Ms. Diem said that since high school, when she was still in school, she was fascinated by Chemistry, a subject that, according to the adults around her, would be the "pillar" of the 21st century.
She has never known since when she fell in love with numbers, reactions and the laws of nature. Choosing the Chemistry department of Hanoi University, she became one of the rare 10 female students in a class of nearly 100 people.
Here, each class hour and each lecture were the "bricks" that built a solid foundation of knowledge, which later became the scientific basis for all of Ms. Vu Thi Diem's research work. Also from those years, when each day was a journey to discover the wonders of chemistry, Ms. Diem fostered in herself the spirit of self-study and a constant thirst for knowledge.
After graduating from university in 1966, when she was only 21 years old, she was assigned to teach chemistry at the Mechanical High School II (Vinh Phuc). That was the time when the country was still immersed in war, teaching was a difficult journey. The image of herself wearing a straw hat, carrying a briefcase, waking up at 5am to go to work, while bombs were still falling outside, is deeply imprinted in her memory.
During her 7 years of teaching, she not only imparted knowledge to her students, but also actively learned and accumulated practical experience. In her free time after class, Ms. Diem spent time in the library, passionately reading and translating Russian documents, not only to improve her professional skills, but also to enrich her foreign language skills.
Ms. Diem affirmed that foreign languages are effective tools for scientific research. Proficiency in four foreign languages: French, Russian, Chinese, and English has created conditions for her to actively research, translate foreign documents, and conduct experiments in a scientific and methodical manner.
Scientist Vu Thi Diem (second from left) and colleagues from the Technology Department (Institute of Mechanical Research). Photo: Provided by the character
Although she returned to teaching after finishing her studies, new knowledge and modern research methods began to shape a turning point in her career. In 1974, she transferred to work at the Institute of Industrial Machine Design, Ministry of Mechanics and Metallurgy (now the Institute of Mechanical Research, Ministry of Industry and Trade). Leaving the lecture platform, she switched to research, choosing the arduous field of metal plating, often considered a "territory" for men.
At that time, amidst the hardships of the subsidy period, bicycles were an essential means of transport and valuable assets of workers. Therefore, the demand for decorative plating and protection of bicycle parts as well as mechanical parts increased. “Plating” is a coating technology to treat metal surfaces, with many purposes such as anti-rust, anti-wear due to friction. After tireless efforts in the laboratory, she successfully researched the technology of copper-tin alloy plating, chromium plating and shiny zinc plating, applied to the details of the phoenix bicycle.
Ms. Diem recalls: “I went to factories, borrowed sample blanks such as handlebars, thighs, and discs to test plating, the whole factory was overwhelmed by the glossiness of the products”. The plating process also required a large amount of water, so she and her colleagues carried water from the well and filled the tanks to conduct the plating test. The result was a shiny, mirror-like plating layer that was also effective in preventing corrosion. She then transferred this plating technology to factories for application, contributing to improving the product quality of many enterprises.
The most brilliant mark in Ms. Vu Thi Diem's career is the project of electroplating electric poles for the 500kV North-South line, a symbol of the country's modern industry and electrical safety. In 1992, when the project was launched, the difficult problem was that the domestic electricity industry could not produce anti-rust electric poles in large quantities, pushing import costs to a huge level. The Institute of Industrial Machine Design - where Ms. Diem worked - assigned her the responsibility of researching anti-rust electric pole electroplating technology, a task of national significance.
With this responsibility, Ms. Diem has been diligently researching hot-dip galvanizing technology. She personally manufactured sample panels and conducted tests with workers at the factory. After nearly a month of hard work, with hundreds of tests, hot-dip galvanizing samples that met quality standards were born, followed by a series of galvanizing tanks being built and put into mass production. In just a short time, thousands of galvanized electric poles made in Vietnam were erected, contributing to speeding up the progress of the 500kV North-South transmission line project.
With her great contributions to the field of plating technology, in 1998, engineer Vu Thi Diem was honored to receive the Kovalevskaia Prize, a prestigious award for outstanding female scientists. She was recognized as a leading expert in plating, participating in many international scientific conferences; at the same time, she was sent to the Soviet Union to learn advanced technology, serving domestic research. Ms. Diem devoted herself to plating science and technology, until her retirement in 2000, when she was just 55 years old.
The 1998 Kovalevskaia Prize is a worthy reward for the contributions of scientist Vu Thi Diem in the field of scientific plating. Photo: Provided by the character
At the age of 80, when her health is no longer as good as before, having undergone joint replacement surgery and suffering from bone pain when the weather changes, Ms. Diem is still optimistic and believes that this is "evidence" of her youthful years, tirelessly dedicating herself to science.
She does not consider herself a great person, but simply a person who loves science, loves work and is always grateful for the small fortunes in life. The conversation between me and Mrs. Diem was interrupted a few times by phone calls from friends. At the age of 80, Mrs. Diem is still actively participating in neighborhood activities and plays the role of head of the liaison committee in class groups. The attachment to the collective becomes the "pieces" that create the picture of her rich and complete life.
In the middle of the bustling Thuoc Bac street, where life is bustling with all kinds of sounds, Mrs. Diem's story is like a warm, simple but meaningful song: "Each era has its own challenges, but if we know how to make an effort, be confident and not afraid to try, then nothing is impossible."
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