When we were young, we all heard the story of Marie Curie's discovery of radium, and everyone must not be familiar with the element of radium.
The protagonist of our story today is inextricably linked to this mysterious element "radium".
As early as the autumn of 1931, Zhao Zhongyao, who was only 29 years old and had already obtained a doctorate, came to work at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, which was already famous all over the world, and the campus was a gathering place for talented people. Zhao Zhongyao was working with the famous British physicist Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory at cambridge university.
There is an old Chinese saying: "See the hearts of the people over time." At first, Rutherford did not pay much attention to this young man from China, who was not proud, but later through the conversation, he found that the young man was very unusual:
Zhao Zhongyao always worked so desperately and selflessly, and the tasks entrusted to him every day could be completed in advance, and the quality and quantity were guaranteed, and this work attitude had not changed for several months.
The work in the laboratory is very intense, rutherford sometimes feels very tired, but Zhao Zhongyao is still tireless, sometimes in order to seek advice like Rutherford, often stay until the early morning, repeated experiments to verify the point of view.
Once or twice may be simple, but no one can do it, and then Rutherford was deeply impressed by his work attitude, and the two gradually developed a friendship.
Before Zhao Zhongyao returned to China, Rutherford remembered that Zhao Zhongyao had said that China still did not have radium elements, and he was very sorry
Rutherford gave 50 mg radium to Zhao Zhongyao as a "gift".
Radium element that shines in the darkness
It should be known that radium is a radioactive substance that has great harm to the human body, and if it is not properly preserved, the consequences are unimaginable.
Zhao Zhongyao carefully packed this 50 mg "baby" and hid it in the deepest part of the suitcase, just like that, from Britain to China, experienced cross-ocean bumps, experienced countless hardships, and finally brought radium back to China.
Later, Zhao Zhongyao carefully stored the radium in the safe of the laboratory of Tsinghua University for future research.
At this point, we all have a question, why did Zhao Zhongyao use a pickle jar to hold this precious radium later? Why would a returnee become a "beggar"?
Zhao Zhongyao
In the next story, we will find the answers one by one.
Stories related to "radium"
In 1896, Marie Curie and her husband discovered a ray in their research and found that there was no similar property to it in the existing elements, so Marie Curie prepared to study it in depth and named it "radioactive element".
Later, she spent nearly four years boiling thousands of kilograms of bitum residue to extract 0.1 grams of radium from it.
We know that Curie did not find and extract radium easily, and we know that radium, as a radioactive element, can treat cancer, and should have heard of how much radiation damages organisms.
The principle is that radiation will cut off DNA molecules, and then change genetic traits, and complete irreversible damage to human nerves, reproduction, immune system, etc.
It follows that scientists are a truly dedicated group of great people.
After Zhao Zhongyao brought Radium to China, within a few years, he went to teach at some universities in other places and left Tsinghua.
Later, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began, and the July 7 Incident opened the prelude to the ugliness of the war. Within a few days, the Japanese army occupied Peiping.
Zhao Zhongyao, who was in Shanghai at that time, heard about this incident and was extremely worried about the future and fate of the motherland, and was even more concerned about the safety of the lives of the people of Beiping. Most importantly, the laboratory of Tsinghua University still hides the hard-won radium element. When the Japanese army enters the city, it will burn and rob the captives, and Tsinghua University will definitely be the primary target.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhongyao couldn't sit still.
"I have to go back to Beiping!"
As soon as these words were uttered, everyone around them felt that Zhao Zhongyao had lost his mind and advised him one after another: "Beiping is full of wars, and everyone is afraid of hiding, if you go back now, won't you just send him to death?" ”
"Even if you die, you can't let radium fall into the hands of the Japanese!"
Zhao Zhongyao dropped this sentence heavily, then simply packed his bags and embarked on the road north.
Along the way, the farther north you go, the greater the smoke of war. Along the way, the further north you go, the more displaced people you see. Gradually, Zhao Zhongyao could not bear to look again, he closed his eyes in pain, and let the roar of the train and the sound of artillery fire ring in his ears.
After coming to Beiping, Zhao Zhongyao first came to the home of his former colleague Liang Sicheng, a famous architect, who was packing his bags and preparing to lead his students to escape from Beiping.
Zhao Zhongyao's door could not be knocked on, and the wind and dust sneaked into Liang Sicheng's door, and the boat and car were tired and the gunfire smoke was added, and Liang Sicheng looked at it three times before he recognized that this person was Zhao Zhongyao.
"How did you get back?" Aren't you out of town? Now that Peiping has fallen, what are you coming back for? ”
Three consecutive questions show that Liang Sicheng's arrival of Zhao Zhongyao can be described as incomprehensible.
Zhao Zhongyao only replied in a low voice: "I want to ask you for a favor, there is something hidden in the laboratory, I have to ask you to take a risk, drive to Tsinghua, I will go to get it back." ”
Liang Sicheng listened and immediately understood. If it weren't for something heavier than life, Zhao Zhongyao wouldn't have done so, so he agreed to him.
