This "amateur scientist" went viral after exposing his experience and published papers on models, research, problems, physics, physics, and Lao Liang in top astronomical journals

I have not systematically studied the basic knowledge of physics, but have published papers in top journals in the field. I am the first author and corresponding author, and my collaborator is a great figure in the field of astrophysics. He is an amateur physics enthusiast named Lao Liang, who claims to be a "folk science". This unusual experience has aroused the interest of netizens. Lao Liang was the first college student to resume the college entrance examination in 1977. Although he studied tractor manufacturing, he later started his own business in mechanical and electrical design. However, at the age of nearly 50, he regained his passion for physics research and has published three papers. He does not mind being called a "folk science", but believes that amateur scientific research should also abide by the rules of the scientific community.

Ziniu News reporter Song Shifeng

A PhD student in physics asks a question on Zhihu, and an old man from the field of folk sciences appears to answer the question

Recently, a PhD student in physics from Peking University asked a question on Zhihu: How do you view a "amateur scientist" publishing a heavyweight paper as a first author in the top astronomical journal MNRAS

He said that this "civilian science" @ liangzx appeared to be a somewhat accomplished engineer who suddenly began researching "civilian science" in pulsar and plasma physics. In addition to their father and son, the third author of the published papers was Joel M. Weisberg, a professor at Carlton College in the United States. "I have never seen such a combination of authors, and even the only professor is neither a single work nor a corresponding author." Unexpectedly, this "folk science" veteran Liang personally answered this question and described his path in physics research. Currently, he has received nearly 7000 likes.

Lao Liang studied tractor design and later started developing automotive inspection equipment, which had nothing to do with theoretical physics.

In 1955, Lao Liang was born in a rural area of Hebei Province. During his high school years, he met a very good physics teacher. "He graduated from Peking University with a major in physics, and teaching physics gave me a refreshing feeling, so his influence on me was quite significant."

In 1972, Lao Liang graduated from high school and returned to the countryside to work as an agricultural mechanic, managing machines such as water pumps, diesel engines, and tractors in the production team. "During those 5 years, the physics knowledge I learned was not lost, but rather increased in practice."

In 1977, the college entrance examination was resumed, and Lao Liang participated as he wished, and his grades were very good. The physics test paper was particularly "minor" for him. But he didn't dare to apply for a physics major according to his interests, instead he chose a better direction for admission and applied to an agricultural machinery college. Lao Liang was admitted to North China Agricultural Mechanization College as he wished, studying tractor manufacturing. He met his current lover in class, and they have been together ever since.

In college, Lao Liang's favorite was still physics, but he didn't dare to make such a request during his graduation assignment, so he and his lover were assigned to work as teachers at an agricultural machinery school in Tangshan.

In 1994, Lao Liang resigned from his job with his lover. They rented a house in a remote alley and started their own business, designing and developing cost-effective testing equipment. At that time, the Chinese automobile market was beginning to develop rapidly, and Lao Liang also caught up with good opportunities. He worked alone on electronic hardware, software design, mechanical design, electronic assembly, and mechanical processing. After a few months, he successfully developed products. "The first machine was sold for 7000 yuan, but I was overjoyed."

Lao Liang has always focused on this field, and one of his inventions has even entered the national standard.

Chatting with my son reignited my love for physics, and the father and son started researching together

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, work was very busy, and Lao Liang didn't have time to think about physics problems. One day, my high school son finished his homework and talked to him about whether the magnetic field of a magnet rotates with it?

This question has sparked Lao Liang's long-standing love for physics. "It can be said that without my son's joining, I would not have been able to rethink physics problems, embark on this path, and achieve any results."

After discussing the issue of magnetic field rotation, the father and son firmly believe that the magnetic field will not rotate together with the magnet! They later looked up information and found that this question seemed simple, but in fact, it had been debated for more than 100 years without a conclusion. At present, the general physics community generally supports the theory of non rotation, while the astrophysics community almost entirely believes in the theory of rotation.

The turning point of their research occurred on August 21, 2004. "My son suddenly proposed a type of star called a pulsar, which has a magnetic field that rotates with the star like a lighthouse. This was the first time I heard of a pulsar, so I immediately searched for information about it. After seeing the relevant introduction, we determined that the magnetic field could not rotate with a neutron star, and the pulsar lighthouse model must be wrong. On the morning of August 21, 2004, I suddenly realized that the solar magnetic field has a 22 year flipping period. If solar energy collapses into a neutron star, its magnetic field may not stop flipping, but flip faster. Our magnetic field oscillation model was born from this."

