Recently, marine geologist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang Pinxian, who has just turned 88, decided to bid farewell to Bilibili (Bilibili), “Nothing lasts forever. I cherish my friendship with thousands of young people, and I will not forget everyone's enthusiasm. "
He made this decision despite having more than 1.7 million followers, tens of millions of views, and a screen full of applause and cheers...
"I hope to stop at the most exciting time. This is my life philosophy." Wang Pinxian said.
In the past, Wang Pinxian, at the age of 82, took the "Deep Sea Warrior" for three dives in the South China Sea. He told the “China Science Daily” about this experience, “I want to criticize scientists who don't go to the frontlines.” "It is a very bad habit for scientists to not go to the front line."
Wang Pinxian
Photo courtesy of the interviewee (below)
Below is a conversation between a reporter from the China Science Journal and Wang Pinxian:
Leaving B-Station and returning to science
China Science Journal: You've been making science videos on B-Station for two years now. Do you normally read the pop-up comments and reviews? Which comments left the deepest impression on you?
Wang Pinxian:
I very rarely do that; it's difficult to even get me to glance at them.
A few times people wrote "Grandpa," "Grandpa, you're great," in huge blocks of text, which moved me deeply, deeply. As a teacher, receiving the highest reward is students' growth and feedback.
China Science Journal: You're leaving B-Station. What are your plans?
Wang Pinxian:
I have "more important matters to attend to." I've spent decades developing deep-sea science, and I've gradually come to realize that unless I link it with earth sciences as a whole, I'm just closing myself off and finding my own enjoyment.
As science develops, disciplines are being divided into increasingly narrower fields, and we now need to bring them together again. Deep sea and land are two such fields: Earth is a whole, and touching one part affects all the others. When we add deep-sea research, we have to reconsider the whole field of earth sciences.
In the next two years, I hope to push ahead with combining deep-sea research with all of earth sciences research.
China Science Journal: You said a few years ago that you would hit the brakes on science after you turned 85, but it looks like you haven't yet?
Wang Pinxian:
In the past few years I've been focusing on science and culture. In 2021 I gave an elective at Tongji University titled "Science and Culture." Later the publisher edited the class recordings and published them as a book.
The reason I started the class is that, after living for so many years, I've come to feel that the causes of problems with innovation in science lie in culture. Some aspects of our traditional culture are unfavorable to scientific innovation.
I wanted to write two books: one looking at science from a cultural perspective and one looking at culture from a scientific perspective. The first one, Tales from the Science World, was published in 2022. It was relatively easy to write. The other, which looks at culture from a scientific perspective, is very difficult, and I can't finish it. One reason is that I don't have the cultural or classical literary background, and I don't know enough about Western culture, so it's hard to write. If I live longer, I hope to come back to this matter. Another reason is that there are too many red lines [sensitive topics].
So I adjusted my plan. Let's say I live to be 90: what am I going to do in these five years? The first two years are already past. They were spent on science and culture and on popular science. In the next two years, I'll go back to science.
I've left one year blank. I don't dare say any more about it than that. I'll see what the situation is and decide what I'll do. I won't say any more about that.
The meaning of age
China Science Journal: Has your time management always been this clear?
Wang Pinxian:
Now I go to the office at 7:30 in the morning and leave at 9:30 at night, seven days a week. A few years ago I got sick and started going home earlier; before that, I would stay until after midnight.
I am happy to be generous with anything else, I don't care about money, but I'm a miser with time, because I don't have any.
China Science Journal: You're so old, why do you still work so hard?
Wang Pinxian:
Conditions are so good now, and everyone treats me so well, why don't I do a little more work? Now I realize that a lot of what I did when I was young was wrong. Only when you get old do you realize what's right.
China Science Journal: You don't seem to mind your age. No wonder people call you "the old urchin." A while back when you were 82 you rode in the deep-sea submersible Jiaolong three times in the South Sea. That's amazing. Why did you insist on making the dive then?
Wang Pinxian:
It's simple: I study the deep sea but hadn't been there. It was very painful. I wanted to go with Jiaolong when it made its dive, but I didn't make it. With Shenhai Yongshi, I had the opportunity and it was great.
Another reason is that I wanted to criticize scientists who don't go out to the front lines anymore. When I was leading the South Sea deep-sea plan, some people received funding of millions and even tens of millions. I asked them, "Why don't you go out to sea?"
He said, "If I go, I'll be taking a student's place."
I said, "Is that a human thing to say?" At 40 or 50, so young, and being a professor means you don't go out to sea.
Hu Shih criticized us a long time ago for being "bureaucrats who roll up their sleeves and don't do anything." In science, the habit of not going to the front lines is very bad.
I also understand that I could criticize people 100 times, but it's not as good as me doing it once myself. After that, anyone who says "I'm not feeling well" or something, I can just say, "See how you like this."
So I was filled with determination, and when I actually made the dive, I had no trouble at all.
Later, the captain told me, "Come back next time we go to the Marianas Trench!"
Professor Wang Pinxian Submerges to the South China Sea in the "Deep Sea Warrior"
"He Who Is Dependent on Others Is Not a Real Hero"
China Science Daily: You once said that your "rather significant" work was done after you were elected as an academician, after the age of 60, and you jokingly referred to yourself as a "post-academician." But 60 is the age most people retire.
Professor Wang Pinxian:
I disagree with the current retirement age. For those engaged in physical labor, retiring at 60 is suitable, but for intellectuals, especially many scientists, they are just beginning to understand how science should be done when they turn 60, and yet they are sent home at that time.
I know a professor who, after retiring, still had many ideas for research, but he could only share his ideas with his students and have them apply for funding while he "worked for" his students.
That is why when I was a deputy to the National People's Congress and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, I proposed to the National Natural Science Foundation of China to establish a "Sunset Fund" that retired scientists could apply to for small grants to continue work on their unfinished projects. Unfortunately, this proposal was not implemented.
China Science Daily: We advocate "giving young people opportunities." If you continue to work after 60, will it not take up resources and opportunities for younger generations?
Professor Wang Pinxian:
I think we need to clarify two different things: the occupation of resources or leadership and scientific research.
I stopped enrolling students a decade or two ago because I realized that if I continued to do so, my students and their students would encounter problems. A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law giving birth to a child at the same time is bound to cause problems; it should not happen. So I decided to work independently.
Zheng Banqiao said, "It is sometimes better to be a fool." Since others are in charge, we should keep our opinions to ourselves and not try to take their place or resources.
But we can continue to do our own scientific research. Retired professors should be allowed to continue working on their unfinished topics and projects. They could even be given an office or a desk if possible.
China Science Daily: What advice do you have for young scholars?
Professor Wang Pinxian:
We should not take pride in just publishing an article in an international journal. If we do not have original ideas, then we are merely "outsourcing workers." We accept topics from international colleagues, buy foreign equipment, and publish our findings in international journals.
He who is dependent on others is not a real hero.
We need to do our own research, groundbreaking research, which is not easy. Like me now, I can only raise questions and hope that future generations will solve them.
