Recently, Xu Xing, a member of the Democratic League, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a professor at Yunnan University, was elected an academician of the Department of Geosciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
When the list of academicians was announced, Xu Xing, who was ill due to fatigue, was on his way home from the hospital, and his family, friends, and students learned the news much faster than he did. And his satisfaction largely comes from the "good mood" of this group of people.
Paleontology is a very small branch of the field of geology, and even paleontologists like Xu Xing are often asked the embarrassing question of "what is the use of studying paleontology". "We do worry about how we are going to explain this to society. For this reason, Xu Xing will add a sentence in almost every PPT of the report: We are very proud that China's paleontological research has made its own contribution to the construction of human natural science knowledge system.
Science has different levels of goals, just like physics, mathematics, astronomy and other subjects, our first task is to answer the most basic natural science questions, which is what we care about the most. Xu Xing said that this time to be recognized by the community of scientists is the best "reward".
In the congratulatory text messages that came in one after another, Xu Xing strongly felt the expectations of young researchers for the development of disciplines and careers. Therefore, how to cross-integrate paleontology with other branches of biology and geoscience, and how to promote the development of the discipline through new research methods and research paradigms driven by artificial intelligence and big data, is precisely the responsibility he strives to shoulder.
In addition, Xu Xing also specifically mentioned the responsibility of scientists to popularize science. "In the era of big science popularization, how to better promote science to the public, paleontologists have a lot to do. (Originally published: "China Science News").
Further reading:
Was the eggshell of a dinosaur soft or hard?Why is it more difficult to write a popular science article that has been selected as a primary school textbook than to write a scientific research?Let's listen to Academician Xu Xing's story
The demeanor of the league members |Paleontologist Xu Xing: Telling the Chinese story of dinosaur fossils.