Academician Li Deren: scientific research needs teachers and students to break through the frontier
2021-11-11
As a world leading expert in the field of surveying, mapping and remote sensing, Li Deren, 81, is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of engineering and a professor of Wuhan University. The title of "the most beautiful scientific and technological worker" in 2021 is icing on the cake on his honor list. In the face of honor, Li Deren talked about his responsibilities and China's talent training. As an intelligent and diligent student, Li Deren was admitted to the University in 1957 and began to study surveying and mapping. After graduating from university in 1963, Li Deren worked for many years until the policy was restored in 1978. After graduating from master's degree in 1981, he went to Germany to study. His doctoral thesis completed in one year solved the century old problem of error distinguishability in world surveying. After graduation, he returned to his motherland and played an important role in the realization of China's high-resolution earth observation system, "Beidou" satellite system and advanced surveying and mapping systems in many fields. In the 1980s, Li Deren initiated the weighted iterative method to derive gross error location from a posteriori variance estimation, which was named "Li Deren method". It can be said that these achievements were created by Li Deren with talent and diligence. When he talked about the past, he did not shy away from his "wisdom" and "efforts". However, when Li Deren talks about scientific research and innovation, he always mentions two words - teachers and students. He is both a teacher and a student, and his achievements are inseparable from the experience brought to him by these two identities. For Li Deren's academic career, the influence of two mentors is particularly important. One is Li Deren's master supervisor, Wang Zhizhuo, an expert in aerial photogrammetry and remote sensing in China and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the other is Li Deren's doctoral supervisor, Professor Ackerman of Germany. "These two mentors are world authorities, teaching me how to learn and how to be a man," Li Deren recalled. In 1978, Wang Zhizhuo accepted Li Deren as his graduate student without examination. For his growth, he asked him to go to Germany for further study. In Germany, Ackerman appreciated Li Deren's intelligence, asked him to "read quickly" and supported him to return to work after graduation. Li Deren has many unforgettable memories of the two mentors. "Professor Wang Zhizhuo has two paragraphs that I have remembered all my life. One is that discipline research should collide and integrate with each other while developing in depth, which was put forward by him in 1987; the other is about the truth of talent training. At the Symposium on Wang Zhizhuo's academic thought, the old gentleman said that if I have any ideas, I should keep learning from my students, which aroused the whole world Applause. " Coincidentally, Ackerman also said similar words to Li Deren: "we have become a big professor. We will not be better than students in studying every technical detail. In every technical branch, students are in the front line. They are better than us. We just grasp the macro better and look further." In addition to respect, support and care for students, another truth Li Deren learned from the two mentors is that "learning should be at the forefront of the discipline". Li Deren recalled that in Germany, Ackerman believed in encouraging students' autonomy and discovering students' talents, and supported him to learn according to his own ideas. Before Li Deren returned home, Ackerman encouraged him to be a leading scientist in organizing scientific research and serve the needs of the country. In addition, Ackerman also suggested that he should not stick to the traditional Chinese model of master with apprentice, but pull young people directly to the front line to work. Li Deren believes that many talents have emerged among his students, which is closely related to inheriting this concept. He always gives the most difficult task to the students to carry out leapfrog research. "Scientific research is continuous innovation and relay." Li Deren always faces the national needs and the forefront of disciplines, and regards the achievements of students as his greatest achievement. 81 year old Li Deren has trained more than 200 doctoral students. "Many of my students have become professors and leaders," Li Deren said proudly. "Mr. Li is like a magnet that unites us closely," said Professor Zhu Xinyan, Li Deren's student. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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