Editor’s note

The Youth Science Fund Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China supports young scientific and technological talents to choose their own topics and carry out basic research within the scope of NSFC funding, with special emphasis on cultivating the ability of young scientific and technological talents to independently preside over scientific research projects and carry out innovative research, stimulate the innovation passion of young scientific and technological talents, cultivate innovative thinking and breed successor talents.

At the beginning of its establishment in 1986, the National Natural Science Foundation of China issued the Interim Measures for the Youth Science Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the notice of the National Natural Science Foundation of China on the establishment of the Youth Science Fund. The application and funding of the youth science fund project were launched in 1987.

In 2021, a total of 21072 projects were supported by NSFC, with a funding of 6282.5 million yuan, with an average funding rate of 17.29%. It is one of the projects with the widest range of disciplines supported by NSFC.

This year coincides with the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Youth Science Foundation project. China Science Daily will carry out a series of exclusive interviews with scientists who have been funded by the Youth Science Foundation project.

Sun Changpu

In 1993, sun Changpu (former) instructed student Wang Xiaoguang (now a professor of Zhejiang University).

■ our reporter Li Chenyang

In 1988, sun Changpu just graduated from master’s degree and began to work as a lecturer in Northeast Normal University. Here, he applied for the first national level scientific research project in his life: the Youth Science Fund Project (hereinafter referred to as the Youth Fund) of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (hereinafter referred to as the natural science foundation of China). This fund project type is as young as him, and it has just entered its second year.

When applying for the fund for the first time, sun Changpu had no concept of the amount and use of the fund. He only applied for 5000 yuan and felt that the business trip was enough. Tang Lin and Yue Zhonghou, who were in charge of this work in the Department of Mathematical Science of NSFC, thought his topic was good and took the initiative to increase the fund to 8000 yuan. At the end of the project, due to the good research, according to the regulations at that time, he was rewarded with an additional 4000 yuan for basic research.

Today, sun Changpu has already grown into a famous theoretical physicist in China and was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Over the past 30 years, he has maintained a close cooperative relationship with NSFC, and began to serve as a fund project evaluation expert for a long time. Until today, he is also a member of the whole committee of NSFC and the leader of the academic leading group for special funds for theoretical physics. Since 2015, he has been responsible for and presided over the formulation of the 13th five year plan and the 14th five year plan of physics discipline of NSFC.

Send charcoal in the snow and expand the territory

In the Northeast Normal University in the late 1980s, the scientific research atmosphere was not as strong as later.

Young sun Changpu’s heart fluttered with a flame of scientific research enthusiasm, but he seemed to walk in a blank space without coordinate system. Is the direction I want to do useful? Is it important? Am I the material for scientific research? No one seems to be able to give him definite answers to these questions.

He spent a lot of time carefully reading almost all the literature in the field, focusing on what he thought was the most important scientific problem and consulting several predecessors. As a result, he was often splashed with cold water - “this is meaningless” or “others have done almost everything”.

In such loneliness and stagnation, the approval of applying for youth fund was like a breeze entering the house, which suddenly made the young man’s heart alive.

“For me, the most important thing to apply for this fund is not money, but the recognition of my peers and predecessors.” Sun Changpu said, “it is this recognition that strengthens my determination not to superstitious individual authority, challenge conservative ideas and dare to innovate.”

The title of sun Changpu youth fund project is called Berry phase factor and induced normative structure. At that time, this was a relatively advanced field, and he was also one of the first scholars to carry out relevant work based entirely on China. Before long, this field became “hot” in the domestic physics field, and “an overwhelming number of people are doing it”.

With the support of the youth fund, sun Changpu has published nearly 20 papers in foreign mainstream journals. One of the early articles on “artificial gauge field (there was no such term at that time)” did not have a strong response in the academic community when it was first published. With the rapid development of cold atom experiment in the past ten years, this work began to be cited in experiment and theory.

Sun Changpu opened his computer and showed the cited trend chart of this paper to China Science Daily. The bar chart clearly shows that the article published in 1990 reached the peak of citation in 2010, 20 years later, and continues to this day. Sun Changpu’s scientific research achievements, which won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award in 2008, also stem from this work and its subsequent development.

“Looking back, when I just carried out the research of the youth fund project, all aspects were still green, but I was lucky to have made several work that could be left behind.” Sun Changpu said.

After many years, sun Changpu successively won the general projects of the natural science foundation of China, the special fund for outstanding middle-aged and young talents, the special fund project, the National Science Fund for distinguished young people, etc. until today, he is responsible for the project of the basic science center. “Almost all stages of NSFC projects have been taken once.” “But what has the greatest impact on me is the Youth Science Foundation Project of ‘delivering charcoal in the snow’,” he said with a smile

In the most difficult period of his start, this little push behind him helped him run quickly.

Along the way, fish and water blend

Interestingly, this youth fund does not only affect sun Changpu.

In Northeast Normal University, the news that sun Changpu successfully applied for the youth fund soon spread all over the campus, and the young colleagues were encouraged. For a time, the discipline of theoretical physics in Northeast Normal University ushered in a period of great development. Sun Changpu and three other peers are known as the “four little dragons” because they have done a good job in scientific research.

Sun Changpu’s salary at that time was only 60 or 70 yuan a month. In contrast, the more than 10000 yuan distributed by the youth fund was a huge sum of money. Different from those disciplines that need to purchase instruments and equipment and experimental reagents, theoretical physics is mainly an individual creative thinking activity. Sun Changpu used the money to buy a large number of books and arranged various national projects