yearn for
He yearns for and seeks a perfect and harmonious family life. He and his first wife were strangers before they got married, and immediately went to the United States to study after they got married. In the past nine years, he has repeatedly written home to let his wife go to school. However, due to various reasons, his request was not adopted, and it is conceivable that the interests of husband and wife are different in all aspects. In the first year after returning to China, Hsien Wu was not only busy with her work, but also devoted a lot of energy and time to helping and influencing her wife, bridging the gap between the two sides and enabling her to spend her life with like-minded people. However, his efforts failed. Finally, he had to draw a painful conclusion: this is a marriage that should not have existed in the first place and should be dissolved. It took a lot of courage to divorce at that time. For the long-term interests of both sides, he resisted pressure and misunderstanding from all sides, got his wife's consent and dissolved his marriage. Later, he met Ms. Yan at work. She is the niece of Yen Hsiu, a famous educator in China. When she was a teenager, she studied in Tianjin Chinese and Western Girls' Middle School. After graduation, she was admitted to Nanjing Jinling Women's University, the third graduate of the school. After graduation, she went to Columbia University to study food chemistry and nutrition. 1922 After obtaining the master's degree, she was recommended. 1923 works as a teaching assistant in the Department of Biochemistry of Peking Union Medical College. In teaching and scientific research, she shared the same interests with Hsien Wu, established deep feelings, and then got married. During the 35 years from love and marriage to Hsien Wu's death, their feelings have been very harmonious. They contribute to each other, cooperate with each other, cultivate five children in a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere, and rack their brains to solve problems in life together. A happy marriage has brought vitality to Hsien Wu's research career and added vitality to his life. He loves his family life, his wife and children. All his close friends know that "no one can appreciate the fun of the family more than Hsien Wu and his wife Cai Yun, and share the warmth of the family with great interest ... no one can feel more proud and happy for his children than him". According to insiders, the secret of Hsien Wu's success is that he always makes the right choice at the critical moment in his life. He made many such choices, the most important of which was the combination with Yan. During his career, Cai Yun was his assistant, colleague and consultant. They have done experiments and published papers together. More than 80% of the biochemical papers published in his life were published after marriage. Among them, a lot of fruitful nutrition research started with Yan's research, and the famous protein's research on transsexuality was also the first collaboration with Yan. It was after their marriage that he began to pay attention to social and scientific problems in China and expanded his interest.
To family.
Hsien Wu's love for children is not limited to providing them with a comfortable living environment, but more focused on educating them how to be a man and how to stand on their own feet. His children are deeply touched by this when they talk about their father. Ray Wu, the eldest son, recalled that once "my father called our five children to the fireside and told us the meaning of the English word' investment'. He said excitedly,' Getting a good education is the best investment. It will exist on you for a lifetime and be enjoyed by you for a lifetime, so I won't leave you any material things, because it will be harmful to you. I won't give you money, but I will try my best to give you the best education so that you can live independently in the future. Wu Wanlian, the second daughter, said: "He tried his best to give our five children a comprehensive education, because he believed that the most important thing in a person's life was a good mind and a healthy body." . Wu Wanming, the third daughter, wrote: "Every time after dinner, before we left the table, my father took pains to tell us how to be an upright person. Self-discipline and non-indulgence are topics he often talks about. "In short, Hsien Wu hopes that his children can live a happy life on their own and make contributions to society in the future.
Cultivation of personality and sentiment
Apart from his career and family life, Hsien Wu also pays attention to the cultivation of his character and sentiment, showing his "gentleman" demeanor everywhere, regardless of his manners and making friends. No matter how you live, you make it meaningful and scientific. Anyone who has come into contact with him will think that he is a very cultured person, has strong restraint, always controls his emotions perfectly, is polite to people, has a sense of proportion, is open-minded, friendly, compassionate and sincere to friends. His knowledge, talent and noble character have won him many friends, including his strict teacher, boss and friends of his children. People who are familiar with him think that he is a real scientist, gentleman and philosopher, who perfectly, organically and harmoniously combines the strengths of eastern and western cultures. Hsien Wu has a wide range of personal interests and a colorful spare time. He likes sports very much because he is a student in Boston. He likes riding horses, swimming, playing tennis, skating, dancing and walking ... He also enjoys the benefits of being strong: he had never been to the hospital before his first heart attack, and he has always maintained vigorous energy and drive in his work for many years. He often recites some of his favorite ancient poems of China, or writes poems (his childhood education made him have a good understanding of China literature) to relax himself. He collected all kinds of rare porcelain, and after research, he became an expert in this field. He loves architectural design and garden construction. 1934, he bought a mansion of the Qing royal family in Fangjiayuan, a small street facing south in Beijing. After careful design and renovation, it has become a Chinese-style house with modern equipment, and a small swimming pool has been built in the yard. Wu Xian once received many Chinese and foreign medical celebrities in this magnificent mansion. He has a strong sense of beauty and is good at making buildings and scientific instruments have a strong sense of art. After retirement, he still keeps a regular schedule, usually writing or studying advanced mathematics in the morning, and uses it to analyze the experimental results before retirement, write papers and publish them; He wrote the first draft of Introduction to Scientific Life, and began to write several manuscripts (all unfinished) about the evolution of China's calligraphy, the pronunciation of Chinese and world peace. During his stay in Boston, he often went to Harvard Medical School with his wife to attend academic seminars. After moving to Brookline's new house, he planted flowers and plants in the small garden next to the house and decorated his room on a small scale. On the one hand, he also taught himself Spanish and was able to listen to the radio and read books and periodicals. In short, he has been making progress all his life, constantly enriching and upgrading himself.
