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Academician Kuang Tingyun won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award in 2023. Photo provided by the interviewee

"People often say that I am a 'light chaser', mainly because I have been engaged in the research of photosynthesis for a long time. At the same time, chloroplast is a subcellular site for photosynthesis, so I am also called the 'chloroplast grandma'." On July 22, at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, reporters from West China Metropolis Daily and Cover News interviewed Kuang Tingyun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a plant physiologist.
Reporter: As a native of Zizhou, while you are devoted to scientific research, you are also concerned about the development of your hometown. Can you briefly introduce it?
Kuang Tingyun: I don’t go back to Sichuan often now, but I have established a workstation in Zizhong before {Academician Kuang Tingyun (Expert) Workstation}, which has improved the photosynthesis efficiency of Zizhong blood oranges and reduced oxygen consumption to obtain new varieties with better quality. In 2023, this workstation will be upgraded to a provincial academician workstation, and I will go back to take a look every one or two years.
Reporter: You have always been called "Chloroplast Grandma" by the outside world. Why is that?
Kuang Tingyun: People often say that I am a "light chaser", mainly because I have been engaged in the research of photosynthesis for a long time. Photosynthesis is actually a unique function of green plants, and it is also the largest energy and material conversion process on the earth. Green plants absorb light energy, synthesize carbon dioxide and water into energy-rich organic matter, and release oxygen at the same time. In fact, whether it is green plants on land or photosynthetic algae in the ocean, they all carry out photosynthesis. Chloroplasts are specialized subunit organelles in the cells of eukaryotic autotrophic organisms such as green plants and algae, and their main function is to carry out photosynthesis. In other words, chloroplasts are a subcellular site for photosynthesis, which is why I am called "Chloroplast Grandma".
Reporter: I heard that you started doing popular science work as early as 60 years ago. Can you give us a brief introduction?
Kuang Tingyun: At that time, I had just returned from the Soviet Union and needed to give a science lecture in a kindergarten in Zhongguancun, Beijing. At that time, I asked teachers of plant and animal research to give lectures. For animals, I chose Mr. Zheng Zuoxin, the founder of modern ornithology in China, and for plants, I was responsible for talking about photosynthesis. Mr. Zheng Zuoxin's assistant brought dozens of bird cages, each with a bird, and told the children what harmful birds were and what beneficial birds were. The children were very interested. How to explain photosynthesis, which is difficult for children to understand? So, I asked the painter to draw a wall-sized color picture with the sun, forests, wheat fields, and orchards on it. Below, I drew two groups of children and started to talk about the relationship between man and nature. This was my earliest "science parenting".
Huaxi Metropolis Daily-Cover News reporter Che Jiazhu and trainee reporter He Hongjie