Wang Yuanzhuo looks a little "rustic" with his baby, but it is this "rustic" that has brought his daughters' exploration and love for knowledge.
text | Lan Yinling
How does a scientist’s father take care of his child? After brain-studying the picture, the process must be full of acid, alkali, sodium, magnesium, hydrogen, or electromagnetic thermal light, or microbial DNA... In fact, there can be some other styles, such as Wang Yuanzhuo, a professor of computer science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who transforms into a "earthy father", uses the most primitive methods to raise children, take their daughters to play, and let them gain knowledge and joy in the authentic life. His hand-painted galaxy map, together with the movie "The Wandering Earth", became popular in China in 2019.
Let us get to know this dad.
Dad is the best "toy" for your child
Open Baidu, enter the three words "Wang Yuanzhuo", and you can see a series of high-end titles followed by: doctoral supervisor, director of the Big Data Research Institute of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the person in charge of the open knowledge computing research direction of the National Engineering Laboratory of Big Data Analysis System... But many people don't know that under these "high-end" titles, there is a "toy" father with two daughters.
3 Beijing is full of spring in March, Wang Yuanzhuo brought his family to the park to fly kites. There are dozens of kites in the azure sky, but the Wang family's "butterfly" kites still stand out and attract a lot of attention. This kite is a purely handmade bamboo kite made by Wang Yuanzhuo and his daughter.
Yueyue, Xinxin shouted excitedly, "Look, our kites fly the highest and most beautiful!" Looking at the excited appearance of the daughters, Wang Yuanzhuo and his wife sighed, "Now the technology is developed, children have all kinds of toys, but they have fewer opportunities to do it themselves. They should be involved more!" Thinking back on the previous process of making kites, Wang Yuanzhuo seemed particularly proud, from drawing pictures, paper cutting to making skeletons and drawing patterns, the two daughters participated in the whole process. Although many people think this is a waste of time, Wang Yuanzhuo feels that this process will bring a lot of benefits to his daughter.
In Wang Yuanzhuo's circle of friends, he often posts his moments of playing with his daughters. From painting, calligraphy, carving, clay sculpture, scientific experiments, to growing vegetables, reciting, hosting, roller skating, playing table tennis, playing football... In each short video, the father and daughter were having a lot of fun. The younger daughter Xinxin is 5 years old this year. If someone asks her what kind of study class she enrolls, she will make a face and say, "I only learn from my dad!" Wang Yuanzhuo has a wide range of interests. Before he had a daughter, he was curious about life and especially likes painting, carving, and clay sculptures. After having a daughter, he wanted to take them to experience the fun of doing things. Compared with those fathers who use high-end electronic products to take care of their children, Wang Yuanzhuo seems a little "rustic", but it is this "rustic" that has brought their daughters' exploration and love for knowledge.
On weekdays, no matter how busy he is in his work, Wang Yuanzhuo will spend an hour to play with his daughters, and also made several intelligent robots with his two daughters. Through the hand-made robots, he basically used all the miniaturized and low-cost civilian technologies that could be found on the market at that time, such as: wireless positioning, trace barrier detection, voice recognition, intelligent question-and-answer, semantic control, brain wave control, etc., and made a lot of innovations in integrated design and playability. The production process of
robots is very long, from conception, design, procurement of raw materials, collecting waste materials to hands-on production, it takes several months. Because there are no formed drawings, all steps have to be thought about by yourself, but the children are willing to give advice throughout the process. Wang Yuanzhuo felt indescribable pride when he saw his daughters witness their thoughts becoming reality day by day.
I am crazy about the "earth"
For Wang Yuanzhuo, when a scientist meets his dad, it is like water encountering sodium bicarbonate, and a violent chemical reaction occurs, releasing unexpected energy.
