On the morning of July 20 10, Wu Lao died at the age of 97. After hearing the news, the teachers and students of the Chemistry Department of Fudan University folded 2,000 paper cranes overnight and hung them in front of the Xihua Building to show their condolences.
Wu 19 14 was born in Yixing, Jiangsu, and 1935 graduated from the chemistry department of Zhejiang University. He has taught in Zhejiang University and Lantian Teachers College in Hunan. 1952 joined Fudan university as a teacher, 1957 established the first electrochemical laboratory in China. 1980 was elected as an academician of China Academy of Sciences (known as a member of Chemistry Department of China Academy of Sciences). He has been engaged in scientific research for 75 years, and his research results have always served the national economy and national defense construction; He tirelessly educates people and regards the laboratory as a "second home"; Students use 20 words to evaluate him: elegant style, gentle personality, rigorous style of study and indifferent realm. Wu Yuping, a disciple of Wu and a professor at Fudan University, remembers that Wu warned him that he must learn to walk on two legs, one is scientific research, the other is industrial technology development, and he should do something tangible to promote the country's economic and social development.
As one of the pioneers in the field of electrochemistry in China, Wu said that "the needs of the country should be regarded as the wishes of individuals".
Antimony is one of the four high-yield elements in China. In 1950s and 1960s, a large number of antimony mines were developed in China, but no good way to develop and utilize them has been found. Therefore, Wu systematically studied the electrochemical behavior of antimony, determined the zero charge potential of antimony, promoted the development and utilization of antimony, and solved the urgent problem of national economic construction at that time.
In 1960s, Shanghai Changning Battery Factory began to produce reserve batteries, and asked him to study the relationship between the percentage concentration of fluorosilicic acid and the conductivity. At that time, it was a "nameless and unprofitable subject", but he undertook it without hesitation and completed the task. Up to now, the data he provided in those years are still used in production.
Navy equipment uses "seawater battery" as navigation marker lamp, and seawater as electrolyte, so that the marker lamp can emit light when put into seawater. This also benefited from the design and performance test of seawater battery completed by Wu Lao in the early 1970s.
Since 1980s, lithium batteries have been produced for many years, but the cathode reaction mechanism has not been determined. In 1984, Wu proposed the "intercalation reaction mechanism" of lithium batteries, which was recognized by the academic community. Later, Wu Lao began to study a new member of the lithium battery family-safer, smaller and lower-cost lithium-ion batteries. In his 90' s, he still carried out his own scientific experiments to develop new functional materials for the development of all-solid lithium secondary batteries, which have been put into small batch production. Wu was born in a poor family. When he was studying at Zhejiang University, he made a living by working and being subsidized by others. When he graduated, Mr. Zhou Houfu, director of the department, recommended him three jobs: to be a chemistry teacher in a civil air defense school, to be a teacher in Yangzhou Middle School, and to stay in Zhejiang University as a teaching assistant. The salary of teaching assistants is half less than that of the first two. If they are not promoted to lecturers within five years, they will resign voluntarily. But Wu recalled, "At that time, how much money did I need! But after all, it's not my original intention. Although all three jobs can teach me what I have learned, the first two can only fulfill half my wishes and lack the conditions for further research, and the teaching assistant job can meet my lifelong ambition to become a university professor. " He chose to stay in school and was successfully promoted to a lecturer in the fourth year.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhejiang University moved westward to Jiangxi and Guangxi. At that time, Wu was a substitute teacher. After learning that Zhejiang University moved to Shangtian New Village at the foot of Jinggangshan, he came to Zhejiang alone on a small cargo ship and trudged to Jiangxi for more than ten days. In Guangxi, classes were first held in rural canteens, and then the school buildings were bombed by the Japanese army and moved into markets and temples. In the hard years, he has always insisted on teaching and educating people.
On the wall of the reception room in Wujia's hometown, there is a congratulatory plaque of Hu Tiesheng: "The sea is fruitful and everything on earth is green." As the plaque says, for more than 70 years, he has never left the three-foot platform and trained nearly 50 graduate students, including 3 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Wu Lao has taught in Fudan for more than half a century, and his academic style has become one of the traditions of Fudan Chemistry Department.
In order to provide experimental base for students, Wu Yu 1957 established the first electrochemical laboratory of China University. His disciple, Ming Jiang, an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, remembers Wu Lao's words: "The relationship between chemists and experiments is the relationship between fish and water". When he was over the age of ancient times, Wu Lao also used the laboratory as a dormitory to lead students to work day and night.
Wu Lao's class has always been evaluated as lively and simple, but it is also very strict with students. There is a widely circulated story that he once gave students a test paper with a score of 59.8, and he had to make up the exam. He said, "I have been strict with students for decades, because only in this way can we really care about students and make them become talents." He is also committed to teaching students more cutting-edge knowledge. During the period of 1978, when I attended the international photochemical conference in Britain, I learned that the textbook of statistical thermodynamics in Britain had been greatly updated. After returning to China, I started a postgraduate course in statistical thermodynamics.
On April 22, 2008, on the occasion of Wu Lao's 95th birthday, he donated his savings and set up a "Wu Scholarship" in the Department of Chemistry of Fudan University to encourage young students in the Department of Chemistry to study hard, study diligently, be brave in innovation and serve the motherland.
In addition to his own students, Wu Lao is also generous in imparting knowledge and promoting popular science. There is a letter written by an ordinary junior high school student who just started learning chemistry. Wu wrote back carefully and gave her a lot of advice.
He also participated in the compilation of the children's edition of "100,000 Why" in the new century, and made every effort to carefully examine every word. I once wrote "making milk powder", emphasizing that milk powder is "dispersed" rather than "dissolved" in water. He said: "Giving children popular science is an enlightenment education, which is a bit inaccurate and difficult to correct in the future!"