One of the key policies for China to enter the world frontier of science and technology is to better cultivate strategic scientists. It is our urgent need to thoroughly understand why we need strategic scientists, what the characteristics the strategic scientists should be provided with, and how to cultivate next generation of strategic scientists. A good understanding of these issues will lay the foundation to formulate specific and efficient scientific policies to fully tap the potential of strategic scientists. Currently science and technologies represent one major area of international competition. Thus, it is essential to allow strategic scientists to play more important roles in scientific research, technological advances, and economic development. At the same time, a systematic series of policies are needed to support the next generation strategic scientists.

This paper first clarifies the question of what is the strategy of science and technology in the conceptual connotation, and then expounds the task and the mission of the strategic scientist from the angle of the generation and the realization of the task goal in science and technology, and analyzes the scientific attributes, the strategic properties and the personality characteristics that make a strategic scientist. It is emphasized that in the specific historical period, the whole nation system of science and technology is the place where the strategic scientists are engaged, and they are the key minority for the national safety of science and technology in their talent net-chain. The paper also points out that the strategic scientists and the executive leaders of science and technology are different, and that the cultivation of strategic scientists is not the same as training of executive leaders of science and technology:the difference of "cultivation" and "training" lies in providing a good environment for scientists to become strategic scientists. The paper also points out that, unlike the engineering application in a great demand from the country, a great scientist who has made a great scientific contribution in pure basic research is the real strategic scientist. Based on the understanding and the sublimation of the above concepts, this paper defines and subdivides the types of strategic scientists, and accordingly offers my personal opinions on how to cultivate strategic scientists in China at the present stage.

The training of strategic scientists is extremely important, because they play important role in the development of science and technology. It is pointed out that the administrators of science and technology should not be ignorant about science, and only good at administration, but must be themselves scientists with outstanding capabilities of administration, that is, they must be strategic scientists. To be strategic scientists:they must first be scientists; especially, young scientists, with outstanding ability of administration, and with scientific research practice. The paper shows that the basic qualities and abilities of outstanding scientists are as follows:strong scientific interest and extraordinary talent, solid professional foundation and strong scientific research ability, broad academic vision, strong sense of innovation, the ability of fighting protracted battles on research. In addition, it must be emphasized that strategic scientists must have reliable academic insight and extraordinary administration and communication skills. But excellent qualities alone cannot make strategic scientists. The growth experience of strategic scientists shows that for the qualities to be transformed into the abilities, special influence and hard work are indispensable. The paper discusses the necessary links of training strategic scientists, and the methods and steps of training strategic scientists.

Strategic scientists are the "key minority" in the national strategic talent force. The training and the use of strategic scientists is a task of great significance for the development of science and technology in our country. This paper studies the typical strategic scientists by using CV analysis method, focusing on the characteristics of scientists' social background, education background, work experience, science and technology contribution and scientific spirit, as well as the role that strategic scientists play in national science and technology development. Some suggestions are put forward on training and using strategic scientists in our country.

National research institutions are an important part of the national strategic S & T forces. As a gathering place of strategic talents, national research institutions take the important responsibility of cultivating and properly using strategic talents. It is pointed out in this paper that the strategic talents of national research institutions have the characteristics of hierarchy, concentration, difference, and organization. Then the international experiences of three categories of national research institutions in the cultivation and the use of strategic talents are analyzed. The first category of national research institutions is in the science frontier of the world, the second category is in accordance with the national strategic needs, and the third category is adapted to the industry and market development needs. Finally, based on the current situation of Chinese national research institutions in terms of cultivating and using strategic talents, this paper suggests that we should bring into full play the national research institutions in cultivating and using strategic talents, explore the establishment of mission-oriented classified cultivation and use mode of strategic talents, and establish a more open mechanism for cultivating and using strategic talents. These suggestions will help realize the strategic goal of building a powerful China with talents in the new era.

This paper reviews the history of modern science and technology in China, focusing on the outstanding contributions of Li Siguang, as the founder of geomechanics and one of the main leaders and founders of modern geoscience in China. The characteristics of "strategic scientist" are analyzed, as a combination of "scientist", "scientific and technological talent" and "strategist". It is concluded that Li Siguang is a well deserved strategic scientist.

This paper reviews Qian Xuesen's main contributions as a strategic scientist, such as his participation in the planning of China's modern science and technology, the promotion of the institutionalization of China's engineering sciences, and the organization of the establishment of China's missile and aerospace science and technology. And this paper analyzes the main process of Qian Xuesen's growing up into a strategic scientist, that is, Qian Xuesen was brought up in an open social environment, was educated in a famous scientific school to be an outstanding engineering scientist; New China provided a platform for Qian Xuesen to display his talents and make contributions. In addition, his excellent political cultivation enabled Qian Xuesen to skillfully handle the relationship between science and politics. So a lesson of significance could be learned for the training of strategic scientists.

Based on the life course theory, this paper studies the growth trajectory and mechanism of strategic scientists in China, with applied optics specialist Wang Daheng as an example. It is shown that the growth of strategic scientists is a longterm process, subject to the influencing factors such as the social environment, the personal initiative, and the timing, and is the result of the combined action of these factors. Specifically, the social environment is the basic condition for the growth of strategic scientists; Individual agency plays an important role in this, and its interaction with the social environment, and the timings in life provide opportunities and development support for the growth of scientists. On this basis, some suggestions are made for cultivating strategic scientists.