The Heritage Park of Scientists - a priceless asset left for the people

Unprecedented assets

As soon as he received this information, Prof. Tri openly talked about a wish of more than 20 years from him and his colleagues: "All documents and artifacts left by scientists are also from the people. This invaluable asset of the people must be left to the people".

The decision to donate the Heritage Park of Scientists to the country is not an explosive decision. That intention has been cherished since the first days of the project - Professor Tri shared.

Professor. Nguyen Anh Tri said: "More than 30 years ago, when I was a PhD student, I always appreciated the comments and opinions from scientists. I realized that it was not only necessary to complete the thesis, but also had profound meaning for the whole journey of my life.

From that thought, I began to cherish the desire: Not only me, but many other graduate students also need a way to preserve and share those valuable opinions - not only in the medical field but also in many other fields.

From there, I cherish that if I have the conditions in the future, I will build a park to preserve the memories and heritages of the scientific masters - as a way to show gratitude and leave lasting values for the country. Right from the moment it was formed in thinking, that aspiration always had a spirit of dedication".

In 1999, I shared my desire to build a "Heritage Park" with my family and received absolute consensus. Since then, together with colleagues and students, I have gradually realized that dream. In 2003, I officially proposed the project to build the Heritage Park of Scientists.

We named the journey Meddom - an abbreviation for Memory of Doctor and Master. To date, Medom includes two main locations: the Vietnamese Scientists Heritage Center in Hanoi - where scientists are received, researched and worked; and the Heritage Park of Scientists in Tieng hamlet, Bac Phong commune, Cao Phong district (Hoa Binh) - where heritage values are stored, displayed and organized in a vivid and humane way.

Up to now, the park has an area of about 34 hectares, with streams, hills, and plain areas... The road is now more convenient than before due to local development.

In addition to the park space, there are 2 important entities: the Vietnam Scientists' Heritage Museum and the Center for Life Skills Education. There are about 1 million documents and artifacts of 7,000 Vietnamese scientists in many fields, especially medicine.

There are artifacts preserved since the 1930s: handwritten diaries, birth certificates in Chinese characters, graduation certificates at all levels of scientists or doctoral degrees from the Soviet Union by Prof. Dr. Thai Van Trung, and even rare handwritten copies from abroad.

Currently, the full text of Prof. Thai Van Trung is no longer kept. Only the MSc. "Report on the content and quality of science and technology of the project registered for consideration of awards for research projects on tropical forest ecosystems in Vietnam" was handwritten by Prof. Dr. Thai Van Trung on March 4, 2000 on a 21x32cm across thick paper.

In addition, there is a copy of the original, including: Mechanical pressing of the chaplain 1, handwritten copy of the list of illustrative photos, color photos of trees, forest planting models... along with the book published in 1999. All are preserved by the Professor's family at the Vietnam Scientists' Heritage Center - an important milestone in his forest science career.

A modern archiving system with warehouses of paper documents, solid artifacts, films, audio recordings and digital data platforms has created a vivid heritage warehouse. Meddom is not only a museum, but also a place to organize experiential activities, educate life skills for students and scientists.

Never regret

"I think that if the Vietnam Scientists Heritage Park is donated at this time, the State will save significant investment costs. At the same time, the implementation process will also be much more favorable when not having to start from zero" - Prof. Tri said.

The State can immediately inherit Meddom's brand, reputation and even its staff to continue developing the Vietnam Scientists' Heritage Park into a unique, modern and unique destination.

Prof. Tri also recounted the process of collecting invaluable documents and artifacts. The process of building Meddom as it is today has countless memories. What is more valuable is that those documents do not only belong to scientists, but are also the spiritual property of the people. Therefore, the preservation, conservation and announcement of these artifacts is not for private ownership, but to give back to the community - as a way to repay the debt.

"From the beginning, we have determined: If we can do it, we must donate, not keep it for ourselves. To do that, we need to come into close contact with each scientist, build trust, and then go to the stage of processing and digitizing artifacts...

In the first phase, accessing documents was extremely difficult. For scientists, these are invaluable spiritual assets - it is not easy to entrust to a private unit, especially when no one has ever done anything similar before. We were rejected, even invited to come back once because... it sounded too strange. But then her dedication and seriousness were gradually recognized. Many scientists have come to the Heritage Center in Hanoi, sit and chat, consider carefully, and even go to Heritage Park to witness it firsthand.

We have been in a state of... disbelief for 5 years. Prof. Tri once shared very frankly: "I'm not angry about this. That is natural - if anyone comes to ask for my documents and artifacts, I also have to consider it". But with perseverance and an open-minded attitude, we have finally done the most important thing: gain the trust" - Prof. Tri added.

Among them, it is necessary to mention the companionship of many dedicated experts and consultants. In particular, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huy - son of Professor, Nguyen Van Huyen, former Minister of National Education (now the Ministry of Education and Training) - played the role of Professional Director, directly participating in training staff and orienting development strategies for the project.

That heritage has a profound meaning in honoring the silent but great contributions of intellectuals, while contributing to building a profound culture and a civilized society. The greatest significance is perhaps the educational value for the younger generation - as evidenced by the thousands of students who have come to the Heritage Park of Scientists to visit, learn and feel.

The transfer at the present time, according to Mr. Tri, is a reasonable choice: "The park has been put into stable operation. If taken over by the State, it will save a lot of time and costs, and at the same time, it can inherit the brand and personnel team to develop to new heights".