On November 24, 2017, at the opening ceremony of the annual meeting of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering (CSEE), Chen Deshu was honored with the 2017 “Candy Gu Electrical Engineering Award”. At the award ceremony, Zheng Baoshen, President of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, presented Chen Deshu with a medal.
In his acceptance speech, Prof. Chen Deshu said that receiving the “Candy Gu Electrical Engineering Award” is a recognition of the achievements he has made during his more than 60 years of research in relay protection and control technology, as well as an encouragement and commendation to his predecessors, colleagues, and peers in the field, and once again expressed his sincere gratitude to Mr. Gu’s family and the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering. Thank you.
The Candy Gu Engineering Award was jointly established in 2010 by the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering (CSEE) and the Power and Energy Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE PES). Since 2010, the award has been given annually to an expert or scholar who has made significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology in the field of electrical engineering, and is considered the highest award in China’s electric power field, and has been presented to famous Chinese electrical experts such as Hejiali, Ma Weiming, and others. He was awarded to He Jia Li, Ma Weiming and other famous electrical experts in China. Candy Gu (1902-2002) was one of the founders of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering and made significant contributions in the fields of mathematics, electrical machinery and modern control theory.
Chen Deshu, a native of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, is a professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, an expert in electric power systems, and one of the main pioneers of microcomputer relay protection in China. Born in May 1930, he joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1965, graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering of Sun Yat-sen University in 1952 and stayed in the university as a teacher, and then went to the Harbin Institute of Technology for further study, and after graduation from the postgraduate program in 1955, he went to the Department of Electrical Engineering of Huazhong Institute of Technology as a teacher. He was the director of the Department of Electrical Engineering of Huazhong University of Technology, vice president of the Graduate School, a member of the National Education Commission Degree Committee of Electrical Engineering, a member of the Natural Science Foundation Committee of Electrical Engineering, vice president of Hubei Electrical Engineering Society, director of the National Society of Electrical Engineering, executive director of the National Society of Electrical Engineering, deputy director of the Relay Protection Committee, and so on. 1981 was named the National Outstanding Teachers, and since 1985, he has enjoyed the special allowances of the State Council. He was awarded the National Outstanding Teacher in 1981, and has been enjoying the special allowance of the State Council since 1985, and retired in 2001. He was awarded the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress, the third prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress, and the third prize of National Major Equipment Achievement. In 2012, he was awarded the second prize for national technological invention after his retirement. He is the author of Advances in Power System Dynamic Simulation Technology.
Aim High, Beginning of the Road
Chen Deshu was born in 1930 to an ordinary family in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. His father died when he was three years old, and his mother raised him at a young age along with his uncles and aunts in the family, while the good times did not last long, and the peaceful years in the tumultuous times always seemed so precious.
In 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out and Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. Japanese planes dropped a bomb overhead, blowing up a corner of the Chen family ancestral temple, so the family fled to Hong Kong under the protection of the United Kingdom for refuge, but three years later, the Japanese army landed not far from the shore of the new home, so the whole family returned to Dongguan home has been occupied by the Japanese army, in the childhood memories of Chen Deshu, the war and the horror of the deep imprints left. After returning to his hometown in Dongguan again, Chen Deshu saw the Japanese soldiers who beat farmers and raped women for no reason and the corpses rotting and stinking by the roadside without being cleaned up, the heavy heart pressed on the young Chen Deshu’s mind, living under the rule of the invaders brought Chen Deshu a different kind of only want and motivation.
The Japanese surrendered in 1945, Chen Deshu into high school, the war of resistance against Japan has just ended, followed by the outbreak of the war of liberation, the war makes the country and the people more exhausted, after the war poisoned Chen Deshu do not want to let the country be invaded again, and at that time all the aspiring young people, Chen Deshu chose to study science and technology, electricity to make the country strong. “At that time, I took four schools, Sun Yat-sen University’s results were the last to come out. four schools were admitted, but Sun Yat-sen University was reported to the Department of Electrical Engineering, I went to Sun Yat-sen University.” It was this choice that determined the path of Chen Deshu’s life.
