Great scientist ｜ Yang Zhongjian： His portrait hangs side by side with Darwin
Editor’s Note: On the journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, generation after generation of scientists are concerned about the motherland and the people, fearless and selfless, and have made great contributions to the progress of science and technology, the improvement of people’s lives and the development of the Chinese nation. Recently, the Bureau of Science Communication of Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Youth Newspaper jointly planned and launched a series of articles entitled "Scientists of Great Powers", which focused on showing the touching stories of China scientists to the public, especially the youth groups, highlighting the ideals and missions of the older generation of scientists, promoting the spirit of scientists and spreading scientific ideas. The stories of old scientists were collected and excavated by professionals organized by the research team of "Image Resources Construction of Chinese Academy of Sciences" and the Institute of Natural Science History of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
□ Jiao Zhengshan
In the China Museum of Paleozoology, the exhibition hall of ancient reptiles is one of the most popular and lively, and a distinctive dinosaur fossil specimen in the exhibition hall is particularly eye-catching: its head is rectangular, with a slender neck and tail, its forelimbs are short and slender, and its hind limbs are slender and stout. In front of this fossil specimen, the audience either stopped to watch, or took photos as a souvenir, or gave their children a serious explanation, while the naive children gave out bursts of wonder … This scene is calm and beautiful, and it exudes a little wonderful feeling of blending ancient and modern. However, if we understand the story behind the excavation of this dinosaur fossil, we will sprout a sense of inheritance of scientists’ ideals and missions in addition to all kinds of feelings, and we will remember a name in our hearts.
He is the father of vertebrate paleontology in China, the pioneer and founder of vertebrate paleontology in China, and also a Communist party member, a famous geologist and paleontologist in China, Yang Zhongjian.
Work photos of Academician Yang Zhongjian in 1960s. The portrait of Academician Yang Zhongjian hangs in the prestigious British Museum of Natural History together with the portraits of famous scholars such as Darwin and Owen. Academician Yang Zhongjian is the only Asian scholar who enjoys this honor. Photo courtesy of the research team of "Image Resources Construction of Chinese Academy of Sciences"
"State affairs … so, stand by and watch?"
In 1897, Yang Zhongjian was born into an educational family in Longtanbao Village, Huazhou District, Shanxi Province: his grandfather once founded the Mengyang School in Guanyin Temple outside the village, which was also the earliest school established in Huazhou; His father, Yang Songxuan, is the founder of the famous Xianlin Middle School.
Since childhood, Yang Zhongjian has been studying abroad with his father. Influenced by the family atmosphere of upward reading and teaching and educating people, Yang Zhongjian received systematic education and training since childhood. In 1913, he was admitted to the middle school class of Sanqin Public School in Xi ‘an, and later transferred to the No.3 Middle School of Xi ‘an Province. In 1917, he was admitted to the Peking University Preparatory School, and in 1918, he was admitted to the Geology Department of Peking University. After graduating from the Geology Department of Peking University in 1923, he went to the University of Munich in Germany for further studies in paleontology. In 1927, he received his Yang Zhongjian is adhering to his father’s noble moral character of "being virtuous and teaching deeply", full of concern and empathy for the joys and sorrows of others and the fate of the country, and devoted himself to making contributions to the country and the people all his life.
Yang Zhongjian was full of patriotic enthusiasm in his youth, and since then he has been campaigning for democracy and science. When he was studying at Peking University, he co-founded Gongjin Society with Wei Yechou and Li Zizhou, and founded Gongjin magazine to promote advanced ideas. He also initiated and organized the Shaanxi Students’ Federation in Beijing, and wrote articles such as "Qin Robbery and Pain" to expose the darkness of warlord tyranny and the suffering of the people at that time. In 1919, when the May 4th Movement broke out, Yang Zhongjian joined the Peking University Civic Education Lecture Group initiated by Deng Zhongxia and others, giving speeches and distributing leaflets on campus to publicize democratic ideas and scientific spirit.
Yang Zhongjian’s feelings for home and country run through his life. His thoughts of worrying about the country and the people and his spirit of saving the country scientifically and applying what he has learned are vividly reflected in many of his poems.
