"When all those around me are drunk

I alone am sober

" lamented an ancient Chinese poet on fighting a lone and helpless cause. In the world of science a few decades ago

there was also a lone researcher who pursued the field of optical resolution despite suspicions and derisions. Unlike those who made their names young

this scientist only succeeded thanks to his own perseverance. He developed the 4Pi microscope and successfully increased the vertical resolution of traditional optical microscopes by 3-7 times. Once he sold the patent to a company

he invested the little personal money gained from the patent in breaking the Abbe diffraction limit. Despite all his hard work

his papers kept getting rejected by respected journals

and his work was subjected to mistrust and even criticism. This scientist is Stefan Hell

someone who is never afraid of difficulties and ever determined to forge ahead.

Hell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014 for being the first to propose and demonstrate that the optical diffraction limit can be broken

and for successfully developing the STED super-resolution fluorescence microscope. Later Hell and his colleagues proposed and commercialized MINFLUX

which brought optical microscopy technology to the three-dimensional single-nanometer scale

opening the "post-superresolution era".

Frank and sincere

persistent and humble

boldly innovative and resolute

Hell is a scientist

an entrepreneur

a mentor

and an everyday man who enjoys life.

In this interview

we will reacquaint ourselves with the Nobel laureate

Stefan Hell.