A lecturing series on case studies of innovative research was launched on Dec. 10 in Beijing. Chaired by CAS Vice-President Bai Chunli, the lectures were started by two famed scientists, mathematician Wu Wenjun (Wentsun Wu) and geneticist Li Zhensheng. CAS President Lu Yongxiang attended the event and made an opening speech.
A lecturing series on case studies of innovative research was launched on Dec. 10 in Beijing. Chaired by CAS Vice-President Bai Chunli, the lectures were started by two famed scientists, mathematician Wu Wenjun (Wentsun Wu) and geneticist Li Zhensheng. CAS President Lu Yongxiang attended the event and made an opening speech.
The series was a major effort for developing a culture and environment for innovative research, said President Lu. Since the establishment of the academy over half a century ago, CAS scientists have accumulated rich experience in making scientific innovations. "It was significant to organize such lectures for postgraduate students, who are crucial work forces for CAS,"Lu noted. He hopes that the students could learn scientific ways of thinking from those creative and established scientists.
At the meeting, the veteran scientists spoke to some 400 CAS graduate students about their scientific careers, research progress, scientific methods and values. More than 100 such cases have been collected by CAS, which were compiled into the first edition of a book series.
Prof. Wu Wenjun, a CAS member with the CAS Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences, is the founder in the research of mathematics mechanization in China. As early as in the 1950s, he made outstanding achievements in characteristic classes and imbedding classes (Wu's Formulas, Wu's classes, etc.). Later, he invented Wu's Method to prove geometry theorems by computers, which has brought reformation of mathematical research methods. Because of his meritorious service and creative work, he was honored with China’s first Supreme Scientific and technological Award.
Prof. Li Zhensheng, CAS member with the CAS Institute of Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology and former CAS vice president, has developed many new types of Triticum-Agropyron hybrids, including octoploids, addition lines, substitution lines and translocation lines. He transferred some useful genes from Agropyron which are resistant to drought, dry-hot-wind and multiple diseases into wheat, bred super wheat varieties "Xiaoyan No. 4, 5, 6'. By 1988, "Xiaoyan No.6" had been planted in an area of nearly four million hectares and the increase of wheat production reached 1.6 million tons. He established a new wheat breeding system of chromosome engineering. Using blue endo-sperm gene from Agropyron as genetic marker, he first created the blue-grained wheat monosomic system (BGM) and solved two difficult problems, univalent shifting and enormous labor for chromosome counting in using common monosomic wheat for breeding in the past. He further developed fertile nullisomic lines from the progeny of BGMs, pioneering a new approach, 'the nullisomic backcrossing method', for fast breeding alien substitution lines of wheat, and laid a foundation for wheat chromosome engineering breeding.
