The First Doctoral Degree Certificate of New China Collected by NMC

On June 1, 2018, Wang Chunfa, Director of National Museum of China (NMC), met with Professor Ma Zhongqi at the NMC and received on behalf of the NMC the first doctoral degree certificate issued by New China, among other items, donated by Professor Ma Zhongqi.

Professor Ma is a famous theoretical physicist in China, a senior professor of the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of the first 18 PhDs in New China. On May 16, 2018, Professor Ma expressed that he would like to donate his doctoral degree certificate numbered 10001 conferred in 1982 and relevant items to the NMC so that these items of historical importance can be permanently preserved by the state.

According to Professor Ma, the Ministry of Education decided to establish pilot doctoral programs in universities and institutes such as Chinese Academy of Sciences and Fudan University after the Chinese economic reform in 1978. In the same year, he passed the national post-graduate exams with excellent results and was enrolled as a PhD candidate in the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His tutor was Professor Hu Ning, a renowned physicist. On February 6, 1982, Ma participated in the oral defense of his doctoral dissertation. The evaluation committee was composed of many authoritative physicists of New China, winners of the title of “China's father of atomic bomb ” and academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, including Gu Chaohao and Peng Huanwu, among others. On March 4, Ma successfully obtained the doctoral degree certificate numbered 10001. The certificate was signed by the academician Qian Sanqiang, then Director of Academic Divisions of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Thus, MA became the first person awarded with PhD since the founding of New China. In 1983, the leaders of the CPC and the state met with the 18 first-batch PhD certificate recipients in the Great Hall of the People. Ma delivered a speech on behalf of the 18 doctors at the podium of the Great Hall of the People due to the number on his doctoral degree certificate - No. 10001.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the China’s reform and opening up. The No. 10001 PhD certificate of New China and related objects will, to a certain extent, enrich the NMC’s collections on China’s education achievements since the economic reform. As an important evidence of the glorious history of New China’s science and technology development, this PhD certificate is also of symbolic meaning.