Wang Yusheng, director of the China Science and Technology Museum and an expert in the history of science, said that the research of Nobel Prize-level China scientists can even be traced back to before the founding of the People's Republic of China. The most important scientific achievements are Compton-Wu effect in the 1920s, electron-positron annihilation experiment in the early 1930s, the discovery of trinuclear uranium by Qian Sanqiang and He in the 1940s, and 1965, the first synthetic insulin crystal.
There is no denying that China has missed the Nobel Prize many times. Academician Zhao Zhongxian believes that from the perspective of the history of science and technology, there is a reason why China didn't win the Nobel Prize. 190 1 year, the first nobel prize was awarded. 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing. For the next half century, China has been in a state of war and oppression by foreign powers. Generally speaking, there has been no significant development in basic scientific research. After liberation, science and technology have made great progress, but it was closed before the reform. For our country, there are many problems, such as economy, science and national defense. At this time, the main scientific and technological achievement is the research of "two bombs and one hydrogen", and a large number of outstanding scientists are concentrated in this field. A lot of work has been done in basic research, such as 1965 synthesizing insulin crystals for the first time, but after all, there are still few. After the reform, the policy of "science and technology are the primary productive forces" was put forward, especially in recent years, the strategy of "rejuvenating the country through science and education" was put forward, which played a great role in promoting the development of science.
Academician Zhao Zhongxian believes that there are many reasons for not winning the Nobel Prize after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Objectively speaking, during the ten-year "Cultural Revolution", international science and technology developed at a high speed, which caused serious damage to basic research and needed a long time to recover and accumulate. Subjectively speaking, our basic research on original innovation is less, and we didn't pay enough attention to original innovation technology at the beginning of reform.
■ What does the century-old history of science and technology in China give us?
Professor Yang Zhenning said that the Nobel Prize is a very complicated matter. I think the method and results of the Nobel Prize in Literature Committee's selection are incorrect. No one in Chinese mainland has won the Nobel Prize in physics, chemistry and medicine. There is a simple reason. First of all, there is not enough money. Today, no matter doing biological, physical or chemical research, equipment is very expensive. China is gradually catching up now, but it is far from the best equipment in advanced countries. The second reason is that academics should have traditions. The most important point of academic tradition is to let young people know which problem is worth doing and which problem is easy to have development prospects. China's scientific tradition will not develop for a while, and I think this is the most important thing. Academician Zhao Zhongxian said that the academic accumulation and tradition of a laboratory and research institute are very important. We should pay attention to accumulation, carry forward traditions and constantly cultivate the younger generation. In the 1920s, Sommerfeld didn't win the Nobel Prize in Physics, but seven students from Sommerfeld's laboratory won it. This is because the academic tradition of Sommerfeld Laboratory has influenced the next generation. I think it has been achieved both in accumulation and tradition. With the continuous development of young people, more major original innovative technologies will emerge, and naturally some people will win prizes.
■ What is the reason for the gap between China's science and technology and the international level?
According to the statistical data of 1996, China's R&D expenditure only accounts for 0.5% of GNP, which is not only low compared with developed countries (2.45% in the United States and 2.9% in Japan), but also very small in absolute terms, even less if calculated per capita, even worse than developing countries like India. This is undoubtedly a major factor that seriously restricts the development of science and technology in China.
When talking about the reasons for the gap, Professor Zhao Hong, a famous scientist in China, thinks that there are four points: First, the accumulation of scientific knowledge is not enough; Second, the research time is not enough; Third, lack of scientific community; Fourth, there is a lack of scientific talent identification and selection mechanism.
Yang Zhenning believes that the main reason that restricts the development of science and technology in China is economic backwardness. But he gradually became optimistic, and he thought that the conditions for China scientists to win the Nobel Prize were ripe. He said, two years ago, before the salary of scientists was greatly raised in China, I studied the annual salary of full professors in 10, and the average salary was less than $2,000. In the past two years, I have seen that the government has given them a lot. At this rate, I think China people can do a lot of jobs that can win the Nobel Prize.
There is a gap between China's science and technology and the international level, which has a history of about 300 years. After the rise of modern science, China fell behind, while 700 years ago, China's scientific and technological development was always at the forefront of the world. Is the rise and fall of science and technology in China only economic?
When talking about the history of technology in China, Academician Zhao Zhongxian said: "Culturally, I think Confucian culture has resisted the development of modern science and technology. Although Confucian culture also has its essence, it is advanced in cultivating people's self-cultivation, treating people with things and cultivating self-cultivation. In general, this cultural mechanism is not conducive to cultivating unconventional scientific and technological talents. "
■ What conditions should China scientists have to win the Nobel Prize?
Professor Badin won the Nobel Prize twice in the same field. When he visited the Institute of Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, he talked about this problem half jokingly. He talked about three conditions for winning the Nobel Prize: the first is hard work; The second is opportunity; The third is the spirit of cooperation.
Academician Zhao Zhongxian said that these aspects are very important for scientists in China. By "hard work", he means not only diligence, but also choosing the right direction, devoting himself wholeheartedly and making original and innovative achievements. The "opportunity" he said also includes whether the selected works are meaningful. Although some work is done beautifully, it is not necessarily meaningful and it is impossible to win prizes. What he calls "the spirit of cooperation" is also the spirit of collectivism that we often talk about.
Perhaps the characteristic of China people is that they are influenced by Confucian culture, moderate and not allowed to be unconventional. Although we all know that "truth is often in the hands of a few people", it is very difficult to do it. In the future, we should learn to tolerate originality, encourage different academic viewpoints, have a stable and free environment and stable support, and create conditions for scientists to concentrate on research.
