On May 28, 2026, the【Nangaoshi· Physics Colloquium】series, hosted by the School of Physics and Technology at Nanjing Normal University, was held in the East Lecture Hall on the second floor of Jingwen Library. Academician Ma Yuqiang, a distinguished physicist from the School of Physics at Nanjing University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited to deliver an outstanding academic lecture entitled "Physics of Complex Living Systems" for the faculty and students of the School. The lecture was presided over by Professor Zhang Lifa, Dean of the School of Physics and Technology. A number of faculty members, as well as undergraduate and graduate students from relevant disciplines, attended the event.

At the beginning of the lecture, Academician Ma Yuqiang first expounded upon the indispensable role of physics as a fundamental discipline in interdisciplinary research, thereby introducing the central theme of the lecture: "complex systems." Subsequently, Academician Ma systematically dissected this concept through five interrelated sections: (1) Physics of Complex Systems; (2) Toward Complex Living Systems; (3) Physics of Complex Living Systems; (4) Investigating Complex Living Systems Through Simple Statistical Physics Models; and (5) Phase Behaviors and Physical Regulation in Complex Living Systems.

In the section on Physics of Complex Systems, Academician Ma provided the definition of complex systems and, drawing upon Nobel Prizes associated with this field, identified its research directions and the challenges it faces. In Toward Complex Living Systems, he employed vivid examples of biological collective behavior and cellular morphological structures to illustrate the network characteristics of complex living systems and their essential feature of "emergence," examining these phenomena from the perspectives of individual-to-collective and structure-to-function transitions. Upon proceeding to Physics of Complex Living Systems, Academician Ma elaborated on the contributions of physics to complex living systems by addressing four core scientific questions: (1) How does the spontaneous emergence of order, complexity, and structure in matter arise? (2) How do living systems shape specific modes of motion and generate collective movement through energy flow? (3) How do living systems achieve robust regulatory functions through topological networks in complex environments? (4) How do living systems process information and give rise to the emergence of intelligence, and how can this mutually inspire artificial intelligence? Through a concise explanation of statistical physics, Academician Ma then guided the audience into the fourth section: Investigating Complex Living Systems Through Simple Statistical Physics Models. In this section, he successively introduced the Ising model and its applications to phase separation, spin glasses, and Hopfield neural networks; the XY model and its applications to flying swarms and synchronization phenomena; and the liquid crystal model and its applications to active liquid crystals and active macromolecules. In the final section, Academician Ma explained a series of phase behaviors, including phase ordering and phase separation, across three hierarchical levels: intracellular, cellular, and tissue scales. At the conclusion of the lecture, Academician Ma summarized the core tenet of the physics of complex living systems as the simplification of physical models and the application of statistical mechanics. He also presented a prospective outlook for this field of research by integrating his own research achievements at the Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems at Nanjing University.

Following the lecture, the attending students posed enthusiastic questions to Academician Ma on topics such as the increase and decrease of entropy and the relationship between cancer cells and complex living systems. All questions received Academician Ma's affirmation and patient responses.

Throughout this lecture, Academician Ma focused on the interdisciplinary integration of physics with biology and other disciplines, enabling the attending students to gain an in-depth understanding of the forward-looking theory of "complex living systems." The lecture inspired the faculty and students in attendance to pursue in-depth theoretical research in this domain. It is anticipated that the further integration of complex living systems with life sciences and artificial intelligence will drive new advances in scientific development.

Speaker Biography:

Ma Yuqiang, male, born in 1964 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, is a condensed matter physicist and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently a professor at the School of Physics, Nanjing University, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD). He obtained his Ph.D. in Science from Nanjing University in 1993, was appointed professor of physics at Nanjing University in 1995, was selected for the Ministry of Education's Trans-Century Talent Training Program in 1997, received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 1999, was selected for a national-level major talent program in 2001, and was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2021.

Academician Ma Yuqiang's primary research interests lie in soft condensed matter and the physics of complex living systems. He is dedicated to employing statistical physics to investigate the non-equilibrium collective motion of active matter and the phase behaviors and physical regulation of living systems at the cellular scale, making systematic and original contributions to these fields.

He has published over 300 high-quality academic papers as the corresponding author in prestigious journals including Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PRX, PRL, PNAS, and JACS. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Physics (物理学进展), Editorial Board Member of Research (a Science partner journal), Editorial Board Member of National Science Review, Academician Advisor of Frontiers of Physics, and Guest Editor of Nanoscale, among other positions.