At that time, Sun Yat-sen University was still under the rule of the Nationalist government. Realizing that the Nationalist government had long been exhausted and it was difficult to win the hearts and minds of the people, Chen Deshu secretly followed the comrades of the underground party in his study and life to learn advanced Marxist-Leninist ideas, which was invaluable at that time. After the liberation of the country, Chen Deshu was arranged by the school and the organization to study Soviet-style education in Harbin Institute of Technology, and at that time was in the reorganization of Sun Yat-sen University, Chen Deshu, whose academic record was in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Sun Yat-sen University, was assigned to the newly built Huazhong Institute of Technology, and after returning to E. C., Chen Deshu began his own scientific research and academic education in the new environment.
The path of learning never ends
In 1945, when World War II was won, Chen Deshu was promoted to high school. “I learned something serious in 3 years of high school”, in Chen Deshu’s opinion, although the English study in high school was the most systematic and elaborate study in his life, but in his later study and work, he also continued to have new knowledge added.
At the beginning of the liberation period, Chen Deshu was promoted to university. At that time, university teachers taught in Chinese, but most of the textbooks were written in English. However, in order to better read the English textbooks, Chen Deshu also looked up the dictionary from time to time. “It’s not a big deal to look up the dictionary”, Chen Deshu described lightly. After work, due to technical needs, Chen Deshu often read English materials. Fortunately, with the solid foundation laid down in his university days, this was not a difficult task for Chen Deshu.
In the early 1980s, the university sent Chen Deshu abroad for a visit. Although he was already familiar with reading English in his work and study, Chen Deshu was not good at speaking. At that time, Chen Deshu had just been promoted to department chair, and his heavy teaching, research and administrative work made it impossible for him to focus his time on learning English. “I didn’t have time to take off work to learn English at that time!” As a result, the two English textbooks compiled in Taiwan that other teachers brought back from the United States became Chen Deshu’s full support for learning. Every morning, Chen Deshu has to concentrate on reading aloud English for half an hour to an hour, and never give up until he is well versed. In this way, this 50-year-old student has been teaching himself to speak for a semester with amazing perseverance.
Chen Deshu jokingly said that if he had been given the time that students nowadays spend learning English from kindergarten to doctorate, his English would have been much better than it is now. Of course, improving speaking skills requires a lot of practice. Chen Deshu regarded every interaction with foreigners as a rare opportunity to practice, and always took the initiative to chat with foreigners.
Chen Deshu graduated from the university in 1952 and stayed on as a teacher. In the same year, the state selected outstanding young teachers to study at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), and the courses were taught by experts from the Soviet Union, and Chen Deshu was one of them. In today’s terms, Chen Deshu’s group of young teachers was equivalent to the earliest elite sent for further study since the founding of New China. In order to adapt to the teaching of Soviet experts as soon as possible, they also concentrated on studying the Russian language for eight months.
During his studies at HIT, Chen Deshu learned the most about rigor. Soviet-style education is a typical elite education, the requirement of training out of each is elite. 3 years down, thousands of miles of ice and snow in Harbin, not only refined his will, but also gave him a solid foundation for learning, rigorous attitude, strong scientific research capabilities. And the essence of Soviet-style education – high standards and strict requirements have long been incorporated into Chen Deshu’s blood, which has had a profound impact on his future study, teaching, and even as a person.
By now, although he is nearly 90 years old, when he encounters a problem he does not understand, he will also look up information and study. He has used his life to explain: lifelong learning is the true meaning, and only through continuous learning can we make progress.
Path to Education, Valuing Talent
Chen Deshu started teaching in 1952 and retired in 2001. With more than 60 years of educational work, he has always regarded the cultivation of talents as his first priority.
In 1981, the country was in a state of comprehensive reorganization, and the educational cause was in need of revitalization. Personnel Department of the Ministry of Education sent to our school research and held a symposium for teachers, Chen Deshu as director of the Department of Teaching and Research to attend, and reflected the imbalance in the structure of the talent, the problem of the teacher team is not enough, put forward the “crisis of talent, can not be grasped”. “There are a number of old teachers, young teachers have some, but the middle of the disconnect is very strong,” Chen Deshu recalled the Department of Teachers could not help but lament, “the old teachers will be retired in a few years, so where do our talents come from? Teachers need to cultivate the process, there is no such process to give him exercise will not be able to pick up. Experienced Chen Deshu keenly aware of the crisis of teachers, so he put forward a bold proposal – the first six graduating master’s degree students after the resumption of enrollment of the hair distribution program at that time, all of them stayed to teach.
