Tong Dizhou (1902-1979) was a biologist.
He was born on May 28, 1902 in Yin County, Zhejiang Province (now Yinzhou District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province). Due to the poverty of his family, he entered the school at the age of 17. He graduated from the Department of Biology of Fudan University in 1927, and was awarded a doctorate degree in science by the University of Biking, Belgium, in 1930. After returning to China, he served as a professor at Shandong University, Central University School of Medicine, Tongji University, Fudan University, a researcher at the Chinese Institute of Psychophysiology, a researcher at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and a researcher at Yale University in the U.S.A. He was elected as an academician of Academia Sinica in 1948, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (academician) in 1955. Later, he became a researcher at the Institute of Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of the Department of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was a professor and vice president of Shandong University, a member of the Standing Committee of the Third and Fourth National People's Congress, and vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Founder of experimental embryology in China. He proved the polarity or axiality of the development of the sea squirt mosaic type by using the split sphere live staining method, and used the movement of cilia as the experimental object and polarity index to explore the polarity of the embryo, which is such a major issue of embryonic development; in the aspect of the development of amphioxus, he investigated the interrelationships among the split spheres, the interrelationships among the blastomeres, and the role of the inducing effect, which enabled the embryological community to have a brand-new understanding of the development of amphioxus individuals. In his later years, he studied the relationship between nucleus and cytoplasm in development, proving that nucleus and cytoplasm are not independent of each other in individual development, but are very closely related. in March, 1979, when he was giving a report for the Zhejiang Provincial Science Conference, he unfortunately suffered a cerebral vascular rupture and fainted on the podium. From then on, he was sick and died on March 30th at the age of 77 years old. He taught for many years and trained a large number of students, many of whom became well-known scholars at home and abroad.
Biography
* May 28, 1902 was born in Yin County, Zhejiang Province.
* Graduated from Fudan University in 1923-1927.
* 1928-1930 Assistant Professor at Central University.
* 1930-1934 Studied at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and received a doctorate degree.
* 1934-1937 Professor at Shandong University.
* 1938-1941 Professor at the Medical School of Central University.
* Professor of Medical College of Tongji University from 1941 to 1943.
* Professor of Fudan University from 1944 to 1946.
* Professor of Shandong University from 1946-1948.
* Visiting Fellow, Yale University, USA, 1948-1949.
* 1949-1955 Professor and Vice President of Shandong University, Researcher and Deputy Director of the Institute of Experimental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of the Qingdao Marine Biology Research Laboratory of the Institute of Aquatic Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of the Qingdao Marine Biology Research Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
* 1955-1976 Deputy Director of the Department of Biology and Geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Researcher and Director of the Qingdao Institute of Marine Biology, Director of the Institute of Marine Research, Director of the Department of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Researcher of the Institute of Zoology.
* 1977-1979 Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
* Died on March 30, 1979 in Beijing.
Experience
* Born on May 28, 1902 in Yin County, Zhejiang Province, a peasant family. He lost his father at an early age, and his family was poor, relying on his elder brothers to raise him. In 1918, he entered Ningbo Normal School, studied diligently and got good grades, and then he was admitted to the third grade of Ningbo Effective Middle School as an intermediate student.
* He graduated from high school in 1922 and was admitted to the Department of Philosophy of Fudan University, majoring in psychology.
* After graduation in 1927, he was recommended by Cai Bao, the head of the Biology Department of the Central University, and became an assistant professor of the Biology Department of the Central University.
* In 1930, he was sponsored by his family and friends to study at the University of Biking in Belgium, where he received his doctorate in 1934.
* After September 18, 1931, the Japanese invasion forces began to attack Northeast China. At that time, Tong Dizhou was studying in Belgium, and out of his love for his country and his passion to fight against the Japanese, he took the lead in protesting at the Japanese Embassy in Brussels, and was threatened by the Belgian police.
* At the end of 1933, in spite of the danger of the imminent large-scale war of aggression against China by the Japanese invading forces, he resolutely gave up the conditions in which he could work and live at ease abroad, and returned to China at the end of 1934 as a professor in the Department of Biology of Shandong University. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Tong Di Zhou moved with the school to Wanxian County, Sichuan Province.
