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Summary:"Without today's basic science, there will be no technological applications tomorrow."

Mr. Tsung-Dao Lee, a famous Chinese physicist and Nobel Prize winner in Physics, passed away at the age of 98. Since the 1970s, Lee has been committed to promoting the development of basic science in China and the cultivation of basic science talents, leaving a deep mark in the history of China's contemporary science, technology and education development. In this historical process, every time Lee returned to China, he preached and explained his views, opinions and thoughts on basic science at different levels and in various ways, forming a unique view of basic science, and in practice, it had an important and far-reaching impact on the reform and development of China's science, technology and education.

1. The Special Importance of Basic Science in China

Originally, basic science is the foundation of the entire scientific and technological system and its sustainable development, and its importance is self-evident. However, this fundamental problem is special in China. Since the introduction of modern Western science and technology into China, science and technology have been regarded as tools for "saving the nation from extinction" and "revitalizing China". The Chinese people generally accept and emphasize the application function and value of science and technology, that is, its instrumental value. However, people generally ignore more fundamental and deep-seated issues such as where science and technology come from and how they develop. Basic science has been neglected or even questioned because of its temporary "uselessness".

The reason why Tsung-Dao Lee repeatedly emphasized the importance of basic science in China was because he keenly and deeply understood and realized the existence of the above-mentioned fundamental problem and its great impact on the development of science and technology in China in his practice of interacting with the Chinese people. When Tsung-Dao Lee returned to China for the first time in September 1972, he noticed the neglect and prejudice of basic scientific research in China. When he returned to China for the second time in May 1974, he presented the famous "Some Thoughts after Visiting Fudan University" to Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, proposing suggestions on attaching importance to basic scientific research and cultivating scientific and technological talents. Tsung-Dao Lee realized that it was not easy to explain and make people accept the importance of basic scientific research and its relationship with applied scientific research in China. From then on, every time Tsung-Dao Lee returned to China, he would talk about this fundamental problem on different occasions, at different levels, and in different ways, forming his distinctive basic scientific view.

For a great scientist like Tsung-Dao Lee, the importance of basic science is self-evident and does not need to be proven. However, in order to correct some of the one-sided and narrow views and concepts that have been formed by the Chinese people, it is necessary to explain it clearly in theory and make it understandable and acceptable to ordinary people. To this end, Tsung-Dao Lee chose to use the perspective of common sense and use metaphors to explain the indispensability of basic science. Tsung-Dao Lee believes thatIn order to make ordinary people outside the scientific community recognize the importance of basic scientific research, it is best to communicate in plain language, using vivid metaphors and analogies, which will be more effective.He constantly seeks for apt metaphors and uses more convincing examples from real life to illustrate his views. This is a major feature of Tsung-Dao Lee's discussion of the importance of basic science.

According to Tsung-Dao Lee, "At the beginning, I used the hands and feet of a person as an analogy to illustrate that they cannot be neglected. Later, I used food and medicinal materials as an analogy to illustrate that although food is important, it is not possible for everyone in the country to produce food while no one produces medicinal materials. Later, I used water, fish and fish markets to illustrate the relationship between the three, also to illustrate that basic scientific research is fundamental, but the importance of the latter two cannot be ignored. Obviously, without water, there will be no fish; without fish, there will be no fish market." Among them, the "water·fish·fish market" theory is the most vivid, and Tsung-Dao Lee talked about it the most, so it is also the most famous and the most popular. Tsung-Dao Lee also wrote a doggerel for this: "Basic science is as clear as water, applied science produces swimming fish, and product science is like the fish market. None of the three can be missing." This poem vividly illustrates the relationship between basic science, applied science and product development.

Li Zhengdao also often uses "waves" as a metaphor to vividly illustrate the special importance of basic scientific research. He said: "Scientific research is like the waves in the ocean, one wave after another. When a wave reaches its peak, its next step must fall, and then a new wave will come out. Therefore, if you only see that other people's waves are high, you will blindly follow them, but you don't look for new waves that will become huge waves. As a result, other people's waves go down, and they go to do something else, and you are still following others. In this way, you will never develop, prosper, or lead. If you want to develop,You have to find the new wave yourself, see where it starts, and catch it when it is just beginning, before it reaches its peak, so that it reaches its peak... Whether it is the industrial society of the past or the information society we are entering now, all benefit from the "source" of basic scientific research that continues to reach the highest wave.” It should be said that the idea that basic science is the “source” is the main line of Li Zhengdao’s explanation of the special importance of basic science and its relationship with applied science.

