Fire out of the circle! 82 year old academician with nearly 370000 Bilibili fans Liu Jiaqi | Volcano | Bilibili

Liu Jiaqi, 82 years old, has two contrasting identities: one is an academician of the CAS Member who has done volcanic research for more than 60 years and is respected by international peers, and the other is the UP owner who has 376000 fans in station B and is regarded as a "big guy" by young people.

He has updated over 100 videos on Bilibili, all of which are related to volcanoes. Even the progress bar has been designed as a small volcano emitting flames and flowing magma. At the beginning of the video, he waved at everyone with a smile and said, "Hello, Bilibili kids!" Many people fell in love with the old man just after reading the opening line, calling him "Volcano Grandpa" or calling him "Grandpa" in the barrage.

Most of Grandpa Volcano's Bilibili videos were recorded by young people in his research group. The recording location is in his office. When recording the video, Grandpa sat in front of the bookshelf, facing not only the camera but also a huge photo.

The photo is titled "The Gate of Hell" and depicts an active volcano that Liu Jiaqi once inspected - the Aritala volcano located in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. The crater is filled with magma, emitting green smoke, and the gray lava shell cracks, revealing bright red cracks. Liu Jiaqi hung it on the wall directly in front of his desk and looked up to see it. In the eyes of others, the "gate of hell" is a unique scenery.

Screenshot of Grandpa Volcano's Bilibili video. Picture Hell Gate

Grandpa Volcano has been to most of the known "gates of hell" on Earth, has seen volcanoes erupting profusely, and has personally measured the temperature of newly erupted magma.

The Eritara volcano captured in the photo of "Hell's Gate" is the sixth volcano he has inspected that erupted on site.

That was in 2007. He and his international colleagues departed from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and arrived at their destination after 3 days. Everyone found a safe place at the foot of the mountain, set up a tent and slept all night. The next morning, they started climbing the mountain. Everyone stuffed four bottles of water into their backpacks, preparing to go up the mountain to drink two bottles and down the mountain to drink two bottles.

There was no road on the mountain, and they climbed for nearly 6 hours to reach the top of the mountain. The surface temperature is as high as over 60 degrees Celsius, and people are like being grilled on a fire. Two bottles of water quickly bottomed out, and every pore on everyone's body opened its mouth wide, wanting to catch a breath. The air is filled with a pungent smell of rotten eggs, which is a signal of the presence of the deadly gas hydrogen sulfide. Liu Jiaqi, who was covered in sweat, poured some remaining water on the towel and covered his mouth and nose. A wet towel can keep him safe in the volcanic gas for about one or two hours, in order to observe more local geological phenomena and collect samples.

When inspecting volcanoes, in addition to observation and sampling, Liu Jiaqi sometimes also needs to measure temperature and pressure on the magma. Liu Jiaqi has measured the temperature of the magma ejected from the Furnais volcano on Reunion Island and the Etna volcano on Sicily. Every time, he had to endure the grilling and try to insert the thermometer into the flowing magma at over 1000 degrees Celsius. And these data are very useful for obtaining the geological background and dynamic conditions of volcanic activity, monitoring and predicting volcanic activity.

In January 1998, Liu Jiaqi measured the temperature of the erupting magma at the Furnais volcano on the island of Reunion Island. Respondents provide pictures

In order to approach the gate of hell, Liu Jiaqi's life was on the line many times.

In 2000, Liu Jiaqi went to Indonesia to investigate the Karakato volcano. At that time, the volcano was emitting smoke and gas. Because he wanted to see the condition of Huoshankou clearly, he climbed to the top of the mountain with more than a dozen international colleagues. Just less than 200 meters away from the volcano, the road beneath suddenly began to tremble. An earthquake has occurred. After a brief surprise, everyone turned around and ran towards the foot of the mountain. Shortly after running down the mountain, the volcano erupted.

Another time, Liu Jiaqi went to the Ashkul Volcano Group in the West Kunlun Mountains for investigation and climbed up the Kriya River Valley. At two or three o'clock in the afternoon, the melting water from the mountaintop glacier flows down the river. Liu Jiaqi, relying on his youth, attempted to cross the river but was accidentally engulfed in the cold flood. Fortunately, a Uyghur young man driving a donkey behind him grabbed his pants and saved his life.