* In 1938, when Shandong University was dissolved, he taught at the Central University Medical School, Tongji University, and Fudan University.
* In 1946, when Shandong University was reopened in Qingdao, Tong went back to Qingdao to participate in the reopening of the university and served as professor and head of the Department of Biology. 1947, Qingdao broke out in a demonstration against the national government's "anti-starvation and anti-persecution" campaign. As the head of the Shandong University Professors' Association and the Dean of the Department of Zoology, Tong actively supported the student movement, and took the risk of covering for other people to take photos of the student demonstration, and helped to deliver the English version of the "People's Speech Newspaper" to various places, which carried reports of the student demonstration and the suppression of the students by the military and police, in order to expand the influence of the student movement.
* In 1948, Tong Di-Zhou was elected as a member of the Academia Sinica. In the same year, he was invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to be a visiting researcher at Yale University.
* In June 1949, he gave up the excellent research and living conditions in the United States and returned to Shandong University. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Tong continued to serve as a professor and head of the Department of Zoology at Shandong University, and in 1950, he also served as deputy director of the Institute of Experimental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Qingdao Marine Biology Research Laboratory of the Institute of Aquatic Biology.
* In 1951, he became vice president of Shandong University, and in 1955, he was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), deputy director of the Department of Biology and Geology, and director of the Qingdao Research Laboratory of Marine Biology of the CAS, which was later transformed into the Qingdao Research Institute of Marine Biology, where he served as director.
* In 1960, the Division of Biology and Geology was divided into the Division of Biology and the Division of Geology, and he became the director of the Division of Biology and a researcher of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (after the death of the director of the Institute, Chen Zhen, Tong Dizhou was the director of the Institute for a time). "
* In 1977, he became director of the Cytogenetics Research Laboratory of the Institute of Zoology.
* He became Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1978.
The story of Tong Dizhou
The boy Tong Dizhou
The two "firsts" in the middle school
Tong Dizhou grew up, and his older brothers had the good sense to send the young Tong Dizhou to the Fourth Normal School of Zhejiang, where he could study with room and board.
Tong Dizhou's elder brother hoped that Tong Dizhou would study hard and help his brother to run the school in his hometown in the future. The young boy who has already opened his eyes has another lofty ambition in his heart, and he wants to study in the Ningbo Kungshi Middle School, which was highly prestigious in the province at that time. The elder brother was happy for the ambition of the younger brother, but also worried about the younger brother. Little Tong Dizhou firmly told his brothers, "I will definitely be able to get into the school!" Little Tong Di Zhou meticulously prepared for the examination, and the whole family mobilized to support him. His kindly mother often woke up quietly in the middle of the night and stared through the window at the candlelight in his son's room. ......
When he was finally admitted to the school and became a third-grade student, he finished at the bottom of the class. In the face of the report card, the little boy shed tears of sadness ......
Soon, the boy's dormitory spread the news that "the little boy ignored his studies and often fell in love late at night," causing concern among his classmates and teachers. Late one night, the grade teacher Chen, who teaches math, returned to the school after running errands, and found a thin figure swaying under the dim streetlight, and Chen thought, "Who wouldn't go back to his dormitory in the middle of the night?" Teacher Chen walked over with questions and took a look, it turned out to be Tong Di Zhou who was using the street light to perform calculations. "Why don't you go back to your dormitory to rest at this late hour?" "Teacher Chen, I want to hurry up and catch up with my homework, I don't want to be in the bottom one." Mr. Chen looked at Tong Dizhou's thin body, concerned to persuade Tong Dizhou to go back to rest, but out of a short distance, Tong Dizhou again stood under the street lamp holding a book to read. Mr. Chen was y touched, he y understand the ambition of Tong Dizhou, proud to have such a student.
