Science knows no borders, but scientists have a motherland. Today we would like to share the stories of three scientists.
1. Chen Liquan was born in Jialing Mountain, Nanchong, Sichuan in 1940. When he was young, he could only study with kerosene lamps. It was not until the high school entrance examination that he used electric lights for the first time. This touch made him determined to delve into the field of electric power. In 1976, Chen Liquan, who was visiting the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany, keenly discovered the huge potential of lithium nitride materials for solid-state batteries. Small button batteries have far more energy than traditional lead-acid batteries. Spotting this new track related to national energy security, he applied to the Chinese Academy of Sciences for "cross-border transformation", giving up his years of intensive research on crystal materials and switching to the field of solid-state ionology, which was completely blank in China. In 1978, Chen Liquan, who returned from his studies, started from scratch and started lithium battery scientific research. Faced with the dilemma of having no technology, equipment, or professional talents in the country at that time, he faced the difficulties. If equipment was lacking, he would refit old instruments. If technology was lacking, he would work as a worker on the production line. He would understand the production process link by link. Under extremely difficult conditions, he would "gnaw the hard nut of scientific research." He completed the original one-year scientific research task in only five months and devoted himself wholeheartedly to new research fields. In 1998, Chen Liquan took the lead in building my country's first pilot line for 18650 lithium-ion batteries with an annual output of 200,000 units relying on self-developed technology, self-made equipment, and domestic raw materials, overcoming the problem of large-scale mass production. In the following decades, he continued to work hard, and even in his old age, he continued to work hard and with undiminished enthusiasm, cheering for "Electric China".
2. In 1996, Pan Jianwei, a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Science and Technology of China, went to Austria, the birthplace of quantum mechanics, to study for a doctorate. The following year, the paper "Experimental Quantum Teleportation" with him as the second author was named one of the top ten scientific and technological advances in the world by the American "Science" magazine. But becoming a world-class scholar is not all he dreams of. His mentor Salinger, the master of quantum physics, once asked him: "Pan, what is your dream?" He said: "My dream is to build a world-class quantum optics laboratory in China like here." In 2001, Pan Jianwei, who returned from his studies, planned to build a quantum laboratory in China and began to work hard to realize his dream. He said: "I like physics and science very much, but I am also a person with a motherland." In 2016, the "Mozi", which was the result of the efforts of Pan Jianwei and his team, was successfully launched as the world's first quantum science experimental satellite, marking my country's move towards a leading position in global quantum communication research. Pan Jianwei said that he tried his best to seek key technologies abroad, but failed to come back. In the end, he gritted his teeth and solved it, and it became the best in the world. From the "Mozi" to the "Quantum Beijing-Shanghai Main Line", from the "Jiuzhang" to the "Zuchongzhi", Pan Jianwei led the team to break through the technological limits again and again, writing one innovation legend after another in the international frontier field.
3. In 2009, after Pan Jianwei visited the "Road to Revival" themed exhibition at the National Museum in Beijing, he sent text messages to students on the other side of the ocean: "I hope to study hard and come back soon to contribute to national rejuvenation!" One of the recipients of the text message was the protagonist of this story, Lu Chaoyang. He had an "agreement" with his teacher Pan Jianwei. The teacher recommended him to study quantum technology at the University of Cambridge in England. He promised to return to China after completing his studies and bring back the latest theories and methods. After receiving a doctorate in physics and returning to USTC, Lu Chaoyang and his team explored the field of optical quantum computing. They spent time in the laboratory, read Chinese and foreign literature, and held dozens of brainstorming meetings. Finally, inspiration struck late one night. Breakthroughs in ideas are exciting, but turning inspiration into reality requires hard work day after day. In order to catch up with the progress of the experiment, they stayed in the laboratory for three consecutive Spring Festivals. This unprecedented and huge challenge finally achieved a breakthrough in core technology. "Jiuzhang-4" manipulated and detected the quantum state of up to 3,050 photons for the first time, once again breaking the world record for optical quantum information technology, and solving the Gaussian glass sampling problem 10⁵⁴ times faster than the world's fastest supercomputer. Lu Chaoyang mentioned that behind "Nine Chapter Four" there is a group of scientific researchers with an average age of more than 20 years old. They are constantly learning, making breakthroughs, struggling, inheriting, getting closer to the light, following the light, becoming the light, emitting light, and running hard on the track of youth. Talking about the scientific research process along the way, Lu Chaoyang said: "In a foreign country, we are like scattered seeds, absorbing nutrients; after returning home, we form a forest." This "forest" provides a steady stream of nutrients for scientific research. Like him, hundreds of USTC alumni returned from overseas studies and became new scientific research leaders. Those "seeds" that once absorbed nutrients in foreign countries have now not only gathered into forests, but also cultivated new "saplings." Every seed has a hot Chinese heart, deeply rooted in the land of the motherland. Generations of scientific and technological workers have turned their patriotism into a journey of serving the country, for the glory of the nation, and for the rise of China.