Not all volcano researchers have a chance of survival, and Liu Jiaqi has already lost three international colleagues to their careers. However, in his eyes, volcanoes are still a symbol of planetary vitality, and volcanic eruptions are still a more magnificent scenery than fireworks. He still remembers his feelings when he first saw a volcanic eruption on Hawaii Island in 1986. The continuously erupting gas and magma reddened the sky and ignited the sea. The magma flowed downstream along the mountain, becoming wider and wider. As far as the eye could see, it was a sea of fire. He experienced the warm and vibrant vitality of the Earth for the first time.

"It's a pity for people engaged in geological research to never see volcanic eruptions in their lifetime," he said.

For over 60 years, wherever there could be a volcano, Liu Jiaqi went there. He has climbed the Changbai Mountains countless times, climbed the Qinghai Tibet Plateau seven times, crossed the Xing'an Mountains six times, entered the North Pole three times, and conquered the South Pole two times. His footprints cover seven continents and five oceans around the world, and most of the places he goes are uninhabited areas

Someone asked Grandpa Volcano, "Running in the wild is very dangerous, I'm afraid I won't die." Grandpa calmly said, "There must be danger in field exploration, and we need to have some experience and mental preparation."

Nature is like flipping through a book, and danger is always caught off guard. Liu Jiaqi can only be vigilant at all times. When running in the wild, he would bring a towel. Apart from wiping sweat, when encountering gas emissions without a gas mask, he would wet the towel and cover his mouth and nose. He also learned from camels, drinking enough water and having a full meal in the morning, carrying a pot of water out, and drinking it in the afternoon to avoid getting thirsty when there is no water.

Many experiences are only summarized after being embarrassing. He was once young and energetic, chasing donkeys carrying supplies on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. He fainted from lack of oxygen before running 20 meters. From then on, he dared not run on the plateau no matter how anxious he was. He once dropped the sole of his shoe while climbing a mountain, and could only find a rope to tie the sole to his feet to continue walking. From then on, even if his equipment was poor, he had to wear a pair of good shoes before going out.

However, Grandpa Volcano, who is not afraid of death, is not really afraid of anything. He belongs to the snake family, but has been afraid of snakes since childhood. Every time he encounters a snake in the mountains, he will definitely have nightmares at night. He admires his little granddaughter very much. Every time they go to the zoo together, she has to go to the reptile house, but he dare not and can only wait outside. When running in the wild, Liu Jiaqi encountered a grassy meadow where there might be snakes. He grabbed a handful of broken stones and carried them in his pocket, feeling that it was more dangerous ahead. He threw a few stones over first, and if the grass was higher, he would use a stick to "startle the snake by hitting the grass".

Grandpa Volcano, who is not afraid of death, is not born with courage. He was born in a mountain valley in Beizhen City, Liaoning Province. At the age of 9, his father passed away due to illness. When he was in high school, the school was 9 kilometers away from home, and he had to walk for 2 hours to get to the school. In winter, he had to go on the road before dawn. Not far from home, there is a cemetery where Liu Jiaqi must pass through. He felt nervous and begged his mother to send him off every day. After becoming sensible, Liu Jiaqi suddenly realized, "At that time, my mother was a young woman. She took me over the cemetery, and when I left, she had to go back through the cemetery. Isn't she afraid?"

To cheer for my mother

When my father passed away, my mother was 37 years old. Liu Jiaqi still remembers the situation during the funeral.

As the eldest son of the family, he walked at the front with a spirit flag. The younger brother, who was still walking unsteadily, was held by an adult, holding a large helmet for burning incense in his little hand.

Afterwards, someone in the family advised the mother to send the 13-year-old elder sister out as a child bride, and asked the 9-year-old to drop out of school and herd sheep to make a living. But the strong mother did not do that and instead struggled to live with her four underage children.

For a rural family who has lost their labor force, even the smallest tuition fees are difficult to afford. Xiao Liu Jiaqi is like a grass seed falling into a crevice, with an unknown future. Fortunately, because he read well, he was favored by the teacher. After learning about the difficulties of the Liu family, the teacher took the initiative to seek exemption from his tuition fees from the village and school.