The next day, Mr. Chen, in front of the class, solemnly refuted the rumor: "I clearly tell you, Tong Di Zhou is a diligent and studious person! Don't rely on speculation to draw conclusions about anything, and don't use rumors to vilify others, especially not for a diligent and studious person!" Mr. Chen said seriously, "I witnessed Tong Di Zhou still under the dim streetlight after lights out, concentrating on the exercises. He is too hardworking and diligent! He deserves to be learned by all students!" Mr. Chen finally raised his voice, "It's not bad that Tong Di-Zhou used to have the worst grades in the class, but a person's grades can't be judged by just one test score. Measuring a person's knowledge and ability should ultimately depend on how he walks his own path of struggle!"
The final exams are here, and Tong Di Zhou has become the object of attention of the whole school again. He finally rely on their own hard work, so that the average score of all subjects have reached 70 points, including geometry scored a perfect score, caused a sensation in the school.
In their own efforts and teachers' concern, to the final exam of senior high school, his total score ranked first in the class. Principal Chen Xiachang infinite emotion, said: "I have been a principal for many years, never seen such rapid progress of students!"
Later, Tong Dizhou recalled his childhood with emotion, saying, "The two 'firsts' in the school had a great impact on my life. That thing makes me know that I am not dumber than others, and what others can do, I can certainly do through hard work. There is no genius in the world, genius is exchanged for labor."
In July 1924, Tong Dizhou, with the support of his brother, was admitted to Fudan University, and from then on, he began the pursuit of science, dedication to the cause of the long road of exploration ......
Water drips and penetrates the stone
Tong Dizhou was born in 1902 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. His father was a private school teacher. Tong Dizhou followed his father to private school from a young age, studying and laboring at the same time. His father often told Tong Dizhou the story of hard study of all kinds of people, and told him that there is no end to the sea of learning, and that he must be persistent, and he also wrote the words "Water drips down the stone", which were hung beside Tong Dizhou's desk, encouraging him to study hard and hoping that he would have a future.
"Water dripping on a stone" is his father's encouragement to Tong Dizhou, and in fact, Tong Dizhou is practicing this spirit, he seized every minute, every second, and climbed to the top of the scientific peak with tenacious perseverance.
In the private school, Tong Di Zhou only learned some knowledge of literature and history, which is far from being able to satisfy Tong Di Zhou's thirst for knowledge. Because the family is not good, there is no money for him to go to school, so, although Tong Di Zhou very much look forward to the day to enter the school, and companions to learn together, but not. It was not until he was 17 years old, with the help of his brother, that he entered the preparatory class of Ningbo Normal School. Here do not have to pay tuition, but also tube room and board, poor children can go to school here, is very lucky. Tong Di Zhou was very happy, he seized this hard-won opportunity to study hard, not miss a minute. Because of the previous only in the private school learned a little knowledge of literature and history, there is no foundation in mathematics and science, so the Tong Di Zhou learning is very difficult, but he is not discouraged, but more hard to learn, he wants to catch up with others.
Not only that, but deep down, he also set a higher goal for himself - he wanted to go to the middle school. The school was the first-class school in Ningbo at that time, and the graduates usually got into the university. Many dignitaries were proud to have their sons and daughters studying at the school! The school had very high requirements for English, and attached great importance to the fundamentals of mathematics and science, which were exactly the weak points of Tong Dizhou. Moreover, he had never studied English. Since the establishment of the goal to take the Effective Middle School, Tong Di Zhou more hard work. He began to study English on his own, often studying late into the night. The first step was to ask his friends in Ningbo to inquire about the enrollment situation of the school, and the second step was to ask his friends in Ningbo to help him to get into the school.
My brother's friend brought unfavorable news to Tong Di Zhou from Ningbo: the school does not enroll new students in the first grade, and only enrolls the top students in the third grade. The first time I saw this was when I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and the second time I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and the third time I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. My brother hesitated and went to discuss with Tong Di Zhou. After hearing the news, Tong Di Zhou still did not change his mind, he must enter the effective real middle school, so he decided to go to the test of the interlocutors.
