Recently, I watched some videos of the famous physicist Feynman, who won the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics, and I was moved by his pursuit of pure scientific spirit, incisive exposition and frankness.Mr. Ding Zhaozhong always remembered Feynman's advice when he won the Nobel Prize: "Don't think you've won an award and you think you're great."Obviously, Mr. Ding's modesty was greatly influenced by Mr. Feynman, who in public exchanges with young scholars or students to answer questions often said, "I don't know."
In private, there are always people who say that no one in their academic circle can criticize them, and if they are to criticize these people, even if they are purely academic, the consequences will be serious.Years ago, I heard a senior name-calling talk about why a high-level professor at a university didn't get the highest-level "honorary hat" because he seemed to have criticized the industry's elders academically.In fact, this kind of academic non-criticism phenomenon is quite common in our academic circles, such cases are too many, it seriously hinders the progress of science and technology.Our national conditions seem to be concerned with the fact that elders can directly criticize their juniors, saying that they show their concern for their juniors' growth.On the other hand, academic criticism of older scholars by younger scholars will be considered "disrespectful" even though older scholars claim in public to welcome more valuable advice.Such a result creates an academic atmosphere of "hello, I'm good and everybody is good" in academic communication or evaluation, and creates a group of academic "fineists" who think only of their own interests and small circles.
"Young scholars should dare to question the validity of science to ensure that it is correct, and that science is popularized," said Dr Bruce Alberts, a former editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Science, in an interview with teachers and students at Central China Agricultural University.Doubts are not directed at individuals, but at scientific issues." I myself have always taken a positive attitude towards academic criticism, which is by no means polite.Even if my students sometimes say unpleasant things, perhaps at the time unhappy, but later on, what does it matter to students' normal criticism?I wonder what, if anything, would hurt my self-esteem if I were to criticize some of my academic achievements in public?This vanity is nothing to the academic growth of a scholar.Moreover, the academic level and influence of a scholar are not determined by individual characters.From June 18 to 19, 2016, I attended the International Symposium on the Frontiers of Geoscience and the Annual Meeting of the China Association for the Advancement of Geoscience at Wuhan University.At the meeting, I saw a famous overseas Chinese scholar, Dr. LM, criticizing a middle-aged scholar's report with a hint of mockery.Of course, the middle-aged scholar's report is a bit of a big shot, not highlighting his achievements (perhaps lacking in innovation), but using an old man's words of encouragement as a positive evaluation of his achievements.
Academic democracy involves academic conferences, graduate student activities, academic exchanges of various sizes and occasions among peers, professional evaluation activities, and private academic-related exchanges.The basic characteristics of academic democracy are that to speak the truth, to dare to speak the truth, to speak the truth, even if one's knowledge is not so mature, and to understand and express some scientific and technological problems so accurately, one need not look ahead and backward.In the academic field, Fan Zhongyan should be a modern version of the "Fan Zhongyan", and offer his opinions and opinions frankly for discussion and judgment by academic colleagues.Having said that, of course, we should try our best to be objective and calm in implementing our criticisms, focusing only on the problem itself.
A few days ago, a young professor at Sun Yat-sen University told me that he had gone to seek advice from a professor who was older than him in the field.Professor Niu doesn't have some of our usual compliments. It's good to talk straight about science and technology.However, it takes courage and moral integrity for a young junior to comment on the academic views of the elderly, especially academic criticism, directly in public.
In fact, as long as our scholars, especially those famous scholars, take the lead in "behavior demonstration", treat the normal academic criticism in academic communication and create a free, scientific and democratic academic atmosphere.
Academic democracy confronts scientific problems head-on, without beating around the bush or hiding behind them.As a well-known European and American scholar said, I am not afraid to "leak" my scientific ideas because, after sharing my scientific problems with my peers today, I will have new ideas tomorrow.Such an academic democracy is conducive to generating academic ideas, discovering scientific problems and promoting scientific and technological progress through "academic confrontation".
Academic democracy can stimulate the scientific passion of scholars, discover the scientific thinking and advanced research methods and technology of outstanding scholars, and thus enhance their academic ability.It also provides scientific basis for experts to select relevant talents.
Academic democracy requires frankness among scholars. She can cultivate scholars' lofty sentiments and humility, which has far-reaching significance in creating a "clean and upright" academic environment.
Academic democracy should pay attention to multi-disciplinary cross-comprehensive research and promote original scientific and technological innovation consciousness.Especially the cross-comprehensive research between long-span multidisciplinary theories tends to produce new discipline growth points.For example, the cross-sectional study of natural and humanities involves climate change, which is closely related to human life and is of great concern to governments and people all over the world.