level. " This is the professor's greatest affirmation to him.
From 65438 to 0989, 23-year-old Zhang Yaqin received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in the United States and entered Contel Company to do research on video compression. Since then, he has been focusing on this field, and even if the company's related projects run aground, he still teaches himself. Five years later, Contel was acquired by GTE, and Zhang Yaqin shined brilliantly in the field of video compression, winning the company $654.38 billion.
From 1989 to 1997, Zhang Yaqin published more than 200 papers in the field of video compression, 40 of which were included in IEEE Transaction magazine. Because of his great contribution, Zhang Yaqin became the youngest academician of IEEE at the age of 365,438+0, and the youngest scientist to receive this honor since the foundation of the Association 65,438+000 years ago.
Join Microsoft to build the IT Whampoa Military Academy.
After the outbreak of scientific research, Zhang Yaqin did not stop there.
In the 1990s, China's computers, whether industrial or academic, had limited influence in the world, but for IT vendors, there was great potential here. At that time, multinational companies entered the market one after another, and Microsoft was one of them.
1998, when Kai-fu Lee just founded Microsoft China Research Institute, he asked people around him, "Who should I look for most now?" Several people recommended Zhang Yaqin at the same time. Kai-Fu Lee didn't know Zhang Yaqin at that time, but after reading his resume, he was shocked. "I didn't know such a powerful person before!"
So, at the invitation of Kai-Fu Lee, Zhang Yaqin joined Microsoft China Research Institute, and two years later he was promoted to the position of Dean. At the beginning of taking office, Zhang Yaqin chose graphics, multimedia and user interface as the main direction, and put forward the famous "Five-Five Military Regulations", that is, the institute should publish at least 5% of articles in the top five academic conferences or magazines in different technical fields every year.
Under his leadership, Microsoft China Research Institute has developed from less than 10 to a Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D group with 3,000 people, which is the largest and most complete R&D base of Microsoft except the US headquarters.
In Microsoft's 16 years, Zhang Yaqin is like a magnet, constantly attracting local and overseas industry elites and cultivating a batch of talents. Microsoft's R&D team in Zhongguancun has become the Whampoa Military Academy of China IT industry.
On September 20 14, Zhang Yaqin announced that he would leave Microsoft for personal reasons. "It took me 16 years to fulfill my promise to Microsoft. Now it's time to listen to my heart and the new' call of duty'. " Zhang Yaqin said in an interview.
"Ya Qin left Microsoft, the end of an era." When Zhang Yaqin left Microsoft, his old colleague and former CEO of Jinshan Group Zhang Hongjiang once commented. It can be seen how much contribution to Microsoft.
Job-hopping Baidu, leaving quietly after success.
20 14 On September 3rd, Baidu World Congress, Zhang Yaqin unexpectedly appeared at the scene and sat with Robin Li, which triggered speculation. Subsequently, Baidu announced: Zhang Yaqin joined Baidu as the president, responsible for emerging business.
Many people think that the real reason why Zhang Yaqin left Microsoft is that he can't find excitement in his former PC overlord. Zhang Yaqin has said many times that he is a person who keeps chasing the next exciting point.
Coincidentally, Baidu, which laid the top three in BAT by search at that time, gradually fell behind in the era of mobile Internet. The anxious Li Yanhong urgently needs to find a new breakthrough, and artificial intelligence (AI) is his grasper.
Li Yanhong once said to Zhang Yaqin, "Baidu should not be an Internet company, but an AI company." In Zhang Yaqin's view, AI is the most important force in this era, which will change traditional industries, including Baidu's core search business. Although the purpose is different, but the idea is the same, so it hit it off.
"In the future, the market for artificial intelligence will be 10 times larger than the mobile Internet!" Zhang Yaqin is full of confidence. Subsequently, Baidu officially made efforts to AI, and successively recruited a large number of leading figures of Google and Microsoft, such as Andrew Ng and Qilu.
In the hustle and bustle of the Internet industry, Zhang Yaqin is particularly low-key. During his tenure, Baidu experienced a competitive ranking event in the city, but never wavered his determination to build AI.
Zhang Yaqin has worked in Baidu for nearly five years, and has been responsible for many business groups, including technical systems, autonomous driving, cloud computing, 5G, quantum computing and chips, as well as the exploration of Baidu's international development, finance and education business.
At the 5th world internet conference held last year, Zhang Yaqin clearly stated his understanding of "cloud" in an interview with Tencent Shenwang: "Cloud has reached a new stage".
Zhang Yaqin said that in the era of cloud 1.0, cloud is a basic technology and a road network facility, which turns computing, storage and network into services like water, electricity and coal. In the era of 2.0, what is more important is the ability of cloud, digital service and artificial intelligence. Baidu ABC intelligent cloud is the carrier of artificial intelligence for enterprises.
Now Baidu's business tends to be stable, and Zhang Yaqin has chosen to leave. "When I am familiar with a certain job, it means that my career is coming to an end, and I will take the initiative to find another job that can make me excited. I am a person who keeps chasing the next' stimulus'. "
In addition, Baidu really needs new forces to join. At the beginning of the year, Li Yanhong said internally that he would speed up the rejuvenation of cadres, promote more young people into management, and launch an executive retirement plan. However, Zhang Yaqin was the first executive to apply to join the retirement plan.
Now, Zhang Yaqin, who has quietly left, where will his next miracle appear?