Liu Jiaqi, who pulled out the seedlings from the crevice, took a deep breath in his chest and said, "You have to study hard and argue for your breath, otherwise you will be sorry for my mother and teacher."

Sure enough, every time the final ranking is released, the three characters "Liu Jiaqi" always rank at the top. Later on, this young man who was "fighting for his mother" was admitted to high school, and then to university and graduate school

When taking the college entrance exam, Liu Jiaqi encountered his first decision in life: where to apply? Following his mother's advice, he chose and was admitted to a free school - Changchun Geological College, in order to alleviate the burden on his family.

At that time, the geological college not only did not charge tuition fees, but also included food and accommodation, book fees, and medical expenses. And this choice also formed an inseparable bond between Liu Jiaqi and geology.

In 1968, Liu Jiaqi graduated from graduate school and was assigned to the Yingkou Geological Team in Liaoning Province to receive further education from the working class.

Five years later, he was transferred to the Research Institute of Jilin Metallurgical Geological Exploration Company as the Director of Isotope Geology Research Office, responsible for building the second isotope laboratory of the Ministry of Metallurgy at that time, conducting potassium argon age determination and oxygen and sulfur isotope analysis, which was relatively leading in China at that time.

In 1978, the country resumed graduate enrollment. Although 37 year old Liu Jiaqi has already started a family and career, he faced a tough battle and took the postgraduate entrance exam again, becoming a graduate student of Hou Defeng, the founder of geochemistry in China.

The more he goes out and climbs higher, the broader his vision becomes, and the more opportunities he has to interact with international peers. He gradually realized that another "mother" - his motherland, like his own mother who had been struggling to make a living, was also in distress.

Once, when Liu Jiaqi went to the United States for a meeting, someone mysteriously asked him, "How did you come here?" "By plane," Liu Jiaqi replied. The other party was taken aback for a moment and then asked, "What I mean is, did you come out?" Liu Jiaqi then realized, "I came to the meeting normally and followed the normal procedures."

During overseas exchanges and inspections, someone promised to give him $400 per month to speak ill of China. Liu Jiaqi was furious and said, "Do you know that there is a Chinese saying that goes, 'A child doesn't mind his mother's ugliness, and a dog doesn't mind his family's poverty?' In our country, we don't allow others to talk nonsense!"

Recalling that experience, Liu Jiaqi said, "When I first went abroad, I was very stimulated. People knew that Chinese people were poor and looked down on us."

What made him even more stimulated was that Chinese volcanic research was looked down upon by international peers.

Liu Jiaqi introduced the situation of Chinese volcanoes abroad, but international peers did not believe it at all. They generally believed that there was no volcanic activity in modern China. Even Joseph Needham, a scholar who is proficient in the history of Chinese science and technology, interrupted in "The History of Chinese Science and Technology" that "there are no volcanoes in China.".

Faced with questioning, Liu Jiaqi breathed a sigh of relief in his chest and said, "Since you don't understand Chinese volcanoes, I'll go and learn about them first. Once I understand them, I'll teach you."

At that time, volcanic research in China was fragmented and not systematic. Liu Jiaqi investigated the geological characteristics, formation age, and dynamic reasons of volcanoes in two volcanic distribution areas in China - the Pacific Rim volcanic belt and the Qinghai Tibet Plateau volcanic belt. After understanding his family background, he wrote the book "Chinese Volcanoes", which comprehensively discusses the spatiotemporal distribution and geological characteristics of Chinese volcanoes.

In places such as the Greater Khingan Mountains and the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, he discovered more than 20 new volcanoes and confirmed more than ten active volcanoes in China. He also proved that the Ashe volcano in West Kunlun had erupted in 1951, overturning the view of some foreign scholars that there was no volcanic activity in modern China.

Not only that, he also established a connection between Chinese volcanoes and global volcanic activity through a series of studies, confirming that the Cenozoic volcanic rocks in eastern China are closely related to the East Asian plate system, and the volcanic activity on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau is closely related to plateau uplift.