Wang Yuanzhuo never dreamed that during the Spring Festival of 2019, the painting he drew for his daughter would actually make him popular. During the winter vacation, Yueyue was going to complete a movie-related homework. "The Wandering Earth" was hit and Wang Yuanzhuo took them to watch it.Because there is too much popular science knowledge about celestial bodies in the movie, Yueyue encountered difficulties in doing her homework.
Wang Yuanzhuo found some information and wanted to explain it to the child, but he found that if he told it in the language in the book, it would be very boring and it would be difficult for the child to understand, so he should use his own "local method" to solve it. Wang Yuanzhuo took the paper and pen, first drew a circle, then drew several arcs in three or five seconds, and patiently explained to his daughter: "Look, this is the solar system family, this one is the sun, these 8 planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus , Neptune ..." While drawing pictures, he sorted out the story chain of the video for his daughter and explained the relevant knowledge points. Yueyue was fascinated by the listening experience, and kept drawing with her pen to discuss with her father.
After a while, Wang Yuanzhuo drew 6 pictures. Through his father's explanation, Yueyue understood some scientific knowledge, such as how the solar system is composed? What is solar nuclear fusion reaction? What does the "Wandering Earth" plan, the gravitational slingshot effect refer to, etc. After telling her daughter
, Wang Yuanzhuo was afraid that she would forget and wanted to make a backup, so he took a few pictures and posted them on his Moments. Unexpectedly, overnight, I became an internet celebrity because of these pictures. The related posts were forwarded by the director of "The Wandering Earth", and the attention increased explosively. This incident touched Wang Yuanzhuo very much. He deeply felt that the children had a very urgent need for popular science knowledge and should do more for them.
Yueyue and the classmates in Xinxin's class envied her for having a great father. Many reporters also came to their home for interviews, and both of their daughters felt very proud. "Now, the daughters cherish their parents' efforts more. They all say that they should join me in popular science work when they grow up." Wang Yuanzhuo said with relief.
Usually, Wang Yuanzhuo takes care of his children and looks like he is playing, but he is actually very attentive. He likes to infiltrate the education of children into his daily life, so that the children feel immersed and remember some knowledge through a specific scene. For example: when traveling, tell your children about geography, climate, ethnic customs, etc.; when you are in a farmhouse, what vegetables should be grown in different seasons, what should be paid attention to during the growth process of different vegetables, the appearance and variety of different types of vegetables, etc.; after watching the movie, I will chat with my children, and sometimes I will accompany my children to watch it for the second and third time, such as "Star Trek" a few years ago, and this time "The Wandering Earth".
has been on the way to sow
This unexpected popularity of the hand-drawn explanation made Wang Yuanzhuo decide to publish a popular science book for young people. It is planned to select about 10 classic science fiction movies suitable for children to watch, and select about 10 scientific knowledge points from each to give hand-drawn explanations, temporarily named "Science in Science Fiction Films".
I heard that my father was going to publish a book, Yueyue was particularly excited and prepared to participate in the hand-drawing with her father. Wang Yuanzhuo said: "Only by letting children participate in it, you will feel a sense of immersion. The same is true for popular science. It cannot be pure preaching. More importantly, it is to let children integrate into it, thereby stimulating their interest and creativity."
As a scientist, Wang Yuanzhuo is very busy at work. In addition to doing research, he also has to guide more than 10 master's and doctoral students. He doesn't have much rest time, but as long as he is at home, he will accompany his children as much as possible and work with them some "projects" that belong only to him and his children. Sometimes, it even makes his mother very "jealous" of the happy times of the three of them.
Wang Yuanzhuo’s proudest thing is that he edited an e-book “Dad’s Dad’s Daughters” for the children, and most of the pictures in it were hand-painted by him. Although electronic products are developed now, Wang Yuanzhuo is still used to using his "domestic method" - hand-painted to record every detail of life. He feels that what is truly thoughtful is the most emotional.
For Wang Yuanzhuo, doing these is not to make all children become scientists, but to make their lives more exploration, more possibilities, and more aftertastes, so that they can feel love and plant a beautiful seed in their hearts.