With the spirit of "dripping water penetrates the stone", the iron pestle can be sharpened into a needle. The first time he did this, he was in the third grade of the school, but he was at the bottom of the list. A year later, Tong Di Zhou from the bottom of the first to the first, geometry scores from the entrance of the failed to 100 points a year later! Later, Tong Di Zhou entered Fudan University with excellent results and became a senior student of Fudan University. After graduation, he went on to study at the University of Biking in Brussels, Belgium, where he received his doctorate in 1934, when he was 32 years old.
Expensive microscope
During the Sino-Japanese War, Tong Dizhou's family traveled to a small town in Sichuan. The family lived on a pitifully small salary. At the time, Tong was teaching at a university, and in addition to teaching, he continued his work in embryology.
To study embryology, it is necessary to rely on imagination, and the necessary experiments are indispensable. To do experiments, there must be experimental equipment, but where to get the equipment? To this end, Tong Di Zhou can not eat, can not sleep, scientific research is the biggest thing in his life, can not engage in scientific research as if his life is generally difficult. The whole family is anxious to see the hard work of Tong Di Zhou.
One day, Tong Di Zhou came back from the outside, full of spring, he told Mrs. Ye Yufen with great enthusiasm, said he found a treasure. For a long time did not see her husband's smiling face of the lady felt very strange, what is worth her husband so happy? She asked, "What treasure?" "I saw a microscope, or a binocular microscope!" "Where?" The lady also got excited, knowing that the microscope is the most important instrument for conducting embryological experiments. "It's at a yard sale in town." Tong Diwei answered, while dragging his wife out, he wanted her to enjoy the joy of discovering the "baby" with him. The two of them happily arrived at the stall, and sure enough, an old binocular microscope was there, seemingly beckoning to them.
"Excuse me, how much does this microscope cost?"
"Sixty thousand dollars." The couple was taken aback, so expensive? This price is equivalent to two years' salary for both of them.
"So expensive? Can it be cheaper?"
"No, look, it's still German."
The boss sized them up and concluded from experience that they really wanted to buy it, so the asking price was higher.
No way, the two had to return empty-handed. The thing that I dreamed of is right in front of me, but I can't get it. At night, they tossed and turned, just can not sleep.
The next day, the two went to the stall, as yesterday, the microscope is still there. But the only difference is that the boss actually increased the price, to sell "65,000 dollars", the reason is that prices are soaring, yesterday and today's money is not the same.
Again, they returned empty-handed. For days on end, they made trip after trip to the thrift stalls for fear that their beloved microscopes would be snatched away by others. The owner was so impatient that he simply ignored them.
The couple made up their minds that in order to do scientific research, the microscope had to be bought. The family really has no money, they began to go around to friends and relatives to borrow money, but also sold a lot of clothes. "But we may not be able to pay off this debt for many years!" said Mrs. Worried. The lady said worriedly. "For the sake of the cause, I'd rather suffer for the rest of my life!" Tong Di Zhou replied.
They finally scraped together 65,000 yuan and bought back the microscope.
With the microscope, they could do experiments. However, a new difficulty came. When using the microscope, there must be light illumination or to have a very bright sunlight illumination. Tong Di Zhou live in the house is small and dark, because it is the war period, often blackout, how to do? Tong Di Zhou thought of ways, he and his colleagues put the microscope on the window sill, the sun is good when the use of sunlight illumination, sunlight is not good and power outages, the use of dry batteries as a power source of illumination or kerosene lamp lighting.
The problem of the microscope is solved, for other equipment, they are simple, for example, with tea cups, discarded glass bottles, bowls, etc. instead of glassware. They did scientific experiments and explored the mysteries of life in bottles and jars that didn't seem useful to outsiders.
"Tong fish"
Spring, the earth recovery, is the breeding season of goldfish, in order to explore the mysteries of biological hereditary traits, aged Tong Di Zhou, began a new exploration. He chose goldfish and crucian carp as his experimental materials. In the laboratory, Tong Dizhou sat in front of the experimental table, assistants in the laboratory nervous busy, doing the preparation before the experiment. It was the moment when a tense battle was about to be fought, and everything was going on in an orderly manner. Tong Di Zhou wanted to verify his own vision in scientific research through this experiment called nucleic acid induction. The goldfish ovulated and discharged fertilized eggs smaller than sesame seeds!
