Why do you say that Grandpa Yuan Longping has made great contributions?

At the beginning of Yuan Longping, most people's first reaction was, "He is a world-famous' father of hybrid rice' and a great scientist!" Indeed, as the respected "father of hybrid rice" in the world, as "the most famous farmer in China", as the "rice bodhisattva" in the eyes of farmers' brothers, and as the only academician of the China Academy of Engineering in the American Academy of Sciences, Yuan Longping made great contributions. However, when asked by a reporter how to treat netizens calling him a "people's scientist", the 77-year-old world science master said modestly: "people's scientist".

In an interview with reporters, Yuan Longping firmly believes that his dream of "enjoying the cool under the grain" will come true-rice is taller than sorghum, the ears of rice are longer than brooms, and rice is as big as peanuts. He and his assistant sat under the ear of rice to enjoy the cool! (Photography Xinhuanet reporter Zhu Jidong)

On April 29th, Yuan Longping officially became an academician of the American Academy of Sciences in DC. This is just one of the many honors he has won. Because of an invention that changed the world grain pattern-hybrid rice, he won dozens of international and domestic awards such as the National Special Invention Award and the American World Food Award. But these awards are "almost the same" to Yuan Longping. What he cares more about and has been working hard is to realize his dream of "enjoying the cool under the grain" as soon as possible-rice is taller than sorghum, the ear of rice is longer than broom, and rice is as big as peanuts. He and his assistant sat under the ear of rice to enjoy the cool!

Yuan Longping observed the growth of rice in the experimental field (photo taken in May 10). Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Zhongzhi photo.

City students who love to ask questions and are free are determined to learn agriculture and take root in it.

At the press conference held by Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center and National Hybrid Rice Engineering Technology Research Center in May 10, Yuan Longping said, "I think people are like a seed. To be a good seed, we must be physically, mentally and emotionally healthy. Only when the seeds are healthy can each of us have a deep-rooted career. Therefore, as a scientific researcher, we must not only have more knowledge, but also have more achievements. " But also embody scientific spirit and scientific morality. Only in this way can you become a researcher and an excellent researcher. "This is actually his life experience for many years. From an ordinary city student to a world agronomist, that's how he came along.

1930 In September, Yuan Longping was born in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. He is the second of the five brothers, nicknamed Ermao. 1942 graduated from Longmenhao Primary School in Chongqing in early autumn and entered Fuxing Junior High School. In the study, Yuan Longping has a characteristic, that is, he likes to think and ask questions. His strong thirst for knowledge made him learn a lot that books can't, and he has kept it to this day.

1943, Yuan Longping transferred to Boxue Middle School. During this period, he ate miscellaneous grains rice and ordered tung oil lamps, and only played a "rich meal" once every one or two weeks. But his study is intense and regular. He gets up at 6 o'clock in the morning, 10 minutes later, he will gather in the playground to do exercises, which forms his neat and punctual style.

1947 A swimming competition was held in Hubei Province, but Yuan Longping was not selected because of his small size. On the day of the competition, he entered the stadium behind the competitors' bicycles, and the PE teacher reluctantly agreed to let him have a try. As a result, he unexpectedly won the first place in the men's 100 m freestyle and 400 m freestyle in Hankou Division, and none of the other students were selected. He also won two silver medals in men's freestyle in Hubei province. Since then, he has been keen on swimming, which not only exercised his body, but also shaped his indomitable, brave and fearless character.

When he was in primary school, he once visited the gardening field, and he became interested in the changing laws of flowers, grass, fruits, wood and nature. After graduating from high school, although his father Yuan Xinglie hoped that he would take the road of "learning to be an official", Yuan Longping, aged 65,438+09, happily applied for and passed the Agronomy Department of Xianghui College in Chongqing, Sichuan.

During her college years, Yuan Longping majored in genetics and breeding. This choice determined Yuan Longping's life trajectory, which not only made his life rich and legendary, but also made a famous China science master start to emerge.

