August 1st Commentary | Tackling Hard Problems Means Willingly Sitting on the "Cold Bench"
Body confined to a small wheelchair, heart bearing a sharp and long halberd. Recently, major central media outlets have concentrated their coverage on Wang Ji, a researcher at the School of Computer Science of the National University of Defense Technology and a "Model of the Era" (时代楷模), showcasing the exemplary deeds of a scientific researcher who never ceases striving as long as life endures.
Wang Ji often says, "One must be a hard-charger against 'chokehold' (卡脖子) technologies, not a profit-chaser following hot trends," and "To do research, you have to blow the problem wide open" — words that left a deep impression on reporters. These candid and straightforward remarks articulate the pure scholarly creed of a scientific researcher. Gravely ill and dependent on dialysis to sustain his life year after year, he nevertheless treats his wheelchair as a "battle chariot," wields code as a sharp sword, and charges ceaselessly forward into forward-looking and strategically significant research domains.
Einstein once said, "I cannot tolerate a scientist who takes a plank of wood, looks for the thinnest part, and drills a great many holes where the drilling is easy." "Some people like to drill where it is thin, but I like to drill where it is thick." If one does research by avoiding difficulty and chasing profit, unwilling or afraid to "drill where it is thick," results may come quickly, but they will amount to nothing more than a pile of "fish and shrimp," never a "mighty dragon." Over decades devoted to research, Wang Ji has always fixed his sights on national strategic needs, cultivating deep roots in the frontier and hard-core domain of high-assurance software (高可信软件).
"When a problem is solved quite perfectly without much effort, that means it has already been solved well enough — we need to switch to a different problem to study" … Wang Ji continually encourages his students to "dig deep into scholarship, and while you still have large blocks of time, dig a little deeper." Compared with working in popular fields, pursuing quick results, and publishing papers relatively easily — which can yield fast outputs and more awards — Wang Ji's specialty demands very high mathematical ability, and relatively few people engage in the relevant research. Targeting "chokehold" technologies and pressing steadily along the direction he has committed to, Wang Ji and his team have kept moving resolutely forward, tackling problems one by one and breaking through item by item, and were the first to construct China's theoretical framework for high-assurance software. Physical illness has continuously eroded his health; many key lines of thought were sorted out during the intervals between dialysis treatments; many complex formulas were derived at the writing desk in front of his wheelchair. Yet he has never slackened his pace of hard-charging, because he knows deeply that "software also has a hard core" — critical core technologies cannot be begged for, bought, or borrowed; only independent innovation can break through the encirclement.
The great road of scientific research is traveled only by those who persevere. Technological self-reliance and self-strengthening (科技自立自强) is the foundation of national prosperity and the key to security — not merely a question of development, but a question of survival. A scholarly attitude of superficial dabbling and a work style of avoiding the heavy in favor of the light cannot meet the demands of scientific research development in the new era. Daring to tackle "chokehold" technologies head-on, actively breaking through difficult problems, and trading self-imposed pressure for technological breakthroughs — Wang Ji's drive and tenacity have made him the person standing at the summit in the high-assurance domain, and have erected a spiritual benchmark for the broad community of scientific researchers.
"He who stands on high and beckons has not lengthened his arm, yet those who see him are far away; he who explores without cease has not widened the road, yet the realm he reaches is new." The period of the 14th Five-Year Plan (十五五) is a critical period of hard-charging in the building of a science and technology powerhouse. To fully implement the innovation-driven development strategy, to tackle critical core technologies urgently needed for military struggle preparedness, to form unique advantages in certain strategically contested domains, and to seize the initiative in military competition — all of this requires a large number of military scientific researchers like Wang Ji to settle their minds and concentrate their efforts on key breakthroughs, to warm the "cold bench" through sustained sitting, and to transform advanced science and technology into real combat power (战斗力) as quickly as possible.
Wang Ji's WeChat profile picture is a pattern formed by many instances of π intertwined together. In the realm of mathematics, π represents an infinitely extending boundary and an exploration that never stops. Just like his life — his body confined to a small corner of the world, his spirit extending infinitely along the direction of the pursuit of knowledge. Life has dealt him pain upon pain, yet he answers it with song. A wheelchair cannot confine a soul that trudges toward truth, and when countless such souls — rooting themselves in depth and charging at difficulty — gather together, they become the most solid and most enduring source of strength for us to walk the road of technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.