II. Correctly Understand the Relationship between Basic Science and Applied Science

If the purpose of using “analogy” is to make people more intuitively and vividly understand the importance of basic science, then revealing the essential characteristics of the modern scientific system, especially profoundly explaining the special importance of basic science and its dialectical relationship with applied science, is the inevitable process of Li Zhengdao’s basic scientific view “from shallow to deep”. Li Zhengdao said,Science and technology are divided into several parts: basic science, application, and production. They are interrelated. From basic science to technology application, from technology application to mass production, and finally into people's daily life. It can be said that without today's basic science, there will be no technology application tomorrow. This is an inviolable scientific law."Without today's basic science, there will be no technological applications tomorrow" later became one of Tsung-Dao Lee's famous sayings. He vigorously elaborated on this point of view on many occasions, which had a wide impact.

Li Zhengdao believes that basic research is equivalent to a "general organ". "Once the general organ is activated, the whole body below will be activated. When you activate the general organ, you cannot fully predict the result. But you can know that this general organ is the thing that controls everything." Later, he gave a speech at Tsinghua University and further elaborated on the nature and role of the "general organ" of basic science: "Basic science is a 'master switch'. If you first master the basic laws of science, you will master this master switch. Once it is activated, all scientific and technological applications will occur, and then the scientific and technological applications will have a great impact on human social civilization."

In the 1980s and 1990s, when China's commodity economy was on the rise, some people questioned the usefulness of basic scientific research. In response to this erroneous idea, Tsung-Dao Lee responded from the perspective of development strategy. In a speech in 1996, he said: "It's like having water. There is no guarantee that there will be fish, but there may be shrimps or crabs. When doing basic scientific research, you have to grasp the laws. Grasping the basic laws is always useful. But when a law is first discovered, it is difficult to predict where it will be applied in the future." Tsung-Dao Lee particularly emphasized the need for strategic vision. The development of science must take into account China's future development and progress, and cannot only focus on immediate interests and needs. "In all basic scientific research processes, before completing the research and understanding these basic laws, we cannot predict the breadth of future applications, or even how to apply them, but we can assert that the new scientific and technological achievements and culture of the 21st century must be built on the basic scientific discoveries of the late 20th and early 21st centuries." Judging from the actual situation of China's scientific and technological development today, Tsung-Dao Lee's above views and suggestions are correct. At present, China's overall scientific and technological strength is gradually increasing, and some fields are "running alongside" or even "leading" the world's scientific and technological frontiers. This is precisely due to the fact that the Chinese government has paid sufficient attention and investment in basic scientific research.

From the perspective of the construction of the national science and technology system, Li Zhengdao also emphasized that the national science and technology system must be complete.Even if we focus on developing applied science and technology, we must have basic science to cooperate with it, otherwise the national science and technology system will be very fragile.As the saying goes, if the foundation is not solid, the earth will shake. He said: "For a country to be strong in science and technology, it must have a complete system, otherwise it will be vulnerable and have no stamina. Basic science and applied science have different research objects. The former focuses on the study of natural laws, while the latter focuses on applying the results of basic science to industrial and agricultural production and daily life. However, as sciences, they are interconnected. They are the same or similar in research methods, research ideas and even the instruments and equipment used in research. They can learn from each other and draw on each other. More importantly, they all require high-quality and high-level scientific research talents, and these talents must be cultivated mainly in the process of basic research." Obviously, Li Zhengdao's specific policy recommendations based on in-depth research have very important practical significance for the optimization of China's science and technology development strategy.