In fact, Hsien Wu regards his career as a link in his whole life, and he takes all links in life seriously to make them harmonious. Happy family life and perfect personal accomplishment have contributed to his continuous success in his career, and his career achievements have also added luster to him and his family, making their lives more meaningful.
contribution
However, Hsien Wu was not satisfied with his personal achievements and family life. Although he is in an excellent situation, he is very concerned about the future and destiny of the country and sympathizes with the sufferings of the people. He tried to save and revitalize the country through science and his own actions, made contributions to improving people's lives, and even sacrificed his personal happiness and even his life, which fully reflected his patriotic enthusiasm. For example, he studied nutrition in order to solve the malnutrition problem of China people, hoping to help improve the physical quality of China people. In addition to research papers, he also wrote some popular articles about nutrition, which were published in Independent Review and Scientific National Rejuvenation. In order to safeguard people's health, in 1938, Hsien Wu presided over the formulation of the first People's Republic of China (PRC) Constitution in China according to the national economic situation at that time. In l932, the Japanese invaded the three northeastern provinces of China and then the Jehol. Facing the national crisis, Hsien Wu began to feel that without a stable social and political environment, scientific research and other undertakings to promote human happiness would be out of the question. He often meets with friends such as Hu Shi, Ding Wenjiang, Weng, Chen Zhimai and Wu Jingchao to exchange and discuss his views on various situations at home and abroad. On this basis, he participated in the establishment of the influential Independent Review Weekly in China at that time, and published 13 articles on the current situation, politics and economy under the pseudonym of Tao Ming. After the Japanese army closed the Union Medical College Hospital, in terms of family and economic conditions, Hsien Wu could study behind closed doors and spend his old age peacefully. However, he is unwilling to settle in the enemy-occupied area. His wife Yan recalled this experience and wrote: 1944. At the beginning of this year, he learned that the Chongqing government wanted him to set up a nutrition research institute there, and immediately began to prepare for this long and dangerous trip to the rear area. "This means several weeks of travel in disguise: by train, by cart, by charcoal cart, on foot, and by night in a humble inn. Of course, everything related to leaving Beiping must be kept absolutely confidential. He is fully prepared for all possible dangers, and he thinks it is his duty to serve the country through this special mission. 1944 March 16, when he left home, he was sad, because he and his wife knew in their hearts that they might never see each other again. " When he arrived in Chongqing on April 6, he had worked out a plan to establish an institute. "As soon as he arrived at his destination, he began to put it into practice. Similarly, because the United States and Japan declared war, his trip to the United States was also full of dangers. " It took 64 days to arrive in Los Angeles via Australia. "During his stay in the United States, he visited around and worked hard for the post-war reconstruction of China. At a meeting to distribute post-war relief supplies, some American health authorities suggested that children in China should be given bean powder instead of milk powder, claiming that China people's intestines and stomach are only suitable for vegetarianism. Hsien Wu was very angry after hearing this and refuted it on the spot. After his argument, the ships sent to China by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency later carried milk powder. Hsien Wu was in the United States when War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression won. In his diary, he recorded the news before and after Japan officially announced its surrender, which showed his concern for the fate of the motherland. Although he settled in the United States in his later years, he refused to become an American citizen.
The fate of mankind and world peace
Hsien Wu is not only a patriot, but also very concerned about the fate of all mankind and world peace. Witnessing the profound disaster brought by World War II, he discussed with his friends many times to explore ways to transform the world and promote world peace by scientific methods. The manuscript of Introduction to Scientific Life written in his later years is the crystallization of his long-term thinking. He used his position and method in dealing with biological problems in the laboratory to study world problems, and thought that "in various forms of organizations, whether cells, organs, people or countries, the interdependence of cooperative units and the division of labor between them are inevitable facts. The elements of the two are coordination and unity. The most appropriate division of individual and collective activities can improve the sum of all levels of biology or society to the highest degree. Applying this moderate principle can not only win personal health, but also achieve world peace. " In the book, Hsien Wu clearly and orderly put forward how to achieve the above goals through scientific methods, and listed specific ways. Although his theory and method are idealistic, it is not easy or realistic to achieve the goal he pointed out. After all, social science is very different from natural science. However, his comments and suggestions are of great inspiration to everyone who cares about such problems, and also have certain guidance and reference for our daily life. This book fully embodies the author's concern for human destiny and longing for world peace.