”I’m just a random gun, I didn’t expect to put my words really heard!” . Chen Deshu jokingly said that his suggestion at that time was just a random shot, but now it seems that the sentence “These six people stay to teach, I want all of them.” But for the construction of our school’s electrical program played a crucial role. Although, for various reasons, only 3 people stayed in our school, but these 6 people in their respective fields have developed extremely well. Among them, Cheng Shijie and Wu Qinghua have grown to be IEEE Fellows, and Cheng Shijie is now an academician of our Academy of Sciences.
Chen Deshu’s contribution to the cultivation of talents in the School of Electrical Engineering is indelible, but he said humbly: “I didn’t mention the importance of talents, it was our old president Zhu Jiusi, who attached great importance to talents. This emphasis on talent of his was a deep impression on us, and he focused on teacher training.” Chen Deshu recalled that at the early stage of the founding of Huazhong University of Technology, the old president Zhu Jiusi put forward the three most important things for the founding of the university – faculty, laboratories, and libraries. These three things seemed to become the goals that Huazhong Engineering was striving for at that time. President Zhu Jiusi’s decision to boldly introduce scholars who were not too bold to be used by other organizations to teach during the Cultural Revolution not only guaranteed the level of the school’s faculty, but also provided a shot in the arm for all the teachers – from that time on, talent cultivation has become one of the most colorful strokes in the grand blueprint of Huazhong University.
In 2001, at the age of 71, Chen Deshu retired honorably. From 1952 to 2001, he realized his wish of “working for the health of the country for 50 years”. At this time, Chen Deshu decided to continue to participate in laboratory and graduate student activities without remuneration. Indeed, for a place where one has worked for 50 years, there are too many reasons to stay. But for Chen Deshu, there was only one – “I’m not working, I’m playing!” .
Although he has long since stopped taking students with him, Chen Deshu still cares about their research and development. After all, working in this line of work for decades, Chen Deshu is always concerned about the forefront of the development of the industry. “When I have any ideas, I talk to them. Over time, students will come to me. Isn’t that great?” When he meets students with potential, he will encourage them to continue their education and stick to the path of scientific research. Sometimes, seeing some good seedlings give up scientific research because of family reasons, Chen Deshu could not help feeling sorry. When encountering less qualified students, as long as they are willing to continue their education, Chen Deshu will also do his best to help them. “There is a master’s degree brought by another teacher, and then read the doctoral degree, the foundation is poor, many people think it is difficult to cultivate. But when he ran to me with problems, I did my best to help him improve.”
Years of education work endowed Chen Deshu with a unique insight into teacher talent. “You can’t say that those who come back from abroad are talents and those we train ourselves are not. Our own teachers, give them the opportunity to cultivate, but also growth can be!” Nowadays, society has formed a kind of “foreign monks are good at reading scriptures”, whether it is teachers or students, those who have returned from abroad are very advantageous. Chen Deshu does not understand this. He never denied the importance of foreign return of highly skilled personnel, but it is also important to increase efforts to cultivate local talent. A two-pronged approach can maximize the role of talent.
Perseverance is a companion on the road of research
What most people can see is the joy of scientific researchers when they have a breakthrough, but if you look deeper into the scientific research process, you will feel that scientific research is a hard and boring thing, but in the eyes of scientific researchers like Chen Deshu, scientific research is an interesting and happy thing. He said that scientific research itself is a very interesting thing, is a process of exploration, understanding of the unknown, will not feel boring, of course, in the process of exploration will also encounter a lot of obstacles, sometimes after ten times eight times, or even dozens of failures, can not be solved the problem. If the problem is not completely solved, it is necessary to grope again, try new methods and put them into practice. There is a problem that has been bothering him for several years and has not yet been solved, but whenever there is a little inspiration, a little progress, a little deeper understanding of the problem, a little forward, he is very happy. He said that every little effort is useful, as long as you are fully committed, regardless of the final result, at least you in the process of exploration to figure out a lot of previously unintelligible problems.
On the road of scientific research, there are always some stumbling blocks. However, Chen believes that it does not matter whether one succeeds or fails in scientific research, what matters is the process of persistent research. Chen Deshu recalls his own experience of doing a simulated power line project. In reality, a parallel double transmission line is grafted onto a tower, and the parameters between the wires are different and affect each other. As in research, researchers tend to ignore and idealize this problem, thus simplifying some practical problems. In order to further investigate and solve this problem, Prof. Chen and other faculty members simulated and reproduced this phenomenon by analyzing the six wires independently and obtaining the parameters of each wire. Since the six wires were spatially distributed and could not be simulated as a whole, he proposed to simulate the six wires with six coils by analyzing the magnetic field, but after experimental tests, he found that this solution did not work. Later, another professor proposed the analytical method of using six iron cores to form a magnetically coupled coil. Finally, after many years of efforts by various researchers, the spatial model of a parallel-framed double-circuit transmission line was successfully established to solve the problem of grafting a parallel-framed double-circuit transmission line, and it became the only model that was applied to this type of problem both at home and abroad at that time.
