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Yuan Longping, an agronomist and hybrid rice breeding expert.

Yuan Longping has long been engaged in theoretical research on hybrid rice breeding and practice of seed production technology. In 1964, he first proposed the idea of ??cultivating a three-line method of "sterile line, maintainer line, and restorer line" to utilize the hybrid vigor of rice and conducted scientific experiments. In 1970, together with his assistants Li Bihu and Feng Keshan, they discovered a pollen-aborted male-sterile wild rice plant in Hainan, which became the key to breaking through the "three-line" package. In 1972, China's first male sterile rice line "Erjiu Nan No. 1A" and the corresponding maintainer line "Erjiu Nan No. 1 B" were bred for large-scale application. The following year, the first male sterile line for large-scale application was bred. The best combination of "Nanyou No. 2" and the development of a complete set of seed production technology. In 1986, the strategic vision of hybrid rice breeding was proposed to be divided into "the utilization of hybrid vigor among varieties using the three-line method, the utilization of hybrid vigor among subspecies using the two-line method, and the utilization of distant hybrid vigor using the one-line method". He is hailed as the "Father of Hybrid Rice" by his peers.

Zhan Tianyou, courtesy name Juancheng, was born in Wuyuan, Jiangxi. He was born in an ordinary tea merchant family in 1861 (the eleventh year of Xianfeng reign in the Qing Dynasty). As a child, Zhan Tianyou was very interested in machines. He often made various machine models out of clay with the neighborhood children. Sometimes, he secretly disassembled the chiming clock at home, played with and figured out the components inside, and asked some questions that even adults could not answer. In 1872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, went to Hong Kong to apply for the "Preparatory Class for Young Children Going Abroad" organized by the Qing government. After passing the exam, my father signed a certificate for going abroad that stated, "If there is illness, life or death, everyone will take care of their destiny." From then on, he said goodbye to his parents and came to the United States to study with the ideal of learning Western "skills".

In the United States, students in the overseas preparatory class witnessed the great achievements of science and technology in North America and Western Europe, and were amazed by the rapid development of machines, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing industries. Some students became pessimistic about China's future, but Zhan Tianyou said with firm belief: "In the future, China will also have trains and ships." With the belief of studying hard for the prosperity of the motherland, he studied hard and He graduated with honors from New Haven High School in 1867. In May of the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, specializing in railway engineering. During his four years at the university, Zhan Tianyou studied hard and ranked first in the graduation examination with outstanding results. In 1881, among the 120 Chinese students who returned to China, only two received degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.

After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou enthusiastically prepared to contribute the skills he had learned to the railway industry of the motherland. However, the Westernization officials of the Qing government were superstitious about foreign countries and blindly relied on foreigners when building railways. They ignored Zhan Tianyou's professional expertise and sent him to the Fujian Naval Academy to learn how to sail a sea-going ship. In November 1882, he was sent to the flagship "Yangwu" as the pilot and commanded the drill. In 1883, the Sino-French War broke out. The following year, the long-planned French fleet entered the Min River one after another and was ready to move. However, He Ruzhang, the capitulating shipping minister in charge of the Fujian Navy, ignored him and even ordered: "You are not allowed to fire first, and those who violate the rules will be killed even if they win!" At this time, Zhan Tianyou privately ordered the "Yangwu" to Captain Zhang Cheng said: "A lot of French warships have come with ulterior motives. Although we have received orders not to fire first, we must not fail to take precautions." Due to Zhan Tianyou's warning, the "Yangwu" was very Be alert and ready for battle. When the French fleet launched a sudden attack, Zhan Tianyou braved the fierce artillery fire and calmly and tactfully directed the "Yangwu" to go left and right; avoiding the enemy's artillery fire, he seized the fighter plane and hit the French command ship "Volta" with its tail cannon. ", the French naval expedition commander Guba almost died. Regarding this naval battle, Zilin Xibao, founded by a British businessman in Shanghai, had to marvel in its report: "Westerners did not expect that the Chinese would fight so bravely. The five students on the 'Yangwu' warship , Zhan Tianyou’s performance was the most courageous. He faced the enemy without fear, and at the critical moment of life and death, he was still calm and courageous, and rescued many people in the water..."

From After the war to 1888, Zhan Tianyou'er went through many twists and turns and transferred to the China Railway Company as an engineer. This was the beginning of his dedication to China's railway industry.

Not long after taking office, Zhan Tianyou encountered a test. At that time, the Jinyu Railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan was built to the Luanhe River, and a railway bridge was to be built across the Luanhe River. The Luanhe River bed has deep sediment, and there are rapids due to rising water. The iron bridge was originally designed by British engineers who were said to be the best in the world, but failed. Later, Japanese engineers were asked to contract the work, but it was not effective. Finally, German engineers were asked to take action, but they were also defeated soon after. Zhan Tianyou asked the Chinese to do it themselves. When the British in charge of the project were desperate, they had to agree to Zhan Tianyou to try.

