Frugal prioritization fuels scientific success
Source: Xinhua |
February 7, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A senior Chinese scientist has told how global headline-grabbing achievements by his team would not have been possible without the spirit of frugality currently reigning in China.
Their breakthrough last year in the study of neutrinos, one of the elementary particles in the universe, was made possible amid a thrift campaign that started even before the speech by Party chief Xi Jinping at the end of 2012 in which the Chinese leader endorsed "being diligent and thrifty."
Following the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment conducted in south China's Guangdong Province, Chinese and foreign physicists announced in March 2012 that they had confirmed and measured a third type of neutrino oscillation.
The findings are expected to help define the future of particle physics and may explain the predominance of matter over antimatter in the universe.
"With the premise of ensuring the needs of the experiment, we've avoided all unnecessary construction projects and decorations," said Wang Yifang, a key participant in the experiment.
In order to reduce construction costs, an all-important underground tunnel was built at a height of 6 meters, just enough to let 5.9-meter-high detector containers get across.
"We could have saved a lot of effort by building it higher, but then it would have cost more," said Zhuang Honglin, chief engineer for the experiment.
Logistics spending provided much more space to cut costs.
Ten kilometers from the experiment site, scientists who needed to do long-term work on the site jointly rented a three-story house built by villagers.
The small building was divided into more than 10 rooms, all furnished with no more than a bed and a table. The ping-pong table in the parlor doubled as boardroom facilities whenever a meeting was called.
According to the team, the rent was only 15 yuan (US$2.41) per day for one person - much lower than prices in the "expert village," which is conveniently located inside the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station.
Looking for plane ticket discounts and taking bus shuttles instead of taxis between the airport and the nuclear station were common practices. And project staff shouldered the roles of driver and cook on a rotating basis - chief engineers and duty managers were given no exception.
Many would have expected a different situation given abundant research funds, but Wang begs to differ.
"Thrift is not a goal. It's about spending money on the most necessary parts," he added.
Their breakthrough last year in the study of neutrinos, one of the elementary particles in the universe, was made possible amid a thrift campaign that started even before the speech by Party chief Xi Jinping at the end of 2012 in which the Chinese leader endorsed "being diligent and thrifty."
Following the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment conducted in south China's Guangdong Province, Chinese and foreign physicists announced in March 2012 that they had confirmed and measured a third type of neutrino oscillation.
The findings are expected to help define the future of particle physics and may explain the predominance of matter over antimatter in the universe.
"With the premise of ensuring the needs of the experiment, we've avoided all unnecessary construction projects and decorations," said Wang Yifang, a key participant in the experiment.
In order to reduce construction costs, an all-important underground tunnel was built at a height of 6 meters, just enough to let 5.9-meter-high detector containers get across.
"We could have saved a lot of effort by building it higher, but then it would have cost more," said Zhuang Honglin, chief engineer for the experiment.
Logistics spending provided much more space to cut costs.
Ten kilometers from the experiment site, scientists who needed to do long-term work on the site jointly rented a three-story house built by villagers.
The small building was divided into more than 10 rooms, all furnished with no more than a bed and a table. The ping-pong table in the parlor doubled as boardroom facilities whenever a meeting was called.
According to the team, the rent was only 15 yuan (US$2.41) per day for one person - much lower than prices in the "expert village," which is conveniently located inside the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station.
Looking for plane ticket discounts and taking bus shuttles instead of taxis between the airport and the nuclear station were common practices. And project staff shouldered the roles of driver and cook on a rotating basis - chief engineers and duty managers were given no exception.
Many would have expected a different situation given abundant research funds, but Wang begs to differ.
"Thrift is not a goal. It's about spending money on the most necessary parts," he added.
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