Why is Li Zhensheng not as famous as Yuan Longping?

There is no need to make this comparison. Some people say that "Nan Yuan Bei Li", one is engaged in rice and the other is engaged in wheat, both are working hard to cultivate new varieties of grain and cultivate good varieties.

In terms of age and varieties of crops grown, Li Zhensheng is more similar to Yuan Longping.

Yuan Longping was born in 1930, and Li Zhensheng was born in 1931. The two are similar in age, and Li Zhensheng is one year younger. Rice and wheat are the two most important staple foods of the Chinese people. "South rice and north food". Southerners prefer to eat rice, while northerners prefer pasta, which is consistent with the "Southern Yuanbei Li". But in the minds of ordinary people, Yuan Longping's reputation is much greater.

Li Zhensheng is from Zibo, Shandong. He was born in the old society. His family was extremely poor when he was a child. In addition, his father passed away when he was 13 years old. He had no choice but to drop out of school early and go to Jinan to make a living at a young age. By chance, he was favored by fate and entered Shandong Agricultural College to study.

After graduating from university in 1951, Li Zhensheng was assigned to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and five years later he went to the Shaanxi Agricultural Research Institute. That year, northern wheat suffered a severe stripe rust disaster and widespread production losses, which made Li Zhensheng decide to devote himself to wheat. research. The research direction is to conduct "distant hybridization" between wheat and pastures with strong resistance to diseases and insect pests. In the following decades, he successively researched and cultivated Xiaoyan No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and other high-yield, disease-resistant, and high-quality wheats. variety, which made him known as the "Father of Chinese Wheat Distant Hybridization".

In 1985, Li Zhensheng won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Invention Award. In 1991, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2006, he won the highest national science and technology award.

Yuan Longping made the Chinese people eat rice, and Li Zhensheng made the Chinese people eat wheat. In a sense, the two worked together to solve the food problem of southerners and northerners.

Mr. Yuan Longping's achievements:

Yuan Longping, a native of De'an County, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, was born in Peking Union Medical College Hospital on September 7, 1930. When the People's Republic of China was founded, he was working in the Southwest Agricultural University. He studied in the Department of Agriculture of the College (now Southwest University), and after graduation, he was assigned to teach at Anjiang Agricultural School in Huaihua District, Hunan Province.

In July 1960, Yuan Longping accidentally discovered a rice plant with special characteristics in the experimental field of an agricultural school; it was later confirmed to be a natural hybrid rice, and he began his research on hybrid rice, which he continued throughout his life. Until the beginning of this year (2021), he was still carrying out scientific research work at the Nanfan Base in Sanya, Hainan.

In fact, as early as the award ceremony of the 2007 Chinese Influence Ceremony in the World, Yuan Longping gave a speech and said: "I know that if everyone gives me a lifetime award, they want me to work for a lifetime. I feel that I am in good health now. It's very good, the muscles are very elastic, and I can definitely go to the experimental field and plant rice in another 10 years." He used his unique humorous and confident way to show the world that he "lives endlessly and works endlessly." determination.