However, Yuan Longping has a different understanding of his student life. On May 10, Yuan Longping said humorously and humbly when answering a reporter's question: "My college classmates said that my hobby should be freedom, and my specialty is rambling. Now that I have heard so many compliments, I am under great pressure! "

1953, Yuan Longping graduated from Southwest Agricultural College and was assigned to teach in Hunan Anjiang Agricultural School at the foot of Xuefeng Mountain in Xiangxi, Hunan. At first, he studied the breeding and planting of sweet potatoes and tomatoes. It was here that Yuan Longping realized that only rice was the life-saving food for farmers when he saw someone starving to death by the roadside.

In order not to let people go hungry, challenge the authority to find rice male sterility.

In the practice of studying hybrid rice, Yuan Longping respected authority but did not believe in it. He dares to think, do and persist. He believes that he can rely on the power of science and technology and his own skills to innovate independently, and finally achieved great success. (picture)

1960, natural and man-made disasters brought a nationwide famine, and Yuan Longping and his students were also threatened by hunger. One day at noon, when he walked out of the school gate, he saw a bunch of people on the road in the distance. He took a closer look and saw two skinny bodies lying on the side of the road. The faces of the onlookers were full of sadness. Yuan Longping witnessed the harsh reality and felt "hungry".

At that time, Mi Chulin and lysenko's theory of "asexual hybridization"-the traditional assertion that "asexual hybridization can improve varieties and create new varieties" monopolized the scientific community. Yuan Longping continued to do many experiments, but he still had no idea. He began to doubt the correctness of "asexual hybridization" and decided to change his direction and explore and study rice hybridization along the genetic and chromosomal theories of Mendel and Morgan, which were criticized at that time. At that time, as a self-pollinated rice, it was considered that there was no heterosis at all. "I don't care if people say that I am' Ghost 57' (Changsha dialect, which means doing nothing)." From then on, he chose hybrid rice as a scientific research topic without hesitation.

1960 One midsummer in July, Yuan Longping rolled up his trouser legs as usual and went to the paddy field for inspection after class. Suddenly, he found a rice plant, which was tall and full of seeds. If he found the treasure, he immediately marked it with cloth, repeatedly observed and collected the anthers for microscopic examination.

The next year, he planted the harvested seeds, and the rice grew tall and short. "at that time, I was very disappointed to sit on the ridge ... suddenly I was inspired. Rice is self-pollinated, and there will be no character separation, so it must be natural hybridization! "

Yuan Longping immediately thought that if the male flowers of hermaphrodite rice were artificially removed and pollen of another variety was given, seeds with heterosis could be obtained! But it is impossible to produce this kind of seed in large quantities by manpower alone. If a kind of rice with degraded male flowers is specially cultivated and mixed with other varieties, as long as it is driven with a bamboo pole, the pollen will fall on the female flowers and a large number of hybrid rice seeds will be produced!

Thought of here, Yuan Longping was ecstatic and more confident. In the summer of the next few years, when the rice was blooming and bearing fruit, he took a magnifying glass and searched hard in the field under the scorching sun. 1On July 5th, 964, he discovered a peculiar "natural male sterile plant" in the early indica rice field in Dongting, Anjiang Agricultural School, which was the first discovery in China. After artificial pollination, he produced hundreds of grains.

1In July, 1965, in the paddy field near Anjiang Agricultural School, more than 14000 ears of rice were examined ear by ear. Together with the sterile plants found last year, a total of 6 plants were found. After two years of spring sowing and autumn ploughing, four strains of * * * produced 1.

1966 On February 28th, Yuan Longping published his first paper, Male Sterility in Rice, which was published in the 4th issue of Science Bulletin (Volume 17) edited by China Academy of Sciences. This is his first paper on hybrid rice, and he went straight to the forbidden area.

Looking back on all this today, Yuan Longping said with deep feelings: "In the practice of studying hybrid rice, I deeply realized that as a scientific and technological worker, I should respect authority but not be superstitious about authority, read more books but not be superstitious about books, nor be afraid of cynicism and novelty. If we are always superstitious about this and that, we will never be able to create anything new. We can only follow others forever. Scientific and technological innovation needs not only the mind of the benevolent and the mind of the wise, but also the courage and tenacity of the brave. As long as we dare to think, dare to do and persist, we believe that we can rely on the power of science and technology and our own skills to innovate independently and be the leader of scientific and technological innovation, and we will succeed. "