He also discovered and established a number of Mar lakes in China, and was the first to apply the sediment of Mar lakes to paleoclimate research in China. With rigorous data, he demonstrated to the world that Lake Mar in China holds significant importance in the study of ancient global change. As a result, China's Mar Lake was included in the Eurasian Lake Drilling Program, and Liu Jiaqi was also elected as the Vice Chairman of the Scientific Steering Committee for Asian Lake Drilling.

Nowadays, the voice of China on the international stage is growing louder, and colleagues from more than 20 countries and regions are actively seeking advice or cooperation from Liu Jiaqi.

"We used to follow them, but now they follow us. In the past, we had less research funding, but now we have more funding than them. Only when the country is strong can researchers have dignity," said Liu Jiaqi.

These efforts have contributed to the development of Chinese volcanology and also to the success of Liu Jiaqi. In 2003, Liu Jiaqi was elected as an academician of the CAS Member, becoming the first academician in the field of volcanic research in China. In addition, he has also become the Secretary General of the Solid Earth Science Professional Committee of the Pacific Science Association, Co Chairman of the International Monogenic Volcano Professional Committee, and Standing Committee Member of the Stratigraphy and Chronology Professional Committee of the International Quaternary Research Union. He has been appointed as a visiting professor by Open University in the UK, Northeastern University in Japan, and others.

He once talked about these "turnaround and counterattack" stories on Bilibili. Someone asked, "What is the level of volcanic research in China?" Liu Jiaqi leaned back slightly and said, "We cannot be completely advanced than them, but at least we are on par with the international advanced level." Then, he smiled slightly and said, "To put it bluntly, a colleague in the UK who specializes in volcanic research has been promoted to professor. My recommendation would be helpful."

In January 1993, Liu Jiaqi walked in the snow near the Great Wall Station in Antarctica. Respondents provide pictures

Bitter blessings

On Bilibili, Grandpa Volcano rarely uses grand words like "bringing glory to the country" to preach to young people. He is more like a storyteller and a distant grandfather. Sitting in front of the camera, his silver gray hair was neat and stylish, with a few long silver strands interspersed between his thick eyebrows. His face turned bronze from the wind and sun, and with a smile, his eyes narrowed in two curves.

The spoiled "children" like to comment on his appearance and behavior in the barrage area. Liu Jiaqi's earlobes are large, and people have exclaimed in the barrage area more than once, "Big earlobes shoulder ah," while others lament, "These ears, at first glance, are blessed people.".

The word "blessed" has been heard by Liu Jiaqi since he was young. The saying of facial features is popular in rural areas of Northeast China. Liu Jiaqi has been favored by many due to his large earlobes and good academic performance. There is a Grandpa Cao at the west end of their village. As soon as he sees him, he shouts, "Come over, let Grandpa be rare.".

When others say he is "blessed," Liu Jiaqi always tilts his head and asks, "What is happiness?"

He thought that if being able to eat, drink, and have fun throughout his life is considered "lucky", then he cannot be considered a "lucky" person.

When Liu Jiaqi was a child, he would go to fetch water and firewood after school. He has three fingers on his left hand that have been broken while picking up firewood and cutting grass. The lamp used at home is a small plate filled with kerosene, inside which is a cotton twisted wick. Lying on the kang, he finished one homework after another under the dim light from the oil plate.

After growing up, Liu Jiaqi attended university in Changchun for 5 years and suffered from hunger for 3 years. Every morning, he can only get a bowl of cornmeal batter and a few pickled vegetable strips. After the first class, my stomach started growling with hunger. Some students couldn't withstand hunger and dropped out of school, but Liu Jiaqi had no way out and couldn't burden his family any more.

When studying for graduate studies in Beijing, the school requires students to learn English, otherwise they cannot graduate and cannot exchange abroad. At the age of nearly 40, he started from scratch, gritting his teeth and desperately memorizing vocabulary and learning grammar.

After completing his doctoral studies, he officially embarked on the path of scientific research, and field investigations became the norm. On the plateau, he could only eat lunch meat, pickled vegetables, and instant noodles soaked in boiling water for a month in a row; In the mountains and forests, he often carries 20-30 kilograms of stone specimens and walks 180 miles a day.