Chen never regarded talent as the only factor affecting the success or failure of scientific research; the true essence of scientific research is persistence. He believes that although talent can affect the speed of a researcher’s problem solving, it does not determine the success of the research, but whether he or she has the spirit of perseverance. Chen Deshu also interprets this spirit with his own actions, and has made great achievements in scientific research with his persistence and indomitable spirit day by day: the research results of rotor harmonic current type “generator turn-to-turn short-circuit protection” that Prof. Chen Deshu participates in the research have been applied in power stations such as Gezhouba Dam, and he also proposes branching impedance action in the theory of impedance relay operation analysis. In the theory of impedance relay operation analysis, he put forward the branch impedance action characteristics and oscillation impedance action characteristics and other new key points and methods;
Co-editor of “Power System Relay Protection Principles and Operation”.
At the same time, in teaching, Chen Deshu worked in the front line and inspired his students to persevere to the end with practical actions, influencing one batch of students of Huazhong University after another. In terms of scientific research, ordinary people think that Chen Deshu has already accomplished a great deal, but in his own eyes, scientific research still has to continue, and his work can be seen in the dynamic model building of Huazhong University at all times.
Don’t forget the original intention, and you’ll always get it
Chen Deshu joined the Communist Party of China in 1965, and it has been 50 years this year. The baptism of half a century has strengthened his faith, and this old party member’s words reveal his enthusiasm for the CPC from time to time. In the words of Chen Deshu, he is “a slave from the dead”. Experiencing the strife of the Liberation War and seeing the corruption of the Kuomintang at that time made all the aspiring young people like Chen Deshu think about the future development of the country.
In 1948, Chen Deshu was promoted to university. It was the time of the Liberation War, and the conflict between the enemy and us was sharp. Although Communist Party members could not disclose their identities, they often organized reading activities for progressive young people and guided them to join the peripheral organizations of the Party. Chen Deshu was one of them, and when Guangzhou was liberated in October 1949, the Kuomintang ordered all the students to go home in May in order to prevent them from causing trouble. After all, the KMT had run out of steam, and the Communist Party underground organizations in Guangdong were actively organizing activities for progressive youths, and Chen Deshu joined them when he returned home. In order to prevent the KMT from removing instruments and equipment and destroying the school when they retreated, the progressive students also organized a school protection movement. Through these activities, Chen Deshu strengthened his faith, and in 1950, he joined the New Democratic Youth League (later renamed the Communist Youth League).
In 1953, Chen Deshu applied to join the Communist Party of China (CPC), but the application dragged on for 12 years before it was approved. “I was too complicated in my social relations.” Chen Deshu’s passion for the CPC made him choose to be honest, and he listed more than 30 social relations without reservation. But the review takes time, many of these social relations are not in the mainland, this wait, is twelve years.
Over the past twelve years, although every year when he reported his thoughts to the secretary, Chen Deshu was unable to join the party for the same reason, he never hesitated or hesitated. Instead, it strengthened his faith. Finally, in 1965, he became an honorable member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and has been practicing his oath since then – to contribute everything to the Party’s cause!
”The foundation is to be a human being. But hopefully it’s better to get to the elite level. But this is not forced.” Being practical and doing solid work is Chen Deshu’s creed in life. Chen Deshu always looks at things cheerfully, never empty-headed, never frustrated. Although the road ahead is still long, he firmly believes that as long as everyone works together and is down-to-earth, our country’s future will be bright.
”I often tell them, ‘When I trip over a stone while walking, I get up and walk away without even looking at it’.” No hesitation in the first half of his life, no regret in the second – perhaps, this is a true reflection of Chen Deshu’s life.