Zhan Tianyou is a serious and down-to-earth person. After analyzing and summarizing the reasons for the failure of the three foreign engineers, he wore work clothes and conducted on-site investigations with the workers, (P116) close measurements. At night, with the help of a dim oil lamp, I carefully studied the geological structure of the Luanhe River bed, analyzed and compared repeatedly, and finally determined the location of the bridge piers, and boldly decided to use a new method - the "pressure caisson method" to construct the bridge piers. As expected, Zhan Tianyou succeeded in building the Luanhe River Bridge. This incident shocked the world: a Chinese engineer actually solved a big problem that three foreign engineers could not solve.

After Zhan Tianyou won the first battle, he immediately encountered a more severe test. In 1905, the Qing government decided to build my country's first railway, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (Beijing to Zhangjiakou). Britain and Russia both wanted to intervene, but due to the strong opposition of the Chinese people, their attempts failed. The British and Russian envoys said in a threatening tone: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is built by Chinese engineers themselves, it will have nothing to do with Britain and Russia." They thought that this way, China would not be able to build this railway. At this critical moment, Zhan Tianyou took over this arduous task without hesitation and took full responsibility for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. When the news came, some imperialists and British newspapers said sarcastically: "China's engineers who can build this railway are still unborn in their mothers' wombs! If the Chinese want to build their own railways without relying on foreigners, even if it is not a dream, it will take at least five years." Ten years." They even attacked Zhan Tianyou as "arrogant" and "overestimating his capabilities" as the general office and chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou resisted the pressure and insisted not to hire a foreign engineer, and said: "China has a vast land and rich resources, but we must rely on outsiders to work along the way. I feel ashamed!" "China has woken up. The Chinese people must use their own engineers and their own money to build the railway.”

In August 1905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway officially started construction, and the intense exploration and line selection work began. Zhan Tianyou led the survey team, carrying instruments on his back, and ran around the rugged mountains day and night. One evening, a strong northwest wind roared with sand and rocks in the Badaling area, making people unable to open their eyes. The survey team was anxious to finish their work, filled in the measured numbers, and climbed down from the rock wall. Zhan Tianyou took the book, looked through the numbers filled in, and asked doubtfully: "Are the data accurate?" "Absolutely", the survey team member replied. Zhan Tianyou said seriously: "The first requirement of technology is precision. It cannot be vague or rash. Terms like 'probably' and 'almost' should not come from the mouths of engineers." Then, he carried the instrument on his back, Braving the wind and sand, I arduously climbed up the rock wall again, carefully re-examined it, and corrected an error. When he came down, his lips were blue from the cold.

Soon, exploration and construction entered the most difficult stage. In the Badaling and Qinglongqiao area, there are overlapping mountains and steep cliffs. Four tunnels need to be opened, the longest of which is more than a thousand meters long. After precise measurements and calculations, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt a segmented construction method: he dug from the north and south ends of the mountain at the same time, opened a large well in the middle of the mountain, and then dug in the well to the north and south ends. This not only ensures the quality of construction, but also speeds up the progress of the project. When digging a hole, a large amount of stones must be dug manually with spades, and the spring water must be picked out one by one. As the chief engineer, Zhan Tianyou has no pretensions. He digs stones and carries water together with the workers. Sludge's face was sweaty. He also encouraged everyone: "The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is the first railway we built with our own people and our own money. The eyes of the world are looking at us. We must succeed!" "Whether we succeed or fail, it is never ours." The success and failure are the success and failure of our country!”

In order to overcome the difficulty of driving on steep slopes and ensure that the train can safely climb Badaling, Zhan Tianyou was ingenious and creatively used the principle of “return lines” to A herringbone line was designed in the Qinglongqiao section of the mountainous area with steep slopes, thereby reducing the need for tunnel excavation and lowering the slope. When the train arrives here, it cooperates with two high-horsepower locomotives to pull and push to ensure that the train goes uphill safely.

Zhan Tianyou once put forward three requirements for the entire project: "low cost, good quality, and quick completion." After several struggles by workers, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was finally opened to traffic in September 1909. It was originally planned to be completed in six years, but it was completed ahead of schedule in only four years. The project cost was only one-fifth of the foreign estimate. Some European and American engineers praised Zhan Tianyou after taking a bus tour and praised him for his greatness. But Zhan Tianyou said modestly: "This is the strength of the more than 10,000 employees of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. It is not my personal contribution. The glory should belong to everyone."

After the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhan Tianyou He also succeeded him as the Supervisor and Chief Engineer of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway. At this time, the United States decided to award him a doctorate in engineering and asked him to go to the United States to attend the awarding ceremony in person. In order to fully participate in the construction of the motherland's railway, he gave up this honor.

After the Revolution of 1911, in order to revitalize the railway industry, Zhan Tianyou and his colleagues established the Chinese Engineering Society and was elected as the president. During this period, he devoted a lot of effort to the training of young engineering and technical personnel. In addition to setting an example with his own behavior, he also encouraged young people to "research academically intensively to invent" and asked them to "do not bend oneself to favor others, and do not seek fame." And fishing for reputation. Dealing with things with sincerity, without asking for personal gain, and setting oneself with treasures as an example."

Zhan Tianyou has been engaged in the railway industry for more than 30 years, which is different from almost every railway in my country at that time. degree of relationship. In his later years, he became ill due to overwork and unfortunately died of illness in 1919. Comrade Zhou Enlai once spoke highly of Zhan Tianyou's achievements and said that he is "the glory of the Chinese people".