Tong Dizhou

Tong Dizhou

T.C. Tung (May 28, 1902 ~ March 30, 1979), born in Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province (now Yinzhou District, Ningbo City), is a biologist, educator and social activist. He is the main founder of China's experimental embryology, the founder of China's marine science research, and an outstanding leader in biological science research. He has created a precedent of China's "cloning" technology and is known as "the father of China's cloning" ”。

Tong Dizhou graduated from Fudan University in 1927 and then taught in the Department of biology of Nanjing Central University; he has taught in Shandong University, Central University, Tongji University and Fudan University since 1934; he was elected academician of Academia Sinica in 1948; he was vice president of Shandong University in 1951; he was elected member (academician) of the academic department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955; and he was a marine student of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1957 In 1978, he was vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Tong Dizhou revealed the polar phenomenon of embryonic development through his research on amphibians and fish; he made great achievements in the study of nuclear cytoplasmic relationship through his research on the ontogeny and taxonomic status of amphioxus; he completed the first nuclear transfer of fish in 1963, laying the foundation for the completion of fish interspecific cloning and adult crucian carp somatic cell cloning in China in 1970s and 1980s.

On March 30, 1979, Tong Dizhou died of illness in Beijing.

Tong Dizhou and ye Yufen are known as the "Curie couple" in the field of biology in China.

Life of the characters

Early experience

On May 28, 1902 (the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), Tong Dizhou was born into a peasant family in tongjiaao, Dongxiang, Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province. He lost his father when he was young, and his family was poor. He was raised by his elder brother.

In 1918 (the seventh year of the Republic of China), he entered the fourth Normal School of Zhejiang Province. He studied hard and got good grades. Later, he was admitted to Ningbo Xiaoshi middle school as a third-year student.

In 1922 (the 11th year of the Republic of China), Tong Dizhou graduated from Ningbo Xiaoshi middle school. Originally, the graduates of Ningbo Xiaoshi middle school could be directly promoted to Shanghai St. John's University. But in the year of graduation, his elder brother in his hometown was ill, so Tong Dizhou had to give up college and go back to his hometown to be a housekeeper.

In 1923 (the 12th year of the Republic of China), he was first admitted to Peking University and Southeast University in Nanjing, but failed. Later, he worked as a special auditing student in Fudan University in Shanghai, and was admitted to the Department of philosophy of Fudan University.

In 1927 (the 16th year of the Republic of China), he graduated from the Department of philosophy, Fudan University, majoring in psychology. Later, Tong Dizhou introduced him to Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province, where he served as the head of the county construction section. In the same year, he was recommended by Cai Bao, director of the Biology Department of Central University, and served as an assistant professor in the Biology Department of Nanjing Central University (now Nanjing University).

The way to study abroad

In 1930 (the 19th year of the Republic of China), Tong Dizhou traveled by train from Manzhouli via the former Soviet Union to Belgium to study at Birkin University (now Brussels University). In Brussels University, the capital of Belgium, Tong Dizhou's study abroad life is very hard, thin and small, he quietly struggles in the world of biology. At that time, his tutor, Professor Dake, was doing experiments on frog eggs. He needed to peel off a layer of film on the outside of the eggs. Under the microscope, Professor Dake and his assistants couldn't get rid of the film. The next week, under the microscope, the child pricked the egg membrane with a needle, and the egg shriveled and peeled off. Professor Dake was overjoyed by the student's biological talent.

In the summer of 1931 (the 20th year of the Republic of China), Tong Dizhou's tutor took him to the French coastal laboratory, a famous scientific research center. This time, Tong Dizhou successfully completed the stripping of the outer membrane of the ascidian egg less than one tenth of a millimeter in diameter, which made the international colleagues here admire him very much. In the same year, after the "September 18th Incident", the Japanese invaders began to attack Northeast China At that time, out of the passion of loving the motherland and consciously resisting Japan, Tong Dizhou mobilized Chinese students to form the Chinese students' Association and was elected as the person in charge. Tong Dizhou took the lead in protesting at the Japanese Embassy in Brussels. Threatened by the Belgian police, he was finally sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment, suspended for disturbing public order.

Return home with determination

In 1934 (the 23rd year of the Republic of China), he received a Ph.D. from Brewster University. Later, he made a short visit to Cambridge University. At the end of the year, regardless of the danger that the Japanese invading army was about to launch a large-scale war of aggression against China, he resolutely gave up the conditions of working and living abroad and returned to China as a professor in the Department of biology of national Shandong University.