At retirement age, others begin to enjoy retirement life, but he spends the densest hours and stays up the deepest nights, constantly exploring how to use volcanic rocks to store oil and gas resources, how to make the basalt produced by volcanic eruptions stretch into threads, and use it in aerospace, military, transportation, construction, and environmental protection fields... Every night after 9pm is his "night shift" time, he brews a cup of coffee or strong tea, and works quietly until 2am.

Recently, the basalt wire drawing technology he developed has been applied to the space station, and Liu Jiaqi is extremely happy. "What is happiness? If a person can do something meaningful in their lifetime, they will be very happy. So what is' meaningful '? Choose a direction, occupy a field, master a method, and solve a problem."

In July 1987, on the way to investigate the West Kunlun Mountains, I encountered a flash flood and my donkey was washed into the river. Respondents provide pictures

Just like the volcano, which symbolizes disaster, is regarded by Liu Jiaqi as the "vitality of the planet", the difficulties in life are also treated as gifts by Liu Jiaqi.

For "bitterness", Liu Jiaqi has extremely strong digestive ability. In the Bilibili video, the roads he has walked, the things he has gone through, and the hardships he has endured have all become interesting stories. He smiled and said that during the investigation in West Kunlun, he was so thin that he could even fit two extra squares into his belt, telling everyone that "those who want to lose weight can come and study geology to strengthen their body and health.".

He also joked happily that during his 18 day voyage to Antarctica, he vomited his intestines from beginning to end.

Liu Jiaqi believes that one should endure some hardships throughout their life. "I have experienced hardships before, so my vitality is relatively strong.".

However, there is only one bitterness that he cannot digest. Every time he mentions this, his smile disappears from the corner of his eye.

Liu Jiaqi has always been the pride of his mother, but later he realized that the person he owes the most is his mother.

After arriving in Beijing, he always wanted to pick up his mother to visit Tiananmen Square. But his residence was a rudimentary wooden room, without sound insulation, heating, kitchen, or toilet, with flies flying everywhere and mice running around the house. He brought his mother who had a cerebral thrombosis and found that she was worried even about going to the bathroom. He wanted to go to Tiananmen with his mother on his back, but his mother was so distressed that she insisted on going back to his hometown.

In 1988, my mother passed away at the age of 76. At that time, Liu Jiaqi was conducting an investigation on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. When he arrived in Golmud, Qinghai, he received a telegram from his family informing him that his mother was critically ill. The accompanying driver transported him all the way from Golmud to Xi'an. Afterwards, he rushed back to Beijing by car from Xi'an, and then transferred to his hometown in Northeast China. Only when he walked anxiously into the house did he know that his mother had left three days ago.

Later, Liu Jiaqi had his own house in Beijing and his living conditions improved, but his mother was no longer there. Liu Jiaqi, whose hair had turned gray, often muttered, "The most regrettable thing in my life is that I didn't let my mother enjoy it. I'm sorry for my mother."

After pausing for a while, he asked softly, "So, what do you mean by happiness?"

Grandpa and his "little friends"

Liu Jiaqi sometimes thinks that perhaps his "fortune" comes from the "benefactors" he has met. Most of these "benefactors" are his teachers.

"It is a great blessing in life to meet a good teacher in a higher position in one's lifetime," said Liu Jiaqi. He has met many good teachers, among which Liu Dongsheng, a doctoral supervisor and recipient of the highest national science and technology award, had the greatest influence on him.

In 1981, Liu Jiaqi was admitted to Liu Dongsheng's doctoral program. At the recommendation of Liu Dongsheng, Liu Jiaqi, who is good at isotopic dating, went to the Xinjiang Institute of Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, presided over the establishment of the first radiocarbon dating laboratory in Xinjiang, and carried out research on volcanic ash chronology. Then he returned to the Quaternary Geology Research Office of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where Liu Dongsheng worked, and determined China's Quaternary strata and geological chronology by using isotope dating method, which greatly promoted the development of China's Quaternary research.