After studying in Germany in 1923, he wrote: "The country is mourning, and the tongue loses its freedom. Everywhere I was stared at, tears flowed to the end of the world. " In the face of such an encounter, he wrote: "State affairs are so bad that you can stand by and watch?" There is nothing to make up for in this life, and it is empty as a youth. " After returning to China in 1928, he wrote with anticipation: "I have been a guest in a foreign country for several years, but now I am fortunate to have returned to my hometown." Seeing the devastated motherland, he wrote: "I was born to be useful, and I endured watching China half sink." Although the finger cone is ashamed of carving insects, it still has the heart to serve the nation. " During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, when the school moved south to Kunming and the scientific research conditions were poor, Yang Zhongjian insisted on scientific research and encouraged everyone to maintain confidence. He wrote the poem "Three years of hard work is also worthy of injury, how many soldiers died in the battlefield, ashamed that my scholar was unarmed, and the dragon played with bones and stones in the rear" …
"It has been known for thousands of years to be buried in the ground, and it is happy to meet you today."
As the founder of vertebrate paleontology in China and the father of dinosaur research in China, Yang Zhongjian devoted his whole life to the paleontology of the motherland.
When studying at Peking University, Yang Zhongjian and seven students from the Department of Geology jointly organized and established the "Peking University Geological Research Association", which was the first geological research group in China. In 1927, he received his Ph.D. from the Department of Geology, University of Munich, Germany. After the publication of his paper "Rodent Fossils in Northern China", he was widely praised at home and abroad, and was regarded as the symbol of the birth of China’s vertebrate paleontology. In February 1928, at the invitation of Weng Wenhao, Yang Zhongjian returned to Beijing to work in the Central Geological Survey and presided over the excavation of Zhoukoudian. Yang Zhongjian started a brand-new scientific research career here.
Weng Wenhao’s invitation to Yang Zhongjian to return to China was closely related to the progress of research at that time and the international situation. In 1918, An Tesheng, the discoverer of Yangshao civilization and a Swedish geologist, began to excavate fossils around Zhoukoudian. In 1923 and 1926, he found two teeth. In 1926, when the Swedish prince visited China, he announced the discovery of 500,000-year-old ancient humans in China, which shocked the world.
Yang Zhongjian was born in Pusara, Sweden on June 1, 1927. Photo courtesy of the research team of "Image Resources Construction of Chinese Academy of Sciences"
Since then, American Budasheng, who is the head of the Department of Human Anatomy in Peking Union Medical College Hospital, has developed a strong interest. Weng Wenhao signed an agreement with him, stipulating that all the fossils found should be owned by the Central Geological Survey and stay in China, and all the results should be published in professional magazines in China. Weng Wenhao invited Yang Zhongjian to return to China to preside over the excavation work, which may also have the consideration of protecting China’s scientific research achievements and precious fossils. During the excavation in Yang Zhongjian, Pei Wenzhong, his assistant and academic partner, discovered the first skull of Peking Man, which greatly supported Darwin’s theory of evolution and played an important role in promoting the academic circles to explore the course of human evolution.
Since 1933, Yang Zhongjian has turned to the study of ancient reptile fossils, especially dinosaur fossils. He has made a series of important achievements: the Triassic Kennel animal fossils were first discovered in Shanxi; The discovery of dinosaur fossils in Ningxia, Xinjiang and other places in the late Mesozoic started the history of dinosaur research in the northwest of China … A series of research results show the close relationship between Chinese mainland and the southern mainland in the geological history, which is of great academic significance to confirm the hypothesis of continental drift. Among many achievements, the most important and far-reaching one is the excavation and research work of Lufenglong in Xu Shi.