Under the influence of his father, Lao Liang's son was also very interested in physics and obtained a certificate as a senior programmer in high school. Later, he went to Jilin University to study theoretical physics. After he went to college, the research between father and son progressed by leaps and bounds.

Old Liang didn't have much English foundation before, but after long-term exploration, he can basically read professional papers. My son and partner have good English, so when writing papers and emails, they are responsible for editing them.

Collaborating with heavyweight scholars to publish papers, grateful for meeting Bole

In 2006, an international physics conference was held in Beijing, "I want to hear about their research and also publish our model at that time." During the conference, an expert believed that the model was wrong based on magnetic freezing theory. When Lao Liang first heard about this concept, he deduced it with his son, discovered its loopholes, and conducted three sets of experiments. After the experiment proved the correctness of the theory, two SCI papers were published.

They need a referral when submitting their first paper to the academic preprint website arXiv. They sent emails to over 100 industry experts, and four of them replied saying they were willing to help. One physics professor, Joel M. Weisberg, came from the world-renowned Carlton College and has published over 60 papers in top journals such as Nature and Science. Among them, nearly 30 papers were co authored with Nobel Prize winner Joseph Taylor. At that time, Lao Liang did not know how heavyweight Professor Weisberg was, only that he was conducting research on pulsars.

After publishing this model on arXiv, they continued their in-depth research and published a paper in the top tier journal Monthly of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2014.

This paper has gone through some twists and turns. "We contacted some experts, and some of them thought this theory was good and suggested submitting it as soon as possible." They then submitted it to the Monthly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK and recommended Weisberg as the reviewer. Weisberg raised some questions, involving more advanced theories such as relativity. The theoretical accumulation of Lao Liang and his son is not enough, "but the journal editor may have taken notice of our manuscript and suggested that we listen to the reviewer's suggestions. If there are too many suggestions, we can add them to the thank-you list. If there are more suggestions, we can list them as co authors and change the reviewer. I used this method to express to Weisberg that our writing ability is limited, and asked him to be a co author. At first, he disagreed, saying that I cannot be in your favor. I said that if you don't join, it will be difficult for our paper to meet publishing standards."

After Weisberg joined, they discussed for another three months, and Weisberg even turned the rough original paper into a beautiful one. Professor Weisberg is our Bole. The paper also received support from a senior professor at the California Institute of Technology.

After the paper was published, the team led by the reviewers began to validate the lighthouse model using their methods. Lao Liang had dozens of rounds of communication and discussion with them, helping them correct several errors. After that, they added Lao Liang and his son to the author list and wanted to submit the paper. This team claims to have proven the correctness of the lighthouse model for the first time in decades using the method published by Lao Liang and his team. "That means our MO model is incorrect. Of course, we are not convinced and asked for their paper's data, which quickly identified major issues. When we sent them this discovery, we thought they would voluntarily withdraw the manuscript, but unfortunately, they remained silent."

Laughingly claiming to be a "civilian science", doing research and adhering to one's own principles

"Folk science" refers to individuals who engage in research in the scientific field but have not received formal scientific training or obtained a professional degree in science. It is even a joking term for some amateur scientific researchers who do not follow logic or evidence.

Lao Liang doesn't mind being called "folk science", he even calls himself "folk science". Lao Liang said that scientific research may not necessarily be conducted by professional experts. At the Shepherd Astronomy Forum where astronomy enthusiasts gather, he argued with some people, "I have a good temper and don't give them a red face. As long as I talk about science, I try to discuss as much as possible. If someone else's suggestions are excellent, then you need to modify your thinking."

Lao Liang said he has a principle: "I will only argue with the other party if I see clearly where their mistake lies. If I cannot see where their problem lies, or if I see but do not have the ability to persuade them, I will hold back, keep my mouth shut, and walk around."

Over the years, Lao Liang has spent most of his free time on physics research, conducting experiments at home. Their father and son are polishing a new paper that they believe can prove the lighthouse model is wrong. "This time, we will propose two prophecies for scholars from around the world to verify. Verifying these two prophecies does not require new observations, just mining old data. If our new prophecy can be confirmed, the MO model will officially become a competitive model for the lighthouse model."