UCAS graduates urged to align scientific pursuits with national needs

The Migdal effect, a decades-old puzzle in particle physics that was experimentally confirmed for the first time by a Chinese team, featured in this year's physics exam of the college entrance examination in Beijing. Its lead researchers were also among the more than 16,000 students who completed their studies this year at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

UCAS President Zhou Qi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, urged graduates to prioritize national needs, become leaders of change and uphold the enduring legacy passed down through generations of scientists.

"You should take great pride, for the incoming Class of 2026 in Beijing will be the very first to crack the 'scientific code' you helped set," Zhou told lead researchers Su Chenguang and Yi Difan at the university's graduation ceremony at the Yanqi Lake Campus on Sunday. More than 8,000 graduate representatives and over 20,000 family members attended the event.

The Migdal effect, first proposed by Soviet physicist Arkady Migdal, is regarded as a key mechanism for detecting dark matter — the invisible substance believed to make up the vast majority of the universe's mass.

Recalling the team's research journey, Yi said they endured countless failed experiments and data-analysis bottlenecks after he joined the lab as a sophomore.

"True scientific breakthroughs never come from a sudden spark of genius, but from the quiet eruption of quantitative change into qualitative leaps over countless ordinary days," he said.