A tense battle began, the assistants they have been purified crucian carp eggs of nucleic acids, quickly sent to the hands of Tong Dizhou, Tong Dizhou with his dexterous hands will be injected into these nucleic acids into the cytoplasm of the fertilized eggs of goldfish. He wanted to see whether the nucleic acids of crucian carp eggs have an effect on the fertilized eggs of goldfish, and to see whether the traits of goldfish grown from such fertilized eggs of goldfish will change.
From early in the morning to two o'clock in the afternoon, eight hours passed, experiments in one batch after another, sitting in front of the experimental table Tong Dizhou, has been a sore back, hungry. However, he still tenaciously insisted, meticulously operated. Assistants can not see past, to know, Tong Di Zhou is already 70 years old people ah!
"Tong old man, you rest for a while!" An assistant couldn't help but say. Tong Di Zhou shook his head and said:
"It should be remembered that our cause requires hands, not mouths! Besides, aren't you guys as busy as I am?" That's how Tong Di-Zhou was, setting a strict example. The assistants each a record of experiments, he had to personally look over. He often to "seriousness is the secret of success, carelessness is the companion of failure" to encourage his assistants. Later, the assistants became his close friends.
Soon, these goldfish produced by the surgical love sperm eggs slowly grew up, and the miracle appeared. Tong Di Zhou and his assistants were surprised to find that some of the goldfish appeared marvelous changes: in the development and growth of 320 juvenile fish, 106 from the double tail into a single tail, the goldfish showed the tail fin traits of the crucian carp! These fish had both goldfish and crucian carp traits. This shows that nucleic acids extracted from crucian carp eggs play a significant role in changing the genetic traits of goldfish. It also shows that it is not just the nucleus that controls the genetic traits of organisms, but the cytoplasm also plays a very important role.
The success of the experiment confirmed the vision of Tong Di Zhou. Tong Di Zhou's face showed the joy of success. This single-tailed goldfish is what the poet Zhao Puchu called "child fish". "Tong fish", it is the crystallization of Tong Di Zhou's sweat, will and blood. Its body cohesion of Tong Di Zhou's wisdom and truth-seeking spirit, is a milestone in the exploration of the truth of the road of Tong Di Zhou.
Later, Tong Di Zhou also used a more distant species of kinship, to make similar experiments, but also achieved success, thus more strongly confirming his vision.
Be sure to compete
Tong Dizhou is a famous biologist and excellent educator in China, who served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Zoology during his lifetime.
Tong Di Zhou was born in Yin County, Zhejiang Province, a small village, the family life is very poor, no money into the school, can only do some farm work at home, while learning from his father some culture. Until the age of 17, only in the second brother's help, into the Ningbo Normal Section. But the first semester examination results did not pass the total average score, the school let him drop out or downgrade, by the Tong Di Zhou repeated requests, the school reluctantly agreed to try to read for half a year. Tong Dizhou vowed to catch up with his grades. Tong Di Zhou insisted on tenacious study. Finally achieved good results. After entering Fudan University in Shanghai, he studied more diligently, and near graduation, he had become a senior student of the Department of Biology. Tong Di Zhou realized that there is no genius in the world, genius is exchanged for labor. To climb the peak of biology, you need to pay more hard labor.
In 1930, with the financial support of his friends and relatives, Tong Dizhou traveled to the capital of Belgium in Northern Europe - Bruichaner. Under the guidance of Prof. Blanchel, a famous European biologist, he studied embryology. At that time, he found that some foreign students held a contemptuous attitude towards Chinese people, saying that "Chinese people are nationals of a weak country". A foreign student who lived with him openly said, "Chinese people are too stupid." Hearing this, Tong Di Zhou could no longer suppress his anger, and said to the foreigner: "Let's compare, you represent your country, I represent my country to compare with you, to see who will obtain a doctoral degree first."
Tong Di Zhou held his breath and wrote his oath in his diary, "Chinese people are not stupid, they should come up with something to win honor for our nation!"
