Shi Yigong was born in a family of cultural people, and his parents were both college graduates. Since childhood, Shi Yigong has been full of a strong interest in cultural knowledge, and under the influence of his family, he has developed the concept of serving the motherland. Although the family suffered a decline when Shi Yigong was young, his parents did not give up educating their children, wrote their own teaching materials, and passed on their love of knowledge to Shi Yigong. Shi Yigong achieved excellent results in the high school entrance examination and was admitted to Henan Experimental Middle School. He showed a talent for learning, won the first place in Henan Province in the national mathematics competition, and was sent to Tsinghua University to study. Shi Yigong's father also told him to always remember the meaning of his name when he saw him off - to serve the public wholeheartedly. Shi Yigong studied hard and eventually received a doctorate from Hopkins University. At that time, talents with doctoral degrees were scarce, not to mention that Shi Yigong was still engaged in research in cutting-edge fields. Therefore, he was invited to the highest position at Princeton University in the United States, but decisively resigned from his tenured professorship and returned to China to become an ordinary teacher.
Shi Yigong's wife, Zhao Renbin, was also an excellent scholar, and they got to know each other through academic contact and gradually developed a relationship. After marriage, Zhao Renbin did not hesitate to resign from his job when Shi Yigong chose to return to China for development and accompanied him back to China. After returning to China, Shi Yigong founded the School of Pharmacy of Tsinghua University and made significant achievements in the fields of crystallography and biology. He won the Aminoff Prize and helped students achieve excellent results. Shi Yigong's career quickly gained recognition, and he assumed the position of vice president of Tsinghua University. However, Shi Yigong was not satisfied with this, he resigned from the position of vice president and chose to found Westlake University, hoping to attract top talents at home and abroad to return to China for development.
In order to establish Westlake University, Shi Yigong invited entrepreneurs such as Ma Yun and Wang Jianlin to jointly raise funds and invested 20 billion yuan. As a private university, Westlake University initially only enrolled a small number of graduate students, but under the leadership of Shi Yigong, Westlake University quickly established a good reputation and gradually attracted more and more students. Today, Westlake University has developed into a high-level research university that should not be underestimated, with eight national key scientific research projects.
Today, Shi Yigong is still actively involved in academic research and campus construction. At this year's Zhongguancun Forum, he emphasized the importance of talents, and emphasized the value of physical exercise, citing the body as the capital of the revolution. He himself has also participated in marathons many times, embodying his spirit. Shi Yigong adheres to the concept of "one heart for the public" and strives for the development of Westlake University.
Shi Yigong's decision-making and efforts have enabled Westlake University to achieve remarkable achievements and become a high-profile institution of higher education. His story inspires countless young people to pursue their dreams and make greater contributions to their country and society. Shi Yigong proved with his actions that as long as we have firm beliefs and move forward bravely, we can realize our ideals and values.