The happiness of a real scientist is enjoyed by solving scientific problems. Although his living conditions are poor, he will not ask for extravagant conditions. What he needs most now is stable support. Attract people who love science and have scientific research quality to engage in scientific and technological work. If we can carry out the spirit of the article published by General Secretary Jiang in the American journal Science, China scientists will do more original and innovative work and the chances of winning prizes will increase.
■ Compared with other countries, what are the advantages of China winning the Nobel Prize?
Liu, a researcher at China Institute of Biotechnology of Agricultural Scientists, said: China's greatest advantage is its talent advantage. In foreign countries, almost all famous research laboratories have China people, and even some students I despise at home have inexplicably become talents abroad.
China has talents, which is of course the first factor. Yang Zhenning thinks that if we want to talk about advantages, I think China has the talent conditions to win this grand prize. Personally, Yang Zhenning believes that people who teach in the West have accepted many students from China. Everyone thinks that students from China have the best quality. It can be said that education in China has successfully delivered a large number of scientific and technological talents.
To make great progress in science and technology, talents like China are not a problem. There is also a good tradition since the founding of New China, that is, the government attaches great importance to education, and young people in China are diligent. Yang Zhenning believes that in the past, economic backwardness restricted the development of science and technology in China. With the rapid development of economy, China is not far from the Nobel Prize, just one step away!
■ Compared with other countries, what are the disadvantages of China winning the Nobel Prize?
Academician Zhao Zhongxian believes that the unfavorable factor for China to win the international prize is that China scientists participate in international activities too little. The past was not advanced, people were biased, and we still need to know more about us. As a basic research, it is very necessary to contact and communicate with the international community, especially with world-class laboratories.
Lack of international communication is often due to lack of funds. Researcher Liu said that some scientists are invited to attend international conferences, and they should write to others before going to see if they are willing to provide you with round-trip air tickets, accommodation and other funds. Like a beggar. Why not spend your own money? Because a project costs only1200,000 a year, how much research funds will you have when you go abroad for a meeting to publicize your research results? According to the project investment, the project application must be written well, but as the original innovative technology, who can read it so carefully, so far and so accurately? If we can write the results first and then innovate, won't anyone innovate?
Some experts believe that investment in some projects is not small, but it is necessary to avoid dispersion. We should concentrate our money on people who are really committed to science and have scientific literacy, and encourage their curiosity. The current evaluation system does not invest money in scientists, and even those who should get the money can't get it; The patent application system can't keep up, and the existing scientific research achievements are not well protected; The continuity of scientific research is not enough, and the application is constantly interrupted, which also wastes a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources to a certain extent.
■ How far are China scientists from the Nobel Prize?
How many years can China win this prize? Yang Zhenning said that if the economy grows rapidly, more than one China person will win the Nobel Prize. Because of the rapid economic growth in China, China leaders have high requirements for the speed of scientific and technological development, and their investment in research work has also increased substantially.
After all, there are too few chances for the Nobel Prize to pass China by. Academician Zhao Zhongxian said that it is difficult to estimate individual events. But on the whole, China needs more original innovative technologies to win the Nobel Prize.
Any original innovative technology does not come out of thin air. It not only needs predecessors' research as the basis, but also needs new ideas, which can only be excavated by continuous summary. If we can really study the frontier issues in depth, there will be major original innovation discoveries.
Researcher Liu believes that the key is not whether people are smart, but how the environment is. As long as they study environmental change, China scientists will surely win the Nobel Prize. The most basic thing is: development is the last word. Really achieved results, others will understand what they don't understand, and those who are biased will change.
■ Which scientific and technological fields in China are most likely to win the Nobel Prize?
Experts believe that China won the Nobel Prize in high-energy physics, biotechnology and other fields. Ding Zhaozhong said that China's achievements and contributions in high-energy physics are first-class in the world, and China's high-energy research level is advanced in the world, both theoretically and experimentally. In particular, he talked about his experiment of exploring dark matter in the universe in cooperation with Institute of High Energy, Institute of Electric Machinery and China Academy of Launch Vehicles. Once a breakthrough is made in this research, it will certainly have the level of winning the Nobel Prize. The experimental equipment has flown on the American space shuttle Discovery in 1998, and obtained a lot of data and achievements, which is recognized by the world. In addition, Chen Hesheng, director of the Institute of High Energy Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, who participated in this research, is a doctoral student trained by him at MIT.
In addition, the research on finding dark matter in deep caves by experts from the Institute of High Energy in cooperation with Italy has also attracted international attention. Once their research can be completed before the United States and Japan, they will win the Nobel Prize. It is reported that as of 1999, the Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to scientists in the field of particle physics for five times. China is one of the few countries that built the atomic collider. It plays an important role in the study of particle physics. Comrades of Chinese Academy of Sciences confidently introduced that many scientific research topics of high-energy physics are world-class, and once the research is successful, China scientists will win more than one Nobel Prize.
In terms of biotechnology, Dr. Yang, the head of the China Human Genome Project, said more than once that genetic research should not only strive for technology, but also strive for resources. China is rich in biological resources. In this fertile land, the wonderful work of biotechnology may blossom and bear fruit at any time.
The experiment of cloning giant panda embryos carried out by the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences has always been the envy of foreign scientific and technological colleagues, because they simply don't have such experimental materials. In China, because of its rich biological resources, China scientists can do many researches that foreign scientists want to do but have no conditions to do. This unique advantage is expected to form a sudden emergence of biotechnology in China. Yang said that in terms of genetic research, China has formed a complete scientific research team, including both upstream basic research and downstream functional research. China is one of only six countries participating in the human genome project in the world, and its development speed has been at the forefront of the world. In the long run, China has the strength to catch up with the United States, Britain and other countries.