PhD Student Hides Marriage Proposal In Research Paper!

This is possibly one of the most nerdy proposals we’ve ever seen…but also one of the sweetest too!

As anyone who has one will tell you, getting a PhD is no easy task. It requires years of study, hard work, failed experiments, late nights, endless coffee, and missing out on more than a few important things in your personal life. Through it all, if you’re lucky, you’ll still have supportive family and friends by the end of it.

Chinese PhD student Rui Long, from the school of Energy and Power Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (that’s a mouthful), is one of the lucky ones. His PhD paper was published online back in January, and keen readers were quick to point out something super sweet in his acknowledgements.

Long wrote “we acknowledge the support received from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. In addition, Rui Long wants to thank, in particular, the patience, care and support from Panpan Mao over the passed years. Will you marry me?”

Dr. Jess Wade of Imperial College London noticed the romantic message and posted it on Twitter, and it quickly went viral. The world scrambled to contact Long to see if his beloved Panpan accepted the proposal… and she did!   

It may not be a flash mob, or a fireworks display, or a super romantic intimate moment while watching a sunset, but we think this is a super sweet way to pop the question. Congratulations to Rui and Panpan!