Di Yuefeng, majoring in Physics of 2018 of the School of Physics, a top student of Chongqing University and a national first-grade athlete of China. He got average scores of 91.34, GPA of 3.81 and ranked the third place in comprehensive assessment among students of the same grade. In the past 3 years, Di pocketed 3 national awards, 6 provincial awards, and 11 university-level awards, and was granted national scholarship once, class-A comprehensive scholarship four times and class-B comprehensive scholarship twice. He has published a paper in Physical Review Letters, a SCI-indexed Division-1 journal, as the first author. He is currently a postgraduate student of the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences with exemption of examinations. In 2022, Di was dubbed as the “Be Pioneering and Excellent” Advanced Individual Pacesetter of Scientific and Technological Academic Innovation in recognition of his outstanding achievements in scientific and technological academic innovation.
Di Yuefeng said that: “The spirit of ‘Be Pioneering and Excellent” sets a ‘down-to-earth’ example for students.”
A genius boy of tennis
At the age of 6, Di Yuefeng grew fond of tennis and started to learn to play tennis. He started formal training at the age of 7 and became a junior professional player when he was 12. “I literally never lost a single game in men’s singles at the age of 11. I won the champion of men’s singles and runner-up of men’s doubles of 12-year-old group in the finals of the 2011 National Junior Tennis Ranking Tournament. I won champions a number of times before I turned 16.” Di, like any other athlete, was dreaming of becoming the Olympic champion back then.
Unexpectedly, Di retired as an athlete at the age of 17. He said that: “Persistence is a good thing only when it is not blind.” Turning from a junior to an adult is a critical point for an athlete. Di frequently lost games when he was 17. The 11 years’ training has turned a hobby to an occupation. As such, Di started to care too much about winning or losing. “I still felt happy when I won. But I had to re-examine myself when faced with frequent losses. I asked myself if I really loved tennis or just wanted to win honors.”
After finishing his last game in November 2017, Di retired officially from Beijing Team and started to prepare for gaokao. Many advised him to think twice as it would be a great pity if he retires after these 10 years. But Di said that he did not feel that way. “I knew clearly I would go nowhere if I continue to play tennis.” Di always have clear and objective personal evaluation, well-defined personal goals and firm belief. He is serious about everything he is doing and never looks back if he decides to quit.
After entering the university, Di started to act as President of Feiyue Tennis Club, and passed on his rich training experience to the club members. Di participated in the National College Students’ Tennis Competition on behalf of Chongqing University, and won the third place of Men’s Group B in the finals of the China College Students' Tennis Championship, the first place of Men’s Group B in the west China competition area of China College Students’ Tennis Championship and the second place in Men’s Group D of Chongqing College Students’ Tennis Tournament. After retirement as an athlete, Di grew interested in tennis again as there was no pressure from training and games.
A rising scientific research star of the physics community
In his senior middle school years, Di liked reading magazines on black holes and granules in his spare time when he was not playing tennis. The more he read about physics, the more he became interested in it. The Department of Physics of Chongqing University was the only entry in his form of intention for gaokao.
Out of his enthusiasm about physics and curiosity for competitions and debate, Di participated in a physics competition in his sophomore year. Thanks to his perseverance and devotion, Di made it all the way through university competition and municipality competition to the national competition, and eventually walked away with the third prize in the 11th China College Students' Physics Academic Competition. As President of the Wave-particle Club, Di often shared his general knowledge of physics with other club members. He said: “If more people are interested in physics and study physics, more mysteries of physics could be discovered.”
Di made his resolution to probe into scientific research. In October 2020, he joined the research group of Associate Researcher Bian Ligong, which was engaged in research of gravitational wave and magnetic field produced in the process of phase change after the Big Bang. Di Yuefeng explained that: “Just as water condenses into ice, the universe in its early period may have experienced multiple first-order phase transitions, which would cause ripples in space and time, known as gravitational waves.”
As a member of the research group. Di is mainly responsible for program running. After joining the research group, Di read papers and wrote programs only as required by his teacher. After getting familiarized with the entire project, Di would reach out to the teachers and had discussion with them and would present his suggestions on existing problems with the project. Sometimes Di would go to the Science Building 3 times a day in an attempt to find a way to solve the difficulties with the teachers. During the research process, there would often be technical problems that caused failure of the program to run. “There was no data output for a week. The project came to a halt.” In such a case, they had to go over and modify the programs line by line. Di said that carefulness and patience are essential attributes for a researcher. His positive attitude and perseverance towards research won over teachers' trust and recognition for him. In the research group, Di and Mr. Bian are more like partners rather than teacher and student.
Eventually, the research group used the method of computer lattice simulation to study and draw the spectral distribution of magnetic field and gravitational wave in the first-order phase transition, and published the research paper in the top journal of physics, Physical Review Letters. Particularly worth mentioning is that predicting the gravitational wave and magnetic field generated by the phase transition after the Big Bang has become a hot topic in this research field. The paper used the method of lattice simulation to predict the magnetic field generation of the first-order phase transition for the first time, and presented the spectral distribution of the magnetic field.
What started as a hobby turned into fruit of persistence. Di participated in physics competitions, joined the Wave-particle Club, and published a paper in a top journal of physics as the first author. Since he made the decision to take physics as his major, Di has kept moving in that direction, one step at a time.
Now Di is a postgraduate student of the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences with exemption of examinations. He has decided to continue to engage in physics research in the future. Di said that he made this decision when he chose physics as his major in his freshman year. He made this decision out of his curiosity about physics and ambition to do something for China's physics. The scientific research journey is full of uncertainties and possibilities. Di wanted to become one of the physicists behind those top physical scientists, and is willing to work hard for it.
A straight-A student “devoted to practice”
He got average scores of 91.34, GPA of 3.81 and ranked the third place in comprehensive assessment among students of the same grade. Di has done a great job in school. His enthusiasm for scientific research did not distract him from his tasks as a student. He felt the desire to learn more and developed a learning mode suitable for himself.
Grittiness and perseverance are Di Yuefeng’s “key to success” in learning. Di studied fundamentals of physics earnestly in his freshman year, and during this period he participated in tennis training and competed in a national tennis tournament on behalf of Chongqing University. In his sophomore year, Di went on to consolidate his fundamental knowledge of physics and practiced his study achievements by participating in physics competitions. In his junior year, Di joined the research group of his teacher and devoted himself to experiment and research and published a top-journal paper. In his senior year, Di continued his endeavors to study physics and concentrated on his graduation thesis. Di said that: “You may end up achieving nothing if you multitask. I just want to focus on one or two things and get them well done.” During his four years in university, Di always had clear goals and concentrated on only one or two things at the same time.
What if nothing particularly interests you and you are unable to make a definite choice? Di said that one should be allowed to try and fail. If you tried and found it was not suitable for you, you might also benefit from diverting to another area as soon as possible. If you tried and found you were interested, you might benefit from receiving training in related areas.
What makes a good example? Di said: “I don’t think I’m a hardworking person, so I never told my classmates to work hard.” He competed in tennis tournaments in his boyhood and is devoting himself to physics in his youth. From a top-notch teenager tennis player to a new star in scientific research, Di was always driven by his interest. He learned from the past but never looked back. With a clear self-understanding, Di has always been able to make strong-minded decisions and is never reluctant to leave his past glories. He is forging ahead diligently with his unremitting grittiness and perseverance.
Photography: Zhang Haiyan. Some of the pictures were provided by Di.