In 1933, Yang Zhongjian studied the humeral fossils of Emeilong in Rongxian County in the Cenozoic laboratory of Lougonglou, Peking Union Medical College. Photo courtesy of the research team of "Image Resources Construction of Chinese Academy of Sciences"
In 1937, when the land of China was full of smoke, Yang Zhongjian flatly refused the Japanese request that he go to Japan to give lectures, and resolutely moved south to Kunming to take charge of the excavation and research of the fossils of Lufeng fauna in Yunnan. According to his son’s "Remembering Father’s Two or Three Events", "One morning, I suddenly woke up in my sleep. I saw my father leaning over my brother and me, looking very different. He stood silent for a while and said,’ Baby, I’m leaving!’ Words, that is, turned out of the door. Many years later, I learned that when the Japanese occupied Beijing, my father was unwilling to serve the enemy and puppet troops, and he resolutely left his happy family and secretly went south. It can be said that since then, my childhood has ended. "
Yang Zhongjian led the research laboratory to move south to Wayao Village on the outskirts of Kunming. In order to avoid the war, they worked tenaciously in a dilapidated Guandi Temple. The simple scientific research environment was also reflected in Yang Zhongjian’s poem: "When the roof leaks rain, sit at the bottom of your feet." In an environment of internal and external difficulties, Yang Zhongjian encourages everyone to have confidence and look forward, so that there will be hope for personal destiny, academic research and the future of the country.
With unremitting research, Yang Zhongjian and Bian Meinian noticed that the oil lamps of local people were "keel oil lamps" made of vertebrate fossils during their scientific investigation in Lufeng, Yunnan, and found many paleontological fossils in the places where local people collected and made oil lamps. This is the world-famous Lufeng sauropod fauna. Some of these fossils were identified as some kind of dinosaur after identification.
With the deepening of research, in 1941, Yang Zhongjian and Bian Meinian published "China Paleontology Xu Shi Lufenglong", and Lufeng became the standard fossil site and classic case for studying early dinosaurs and mammals in the world. Xu Shi Lufenglong is not only the first dinosaur fossil specimen independently searched, excavated and studied by Chinese, but also a world-renowned scientific research achievement made during the war, which greatly encouraged and promoted our national self-confidence, and it is an excellent embodiment of the national culture and scientific spirit handed down from generation to generation at the time of national peril.
In order to commemorate the historic achievement of Lufenglong in Xu Shi, in 1958, China issued a commemorative stamp to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Lufenglong’s discovery, which was the first dinosaur in China. It can be said that Lufenglong in Xu Shi is the real "Yi Long" in China.
In 1944, Yang Zhongjian determined that the Bian Shi beast was a reptile close to mammals, thus delaying the initial appearance of mammals. His research field covers all kinds and aspects of reptiles, which fills the gap in this research field in China and makes China one of the regions with the richest reptile fossils in the world. Yang Zhongjian has thus become one of the most important paleontologists in the world: in 1956, he was elected as an honorary member of the vertebrate paleontology Society in North America and a foreign member of the Moscow Natural History Association of the Soviet Union; In 1975, he was elected as a member of the Linnaeus Society of the United Kingdom; In the British Museum of Natural History, his huge photos are hung with Darwin and others, which shows his great contribution in the field of paleontology.
"Nearly eighty years old, my heart is still in Dan, and I want to climb with my peers."
Yang Zhongjian has never stopped for his beloved scientific research career, and has always insisted on striving in the front line of scientific research.
For more than 50 years, he has made unremitting visits to the field, covering more than 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and published more than 600 monographs.
Among them, in 1934, he visited Shandong to investigate the fish and plant fossils in diatom shale in the stratum; In 1935, he and De Rijin and Pei Wenzhong visited Guangdong and Guangxi to investigate the cave accumulation in the south, and published the Cenozoic Strata in Guangxi and Guangdong, which laid the foundation for the Cenozoic geological research in southern China. In May of the same year, he collected a large number of fossils of plants, fish and mammals in Shandong, and named the Shanwangtong strata. Since 1937, he has led the excavation work in Lufeng, Yunnan; During his study in Beibei, Chongqing in 1940, he visited Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang. In 1944, he went to Europe and America to give lectures, and in new york, he determined that Bian Shi beast was a reptile close to mammals.