Electrical dream, lifelong struggle
The Huazhong College of Technology had only a few departments when it was first established, and the Department of Electricity was one of the first few departments. The School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) was initially called the Department of Electricity of Huazhong University of Technology (HUIST), and the head of the department at that time was Zhu Mu-mei, according to Chen Deshu’s introduction. At that time, Chen Deshu was assigned to the Power Generation and Distribution Department. According to Chen Deshu’s memories, there were a number of well-known professors in the Department of Electric Power. Leader of the commanding officer is Professor Liu Qiancai from Nanchang University, in the Power Generation and Distribution Teaching and Research Department, was also the Vice President of Huazhong University of Technology. In high voltage, Prof. Zhu Mumei from Wuhan University, who was famous in China, had been the head of the department for a long time. At that time, there were also Lin Jinming, Zhou Keding, Xu Shizhang and other famous professors in the Department of Electrical Engineering, so it can be said that there are a lot of talents.
At that time, most of the textbooks were translated from the Russian textbooks of the USSR. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were natural disasters in China, which reflected the impracticality of the Soviet-translated textbooks at the critical juncture, so the university started to write its own textbooks. From the 1960s to the end of the century, the preparation of textbooks of the university was going on, and the talented team which had been impacted by the Cultural Revolution became prosperous after the Revolution. The textbook became a model for the electric power department of domestic colleges and universities.
In the 1960s, there was a scientific research boom in Huazhong University of Technology. Under the slogan of “fighting for the Three Gorges”, the electric power talents were actively involved in the scientific research project of the Three Gorges, and Chen Shude was one of them. At that time, the scientific research was grasped by President Zhu Jiusi, “the project of the Three Gorges, we have money to engage in, no money to engage in” is a famous saying of President Zhu Jiusi. Due to the personnel transfer, Chen Deshu participated in the scientific research of projects such as ship lifter and ultra-high-voltage transmission protection, which played an important role in the construction of the Three Gorges, and made the Department of Electric Power get greater development. In the scientific research of the Great Leap Forward, Chen Deshu also made an important contribution to the scientific research and because of that project, he was awarded the Third Prize of the National Science Congress in 1978 together with a few other professors.
In the construction of electrical talents, Chen Deshu played an important role, in the post-cultural revolution, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Department of Electrical Engineering once again admitted graduate students, seven students were admitted, one of which was commissioned by the Ministry of Education of the students, and these graduate students before graduation, Chen Deshu found that the college’s faculty has not enough of the tiredness of the state of the young and the yellow. The faculty was full of old professors, very few young and middle-aged professors, and after the retirement of the old professors in a few years, the faculty would be empty, so Chen Deshu suggested that all six graduate students of the university stay in the school, and this decision had a direct impact on the development of the Department of Electrical Engineering in the following period, although not all of the six people are not all in today’s long term in the school, but they all play an important role in the development of the college, which is stable to stay in the school of Cheng Shijie is now an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Dynamic Model Laboratory, also one of the important symbols of the construction of Huazhong University of Science and Technology School of Electricity, Dynamic Model Laboratory is the short form of “Power System Dynamic Simulation Laboratory”, which is an important experimental research base of the School of Electricity. Initially the establishment of dynamic mode laboratory is Tsinghua University, our professor at that time also assisted in the construction of the laboratory, in the professor returned to the school also put forward to the school to build the request of the dynamic mode laboratory. At that time, the Hubei Provincial Electric Power Bureau Central Experiment Institute is also preparing to build a dynamic model laboratory, but Chen Deshu considered the construction of two such laboratories in central China is a waste of scientific research resources, so Chen Deshu to the joint laboratory proposal reflected to the Provincial Electric Power Bureau, so the Bureau of Electric Power and the Huagong together in the Huagong construction of dynamic simulation laboratories. Later, the scale of the dynamic simulation laboratory was expanded. In the 1980s, the Provincial Electric Power Bureau invested in the construction of a three-story building. In the 1990s, our institute built a five-story building together with the Institute of Water and Electricity. Later on, the open space in the middle of the two buildings was extended for infrastructure. Up to now, the infrastructure of the dynamic modeling laboratory has been expanded in three phases, and the equipment of the laboratory has been expanded with the development of the power system. Currently, this laboratory is one of the largest dynamic simulation laboratories in China, and was approved by the state in 2011 as one of the three important components of the “State Key Laboratory of Strong Electromagnetic Engineering and New Technology”.
(This article was compiled by Weng Wenting and other students from the News Center of the School of Electrical Engineering through searching online materials, referring to the article of Mr. Wang Tao from the School History Museum and interviewing Chen Deshu. We would like to respect your copyrights and express our heartfelt thanks.)
This article is translated from 陈德树：继电保护泰斗-华中科技大学新闻网 (hust.edu.cn)
