The year 2021 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Shiing-Shen Chern, and it is regarded as the "Year of Shiing-Shen Chern" by the Chern Institute of Mathematics (CIM). A series of commemorative activities will be held this year with many exciting and high-level academic events as the highlights of the commemoration, which are believed to be the best gift for Prof. Chern on the 110th anniversary of his birth.

On the afternoon of March 30, Prof. Mo-Lin Ge, renowned physicist and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered a Zhide Lecture titled "Our Responsibility: Basic Research and Technological Progress" at CIM, which marks the official beginning of the commemoration for the "Year of Shiing-Shen Chern". Prof. Ge explained the features of basic research and the importance of new technologies with simple but profound words, as well as examples of success stories about maths and physics. He encouraged all the students to learn to ask good questions, think deeply, innovate boldly on the basis of fundamental laws, place emphasis on the cross-development of different disciplines and make contributions to our country.

Mo-Lin Ge was born in Beijing in 1938. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at the Chern Institute of Mathematics. He was previously the vice director of the Science & Technology Commission of Ministry of Education, and a member of many academic groups including the Strategy Committee of Ministry of Education, Committee of Academic Atmosphere Construction of Ministry of Education, Award Committe of Ministry of Education, and the vice president of Tianjin Science and Technology Association. Mo-Lin Ge is mainly engaged in research on theoretical physics. He is a recipient of the National Award for Science and Technology Progress by Ministry of Education, the National Award for Natural Sciences, Award of National Conference on Science, National Teaching Award, Scientific and Technological Progress Award by Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, and Golden Ball Award by Hong Kong Burlingame Education Foundation. He has also been working on the application of compressive sensing to imaging super-weak signal.

In 2016, Dr. Haibing Zhou and Ms. Ying Hou donated 100 million RMB to their alma mater Nankai University, a part of which was used to establish Zhide Foundation to support the development of several schools and colleges in Nankai University. Lectures delivered by the recipients of the "Zhide Outstanding Contribution Award", "Zhide Outstanding Achievement Award" and "Zhide Excellent Achievement Award", which are all set and supported by Zhide Foundation, are named as Zhide Lecture.

After the lecture, Prof. Mo-Lin Ge had lively discussions with the teachers and students present and answered their questions in detail.