In 1937 (the 26th year of the Republic of China), the war of resistance against Japan broke out, and he moved to Wanxian, Sichuan with the national Shandong University.

In 1938 (the 27th year of the Republic of China), he moved to Chongqing and successively served as professor of Medical College of Central University, Professor of Biology Department of Tongji University and professor of Biology Department of Fudan University.

In 1946 (the 35th year of the Republic of China), national Shandong University resumed its education in Qingdao. He was a professor and head of the Department of zoology. His wife Ye Yufen was a teacher in the same department.

In June 1947 (the 36th year of the Republic of China), the university students in guoguoshan were dissatisfied with the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, and set off the demonstration and signature movement of "anti hunger and anti civil war". Tong Dizhou was the first to sign the protest.

In 1948 (37 years of the Republic of China), he was elected academician of Academia Sinica. In the same year, he was invited by the Rockwell foundation to Yale University as a visiting researcher and returned to national Shandong University in March 1949.

In March 1949, on the eve of China's liberation, Tong Dizhou rejected the high salary of Yale University, overcame all kinds of resistance, and returned to the national Shandong University in the roar of new China. On June 2 of the same year, when Qingdao was liberated, Tong Dizhou took the opportunity to attend the preparatory Committee meeting in Beijing at the invitation of the preparatory meeting of the all China Federation of scientific workers He found Professor Zhu Kezhen, the leader of the preparatory group of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and urgently proposed to him the idea of building China's Marine Research Institute.

In 1950, he was appointed deputy director of the Institute of experimental biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Qingdao Marine Biology Research Office of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1951, Tong Dizhou was appointed Vice President of Shandong University.

On August 30, 1952, he joined the China Democratic League.

In 1955, he was elected member of the academic department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now known as academician) and deputy director of the Department of biogeography.

In 1956, Tong Dizhou and other marine scientists participated in the formulation of "China's comprehensive marine survey and development plan", as one of the national key scientific and technological tasks, was included in the "national long-term plan for the development of science and technology for 1956-1967" and "national ten-year plan for science and technology for 1963-1972".

In 1957, he was the director of the Institute of marine biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1959, the Institute was expanded into the Institute of marine biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1960, the Department of biogeography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was divided into the Department of biology and the Department of Geosciences.

In 1977, he served as director, deputy director and director of cytogenetics Research Office of Institute of zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1978, he served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the same year, he was awarded the title of national advanced scientific and technological worker at the National Science Conference.

On March 6, 1979, while giving a report for more than 2000 scientific researchers in the fields of science, technology, education and health in Zhejiang Province at the Zhejiang Science Conference in Hangzhou, Tong Dizhou, who was overworked, had a heart attack and fainted on the platform. On March 30, 1979, he died in Beijing.

Main achievements

Scientific research achievements

Tong Dizhou has been engaged in the research of developmental biology for a long time. In his early years, he made a unique discovery in the study of the ovum development ability of vertebrates, fish and amphibians; since the 1950s, he has specially studied the ovum development law of amphioxus, which plays an important role in the biological evolution, providing important literature for the international system; in his later years, he worked together with Professor Niu ManJiang of Temple University in the United States in the field of biology In the study of the relationship between nucleus and cytoplasm in trait inheritance, we have made creative achievements, ranking among the advanced ranks in the world. At the same time, he also made great contributions to the prevention and control of marine pests, the artificial breeding of economic aquatic animals, and the development and cultivation of new varieties of economic fish.

From 1930 to 1934, Tong Dizhou studied the relationship between the fertilized surface and the symmetrical surface of brown frog eggs in the Blacher Laboratory of Belgium's University of Birkin. He proved that the symmetrical surface was not completely determined by the fertilized surface, but by the symmetrical structure of the eggs. In the study of the early development of ascidian, it is proved that there are organ forming substances in the fertilized eggs, and there is a certain distribution. The entry of sperm has no decisive effect on this. On the other hand, he observed that endoderm and ectoderm seem to be quite equipotential, and the formation of adsorptive papillae and sensory cells depends on external factors, which indicates the importance of egg quality for individual development. This research achievement is groundbreaking, making him one of the founders of experimental embryology in China.

In the turbulent days, he made a great breakthrough in the basic theory of classical embryology, which attracted international attention. Tong Dizhou and his collaborators revealed the polarity of embryonic development. They're working on amphibian embryonic development,

Chinese PinYin : Tong Di Zhou