Zhengzhan Shang 尚正斩
I am a scientific communicator and a researcher who is working on theoretical models and numerical simulations of solar and stellar dynamos. In simpler terms, I study how stars generate and maintain their magnetic fields—by solving equations that are generally unimpressed by human intuition.
I was born and raised in China and developed my interest in physics and astronomy during middle school—somewhat unexpectedly—by watching the U.S. sitcom The Big Bang Theory (for which I owe sincere thanks to the creators, cast, and everyone involved).
Ironically, physics and mathematics were not exactly my strongest school subjects back then—despite universal agreement that they were “very important.” Nevertheless, armed with persistence and a tolerance for confusion, I went on to earn a B.Sc. from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in the United States, an M.Sc. from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (University of Göttingen) in Germany, and is currently pursuing my Ph.D. at Universität Graz (University of Graz) in Austria.
我是一名科学传播者，也是一名从事太阳与恒星发电机理论模型与数值模拟研究的科研人员。通俗一点说，我研究的是恒星如何产生并维持它们的磁场——主要方式是与那些通常并不怎么“尊重人类直觉”的方程打交道。
我在中国出生并长大，在中学时期通过观看美国情景喜剧《生活大爆炸》——颇为出人意料地——对物理和天文学产生了兴趣。在此，我对该剧的创作者、演员以及所有幕后工作人员表示由衷的感谢。
颇具讽刺意味的是，尽管大家普遍认为物理和数学“非常重要”，它们在当时却并不是我最擅长的学科。不过，凭借着坚持不懈的精神以及对“困惑状态”的高度容忍度，我先后获得了美国威斯康星大学史蒂文斯角分校的理学学士学位、德国哥廷根大学的理学硕士学位，目前正在奥地利格拉茨大学攻读博士学位。
Life Before I Chose Suffering: The Cooler (and Slightly Unhinged) Chapters
Things I did, places I went, and situations I willingly entered before becoming a researcher. These moments shaped who I am today, added deeply unnecessary but beautiful chaos to my life, and are lovingly recalled whenever PhD life becomes unbearable.
在我主动选择受苦之前：那些更酷（而且略微失控）的章节
在成为科研人员之前，我做过的事、去过的地方，以及我自愿跳进去的各种“人生情境”。这些经历塑造了今天的我，为我的生活加入了大量并非必要、却异常美丽的混乱，并且在博士生活变得难以忍受时，被我反复、深情地回忆起来。