The study of embryology, often have to do the egg cell membrane stripping surgery, an experiment, the professor asked the students to try to peel off the frog egg membrane, which is a difficult operation, the frog egg is only the size of a small grain of rice, the outside of the tightly packed with three layers of soft membranes like proteins, because of the egg is small membrane is thin, the operation can only be carried out under a microscope. Many people have failed, they peeled off the egg membrane, the frog eggs also to tear. Only the Tong Di Zhou man accomplished this experimental task without a word.
Professor Blanchet knew, specially arranged an observation experiment, the students are looking to see. The experiment began, Tong Di Zhou unhurriedly walked to the microscope, skillfully operated. People saw that he was as careful as a watchmaker, as dexterous as an embroidery girl, and as meticulous as a skillful surgeon. Under the microscope, he first pierced a small hole in the egg with a steel needle, so the bloated round frog eggs immediately relax, become flat and round, and then gently pick the sides with steel tweezers, the egg membrane of the frog eggs from the egg smoothly off. He did it fast and sharp.
"Success! It worked!" Students rushed up to congratulate him, and Prof. Blanchet was even more excited, this is a project that he had been working on for several years but had not succeeded! He couldn't contain his inner joy and praised, "Tong Di Zhou is really good! Chinese people are really good!" The success of Tong Di Zhou's operation to remove the frog's egg membrane immediately shook the European biological world. 4 years later, through the defense, the Belgian Academic Council decided to award Tong Di Zhou a doctorate degree. At the conference where he was honored with the degree, Tong Dizhou said excitedly, "I am a Chinese, and some people say that Chinese people are stupid, and the fact that I have been awarded a doctorate degree from your country at least shows that Chinese people are by no means stupider than others." The professors present nodded their heads, and some even extended their fingers. The foreign student, on the other hand, did not have a single thesis, let alone a doctorate.
In 1937, when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Tong Dizhou declined to be retained by the experts and classmates, and returned to his motherland in the midst of the catastrophe. He came to Sichuan Yibin a village and town teaching. In the intense teaching never forget to engage in scientific research. However, there were no scientific instruments here, not even a microscope, so there was no way to continue to carry out research work on embryology. An accidental discovery brought him hope: they saw an old microscope in a small town thrift stall, but the price was too expensive, when the couple emptied their pockets and less than half, and borrowed some from others is not enough, and finally had to take their clothes to pawn, and with great difficulty to buy back the old microscope.
With a microscope, but without the required lighting, or can not be operated. They had to move the microscope to the outdoors, the use of snow in winter, the faint reflection, he forgot the cold in the concentrated work. Summer blazing sun, sweating even if the sweat drops on the sight glass blurred vision, or the wind blew a small grain of sand into the carrier, and even occupied the entire field of vision ...... Tong Di Zhou still insisted on attacking the problem. Generally speaking, each test data should be repeated one or two times, and he often has to repeat five or six times. However, just in this humble microscope, in this low small earth hut, Tong Di Zhou has written a paper of academic value, shocked scholars in the biological world at home and abroad.
In 1973, under the kind care of Premier Zhou, Tong and his partners started the research work on cytogenetics. Under a dissecting microscope, he used a glass injection needle thinner than an embroidery needle to inject genetic factors removed from the egg cells of crucian carp into the fertilized eggs of goldfish. The goldfish's eggs were not even the size of a grain of rice, so how difficult it was to do such an experiment! But Tong Di Zhou succeeded, the result of the hatchlings, there is a fish draped in golden scales, long as the single tail of the crucian carp, indicating that the crucian carp's genes, has taken effect in the goldfish eggs. This fish is created by Tong Di Zhou, therefore, people call it "Tong fish". Tong Di Zhou's experimental results, to biology has made great contributions.
In 1978, Tong Di Zhou honorably joined the Chinese **** production party, although he was 76 years old, but with the vigor of young people into the work. He personally formulated the planning of scientific research projects and drew a beautiful lan map. in March 1979, on the podium of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, he suddenly suffered from vertigo, and has been sick ever since. He for the revitalization of the scientific cause of the motherland, practiced his oath: "May be like an old cow, for the country to die!"