In 1951, Liu Dongsheng and other students excavated dinosaur fossils and investigated Cretaceous strata in Laiyang, Shandong Province, which contributed an important force to the excavation of Tsingtao sauropod. In 1956, he visited the Soviet Union and reached an agreement on paleontological scientific investigation between China and the Soviet Union. In 1959, he began to concurrently serve as the curator of beijing museum of natural history. Despite his busy work and turbulent social and cultural environment, he still insisted on field investigation and completed the excavation and research of Cretaceous pterosaurs in Xinjiang and marine reptiles fossils in South China.
In 1965, Yang Zhongjian (right) and student Liu Dongsheng (left) made a geological survey in Zhaitang, Beijing. Photo courtesy of the research team of "Image Resources Construction of Chinese Academy of Sciences"
In 1978, when he was over 80 years old, he went to Sanshui, Guangdong Province to investigate fish fossil strata. In September of the same year, Yang Zhongjian completed the last geological survey in his life, went to Lushan Mountain to attend the Quaternary Glacier and Quaternary Geology Seminar and went on a field trip. On New Year’s Day, 1979, Yang Zhongjian was admitted to hospital for stomach bleeding, and died in Beijing on January 15th.
Looking back on Mr. Yang Zhongjian’s life, he never stopped his investigation and scientific research work, measured the mountains and rivers of the motherland with his feet, and wrote a chapter on the cause of paleontology of the motherland with his life, which filled the gaps in many research fields such as analysis and correlation of loess strata, reptiles, theropods and ichthyosaurs in China, and it can be said that he has been moving forward all the way.
"We should study harder, and there are still strange things to be discovered."
Yang Zhongjian’s love for the motherland’s paleontology is not only reflected in his selfless work, but also in his enthusiasm for the cause of scientific communication and the spirit of rewarding and learning.
Yang Zhongjian is a pioneer in the cause of natural museums in China. He not only participated in the preparatory work of beijing museum of natural history, but also served as a curator since the establishment of beijing museum of natural history in 1959. He has paid great attention to and contributed to the cause of geological education and science museums. He is keen to spread the latest research results of geology to the public, and his publications, Review of Cenozoic Studies, New Trends of Vertebrate Fossil Studies, China Paleontology in the Past 30 Years, Foundation, Present Situation and Development of vertebrate paleontology Studies, General Introduction of China Paleontology in the Past 10 Years and Prospects of Cenozoic Studies, have made important contributions to the popularization of paleontology. According to many younger scholars in Yang Zhongjian, one of his great wishes is to build a national natural history museum, but the realization of this wish needs the joint efforts of younger generations.
Yang Zhongjian also made plans and trained talents for the institutionalized development of paleontology in China.
As early as when he excavated fossils in Lufeng, Yunnan, he trained a group of professional technicians who could do well in the excavation and arrangement of fossils. Through academic practice, Yang Zhongjian put forward the research strategies of "two accumulations" and "four origins". "Two kinds of accumulation" refers to the soil-like accumulation widely distributed in northern China-"loess" and the Mesozoic and Cenozoic accumulation widely distributed in southern China-"red bed"; The "four origins" refer to the origins of fishes, mammals, primates and humans. According to this research strategy, he set up four research rooms of the Institute and trained a large number of talents such as Liu Dongsheng, Jia Lanpo, Liu Xianting, Sun Ailing and Wu Xinzhi. A steady stream of talents and a sound research mechanism have enabled Yang Zhongjian to inherit his academic ideal of "studying harder and discovering strange things" from generation to generation.
Yang Zhongjian (right) and student Sun Ailing (left) are doing academic research together. Photo courtesy of the research team of "Image Resources Construction of Chinese Academy of Sciences"
On the monument in Yang Zhongjian’s hometown, Liu Dongsheng wrote: "He initiated the first geological research institute in China and the first vertebrate paleontology research institute in the world … He was the first generation of natural scientists in China, integrating eastern culture and western science, and opened a glorious page in China’s modern scientific history."
In Qingming Festival in 2001, dinosaurs were unearthed in Lufeng, Yunnan, and the statue of Mr. Yang Zhongjian was completed. In the land where he worked, in the field where he cultivated all his life, he seems to be staring at the younger scholars, passing on from generation to generation, and moving forward all the way …
(Special thanks to the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for their help and support in writing this article.)
(Source: China Youth Daily Client)
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