On the first day of the new school term, a collection of personal archives belonging to Chu Junhao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and recipient of the 2025 Shanghai Science and Technology Merit Award, was officially donated to the Shanghai Municipal Archives. The items include a notebook from his teenage years, a handwritten research paper titled "A Study on the Four-Color Problem" from his high school days, and a reply letter from the physicist Xu Guobao. This donation also marked the beginning of a special "first lesson" for around 200 students from Haitong Primary School, Qiyi Middle School affiliated with Tongji University, and Loushan Middle School in Shanghai.
As the pages of his yellowed notebook were displayed on a large screen, exclamations of awe rippled through the young audience. In that thirty-thousand-character notebook, written when he was just sixteen, Chu Junhao had penned a vow to dedicate himself to science for the nation's prosperity. He wrote, "We must strive to have discoveries from our great China join the ranks of the world's laws in the shortest possible time." The notebook also captured his early curiosities, such as whether a spinning ping-pong ball could move a layer of air, and the existence of "ether" in the universe. In his sophomore year of high school, he submitted an essay titled "A Preliminary Discussion on the Ether Problem in Relativity" to Acta Physica Sinica, which was rejected. He then sent it to Professor Xu Guobao at East China Normal University, who encouraged him to "study diligently and contribute to the motherland" in a letter that Chu has treasured to this day.
Decades later, his youthful promises became reality. The CXT formula and absorption coefficient formula he proposed in the 1980s, named after the three Chinese scientists Chu Junhao (C), Xu Shiqiu (X), and Tang Dingyuan (T), remain internationally recognized standard formulas for evaluating new materials and structures in infrared detectors. Speaking to the inquisitive students, Chu Junhao discussed the "intelligent wave" and his expertise in infrared physics. He explained that infrared rays can perform "CT scans" on the atmosphere and help satellites track the paths of typhoons. To illustrate, he used a live example: with the lights off, a visible-light camera cannot capture a portrait, but an infrared camera can detect the thermal radiation emitted by every person. "What we do is equip satellites and detectors with a pair of 'sharp eyes'," he said.
The donated archives also include a report card from his time at the primary school affiliated with East China Normal University, showing a score of 3 in handwriting and 5 in nature studies. Chu Junhao was candid about his past, saying, "I wasn't a good student when I was young." His passion for mathematics ignited in the eighth grade, and after transferring to Xuhui Middle School, his homeroom teacher, Wang Shuze, praised him in front of the class. He recalled, "A classmate told me about it, and I was so happy. It inspired a sense of righteousness in me." He remarked, "Praise should be the focus to inspire positivity. This is how teachers should treat students and parents should treat their children."
One of the most touching items in the collection is a letter from his mother. During the 1980s, while Chu Junhao was conducting research in Germany, she wrote to him, "The best place in the world is China, and the best place in China is Shanghai," urging him to return after his studies to serve his country. During the interactive session, a child asked what had sustained him from his youthful ambition to putting a Chinese name in a physics formula. Chu Junhao answered succinctly: "Diligence, curiosity, perseverance, and overcoming difficulties." Another student asked about his experience of scoring full marks in physics on the college entrance exam but missing his first-choice university due to a misinterpretation of the Chinese essay prompt. He smiled, admitting he was initially disheartened but quickly realized, "You love physics, and aren't you going to study it now? As long as you build a solid foundation, you can learn well anywhere." He subsequently earned a place in graduate studies at the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, embarking on his research career.
At the event, Ge Yingmin, deputy director of the Municipal Archives Bureau, presented Chu Junhao with a collection certificate. The Shanghai Municipal Archives stated that this collection vividly documents the journey of Academician Chu from a teenager resolved to serve the country through science to becoming the first infrared physics doctoral graduate cultivated by China and a key founder of the discipline. It serves as a living testament to the spirit of science. The archives will be carefully preserved and further studied, and will be used in exhibitions and courses to inspire young people with the power of belief and science, and to cultivate a deep sense of patriotism.
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