III. The Development of Basic Science

Lee not only explained the relationship between basic science and applied science from a general theoretical perspective, but also focused on explaining from the perspective of historical experience how technologically advanced countries developed basic science and properly handled the relationship between basic science and applied science. Lee chose the United States, where he lived, and Japan, which rose rapidly after World War II, as examples to illustrate this issue. After reviewing the development of science and technology in the United States and Japan, he pointed out: "When Japan was relatively poor in the early days, it paid more attention to basic research. This has a great relationship with its subsequent scientific success and industrial development. Why should a country pay attention to basic scientific research when it is poor? That is because the funds needed to support basic science are relatively low." After making a detailed argument, he further summarized Japan's experience in developing basic science: "We can draw such a conclusion: Japan has attached great importance to basic research from the early development of the early 20th century to the present, and has been very successful. Almost all of Japan's scientific and technological talents have been trained in Japan, and almost all of them work in Japan, and many world-class talents have been created." The situation in the United States is different from that in Japan. "The United States did not pay attention to basic research at all in the early days." The reason is that "when the United States started, it had close relations with Western Europe, and its industrial technology had already developed to a certain extent... After World War II, Western Europe was destroyed by the war, which prompted the United States to pay attention to basic research." Although the history of Japan and the United States is very different, the recent situation is the same, that is, both countries attach great importance to basic research. "The proportion of basic, applied and development research funds has basically remained at around 15%, 25% and 60% in recent years." Summarizing the common characteristics of developing basic science from the different historical paths and experiences of different developed countries in developing basic science is obviously of great reference significance for China's path of basic science development.

However, different countries have different historical backgrounds and current conditions, so a country's path of scientific and technological development cannot deliberately imitate other countries. Therefore, Li Zhengdao particularly emphasized that China's history and national conditions are different from those of Japan and the United States. China should take its own path and implement a scientific and technological development strategy with Chinese characteristics. He said that a scientific and technological development strategy should be formulated based on China's history, China's development and China's national conditions. "The United States and Japan have developed from completely different histories to similar situations. There are some common regularities in this. We can borrow their experience, study it, and use it for our own benefit. The key is to handle the relationship between basic, applied, and development research. The investment of funds should be roughly maintained in a certain proportion in order to achieve coordinated development."

Li Zhengdao not only proposed the basic direction and basic route for China's development of basic scientific research from the national strategic level, but also combined his own research experience.Proposed methodological suggestions for basic scientific research in the 21st century, namely, a "holistic" research method. In a speech, he said: "I think the key difference between research in the 20th century and the 21st century is the research method. The main feature of the basic scientific research method in the 20th century was 'inductiveness'. That is to say, the big is composed of the small. If you find the smallest and study it clearly, you can understand the big. This is inductiveness. Human beings face very significant challenges in scientific research in the 21st century. An important one is our understanding of the universe as a whole... We must connect the small with the big. This method can be called 'holism'... 'Holesiology' should be an important method of scientific and technological research in the 21st century." It should be said that judging from the actual situation and development trend of basic scientific research, Li Zhengdao's view that scientific research should be "holistic" is extremely forward-looking.

Since the 1970s, Li Zhengdao has returned to China almost every year, and in some years he has even returned several times. After 2010, Li Zhengdao was not suitable for long-distance flights due to health reasons, so he has not returned to visit China again, but he still maintains close contact with the domestic side.For decades, every time Tsung-Dao Lee returned to China, he not only offered advice and suggestions to Chinese leaders on many issues related to basic scientific research, but also shared his views, opinions and thoughts on basic scientific research and its relationship with applied scientific research at different levels across the country.。

China's reform and opening up, which began in the late 1970s, is a great cause unprecedented in history. How to reform and how to open up are all new, and there is no ready-made experience to follow. Both require the Chinese to cross the river by feeling the stones and constantly absorb new ideological resources. In the process of moving from closedness to openness, the new great cause urgently needs to "borrow wisdom" from the world, and actively listening to and absorbing the opinions and suggestions of outstanding overseas Chinese scientists and promoting pilot projects in related fields is an effective way and choice. The reason why Tsung-Dao Lee's views, opinions and thoughts on basic science are widely recognized in China and have a huge impact in practice is the result of the call of the times. Practice has proved that Tsung-Dao Lee's opinions and suggestions on the development of basic science are in line with the needs of China's reform and opening up, which in turn enhances the weight of Tsung-Dao Lee's suggestions and achieves a virtuous circle.

（The author is a professor at the Institute of History of Science and Culture of Science, School of Marxism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University）