Because he had endured hardships and encountered "benefactors" in his youth, Liu Jiaqi was able to understand the difficulties faced by young people and was particularly willing to help them.

One year, Liu Jiaqi led seven or eight students to run in the wilderness. When the car passed Xi'an, he asked the driver to stop and go. After getting off the car for the first time, he pointed to the profile of the mountain and asked everyone, "What is this?" Seeing that the students couldn't answer, Liu Jiaqi smiled and said, "You're dumbfounded, right? You think you know everything at home, but you can't come out. Taking you out is to 'cure' you." That time, he took his students from Beijing to Xinjiang, covering a journey of more than 17000 kilometers, which took more than 40 days. Along the way, the students gained a lot of knowledge and learned a lot.

Liu Jiaqi, who had worked in the geological team, often ran alone in the wilderness when he was young, saying, "No one cares about you, just don't be eaten by wolves.". It is precisely because he has experienced the hardships of the wilderness that Liu Jiaqi is particularly careful when arranging field trips for his students, especially when there are girls in the team.

"A girl running in the wilderness has a low safety factor, and two girls may not be safe enough, but one man and one woman are not enough. There must be three people, either two girls and one boy, or two boys and one girl. If there are not enough people, I will set myself up," said Liu Jiaqi.

The physical fitness of most girls is not as good as that of boys, so Liu Jiaqi taught them according to their aptitude and allowed them to play to their respective strengths. A famous female student named He Huaiyu was confused about what to learn during her doctoral studies. Liu Jiaqi noticed that she had strong hands-on abilities and suggested that she master an experimental technique and do her best. Later, Liu Jiaqi also sent her to Belgium to further her studies. After returning to China, she led the construction of the first rare gas laboratory in China and participated in research on the moon and Mars, becoming a well-known expert in the industry. Looking at the promising students, Liu Jiaqi felt happy from the bottom of his heart and said, "Students should be stronger than teachers."

Liu Jiaqi treats his students like his own children, managing everything from study to work and life, even worrying about dating. Everyone is willing to chat with the teacher if they have something to do. Gradually, the research group formed a "convention" that if a student has a suitable partner, they will bring it to Teacher Liu to see. Only when the teacher passes the "assessment" can the romantic relationship be officially established.

Some people say that Liu Jiaqi is a teacher "like a teacher like a father". He shrugged and said, "Parents and the country entrust their children to you. If you don't take good care of them, it will be a mistake for people and the country."

On weekdays, Liu Jiaqi also gives lectures to students majoring in geology at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has been standing on the podium for 40 years, offering courses in volcanology, Cenozoic geochronology, modern Quaternary geology, and environmental science. The students enjoy listening and rate their classes as excellent every year. In 2021, he also won the "Li Pei Famous Teacher Award" of Chinese Academy of Sciences University.

Liu Jiaqi also has a larger podium than universities and research institutes. Every year, he gives 20 to 30 science popularization reports to government agencies, schools, factories, communities, and others across the country. He also served as the chairman of the Science Popularization Writers Association for 9 years. "Scientific research is elite science, and its essence is innovation. Popular science is popular science, and its essence is application. Only by promoting popular science can national quality be improved and society develop," said Liu Jiaqi.

As the science popularization platforms become more and more abundant, Liu Jiaqi has moved to Station B, Tiktok, video number... but the things that young people like change so fast that Liu Jiaqi can only keep chasing after them.

It took him a long time to understand what the "UP master" was. In 2021, when recording Bilibili videos for the first time, he referred to "Bilibili" as "Thunderbolt Thunderbolt". After being corrected on the spot, he covered his face and laughed, "Is that right? That's right?"

He didn't agree with the old man and said, "I can do almost all the work that you young people do. It's just a bit clumsy and slow."

Age has never been a limitation for him, who takes the postgraduate entrance examination at the age of 37, learns English at the age of 40, becomes an academician at the age of 62, and occasionally travels outdoors in his 80s. Regarding death, he is very detached: "I never think about how old I am, nor do I think about which day I will die. Anyway, the day I can live is the day."

However, as soon as he finished speaking, he continued happily, "But I have to work every day of my life."

Liu Jiaqi. Respondents provide pictures

China Science Daily