Science program beckons students to dream big

The China Welfare Institute Children’s Palace, together with the youth off-campus education center of Zhejiang Province and the women and children activity center of Jiangsu Province, launched a science program over the weekend to inspire young students in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The program includes 10 lectures by scientists, including Lin Baojun, a chief designer of the Beidou third-generation satellite system, Zhang Wenhong, director of the infectious diseases department at Huashan Hospital who heads a team of experts treating COVID-19 patients in Shanghai, and Zhu Meifang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Science who specializes in fiber materials.

Lin gave the first lecture with his team over the weekend, sharing how they worked around the clock developing the Beidou satellite system. He told students to set goals, make plans, improve proficiency and seek all-round development.

“The darkest moment is that before the dawn,” Lin said. “Hold on for one more second and you will win.”

The other nine lectures will take place once a month in 2021 and be livestreamed to reach a wider audience.

The program will bring young technology enthusiasts into public scientific education venues in the Yangtze River Delta region. Some students will be among the first group of visitors to the Shanghai Planetarium, which opens in 2021 and will be the largest facility of its kind in the world.

Students will be invited to tell stories about their science idols and apply to work on a series of innovation projects, including such topics as the brightest star in the sky, highly sensitive nucleic acid detection for environmental pathogens and the relation between artificial intelligence and life.