Because at that time, Peiping was full of Japanese sentries, and if it was discovered, the end was obvious: either killed on the spot, or captured as a prisoner.
The two men briefly discussed and decided to go in the evening, because it was getting dark and it was still possible to avoid the sentry.
Along the way, several times they were almost spotted by the Japanese patrol, and the two had to hide in the shadows, waiting until the patrol was far away before driving. After many hardships, they finally came to the door of Tsinghua University.
Seeing that Tsinghua had not yet been occupied by the Japanese army, Zhao Zhongyao was relieved, and after explaining that Liang Sicheng was well hidden, Zhao Zhongyao quickly walked to the laboratory. After a few minutes, Liang Sicheng saw Zhao Zhongyao come out holding a lead bucket, and Liang Sicheng said doubtfully: "This white lead barrel is too eye-catching, how are you going to take it out?" ”
Liang Sicheng
Zhao Zhongyao comforted: "Rest assured, I will think of a way, you pay attention to safety, quickly evacuate!" ”
After the two hurriedly said goodbye, Zhao Zhongyao put the lead bucket into his coat and prepared to escape with it, but at this time there was no car to leave Beiping. Seeing that the sky was about to dawn, Zhao Zhongyao had nowhere to go, and when he saw a group of fleeing people at the city wall, he followed him.
Thinking that during the day, the lead bucket might be conspicuous in his arms, Zhao Zhongyao made a clever move, picked up a pickle jar on the ground, and put the lead bucket inside. After fastening the lid, from the outside, it was exactly a pickle jar, so Zhao Zhongyao walked forward with the refugees with confidence.
"Where are we going?" Zhao Zhongyao asked the refugees around him.
"I don't know, where there is no war, go wherever you want!" He only got such a vague, resigned answer.
Or, Zhao Zhongyao thought to himself, as long as you escape, everything is hopeful.
In this way, he followed the refugees all the way to the south, and gradually, Beiping City became farther and farther behind him, farther and farther away, until it disappeared. However, the overhead artillery fire did not disappear, and the Japanese planes circled overhead from time to time, and the planes only needed a few minutes to catch up with the way they walked in a day. Many refugees, ordinary frightened birds, shouted and hid when they heard the sound of the plane, at this time Zhao Zhongyao's clothes were also burned by the cannon fire, and his face was covered with dust.
After several days of hunger, Zhao Zhongyao's cheeks and eye sockets quickly sunk, and at this time, his only thought was hunger.
Among them, the hungry refugees rushed up to grab his pickle jar, and Zhao Zhongyao desperately protected: "This is not food, folks, this is not food!" The tone was almost pleading.
More and more artillery fire made these refugees dare not go any further during the day, and during the day, everyone stayed in one place to rest, and waited for the night when the artillery fire was sparse. Walking and stopping, I don't even know how long it took, Zhao Zhongyao looked like a beggar completely, especially holding a pickle jar with missing horns, really like a person who was begging.
Zhao Zhongyao walked to the river, saw his own appearance through the reflection, and smiled bitterly, but there was clear determination and determination in his eyes.
This is a look that no beggar would have.
After arriving at a place without artillery fire, Zhao Zhongyao asked some of the people where it was, and the people replied that this was Changsha, where Chairman Mao was, and a safe and warm place.
Zhao Zhongyao was overjoyed to hear this, and he still remembered that Liang Sicheng had said that Tsinghua would set up a temporary school building in Changsha during the separation. So he inquired along the way, and finally one day in October 1937, he found the temporary school of Tsinghua University in Changsha.
Zhao Zhongyao waited at the door for a while, he did not enter the school door for a long time, he had not taken care of it for many days, the whole person looked at the unkempt face, ragged clothes, a pair of broken shoes on his feet, a wooden stick in one hand, and a pickle jar in the other, living like a beggar.
Just when he was hesitating at the school gate, suddenly Mei Yiqi, the principal of Tsinghua University, accompanied several guests out of the school gate, which made Zhao Zhongyao very happy. When Mei Yiqi bid farewell to the guests and was about to return, Zhao Zhongyao quickly ran over, grabbed Mei Yiqi's sleeve, and shouted, "Principal Mei! ”
Just when Mei Yiqi was confused, at this time, the doorman rushed forward and wanted to pick people up.
"Wait!"
Mei Yiqi stopped the doorman, he looked at the "beggar" in front of him fixedly, only to see that the beggar looked at the face of some vicissitudes and tears were gushing out, this was a familiar face!
"You are... Professor Zhao Zhongyao? Mei Yiqi asked with some uncertainty.
Zhao Zhongyao nodded heavily.
"Professor, what have you been through and how did you get here?" Mei Yiqi shook Zhao Zhongyao's hands and asked.
"I can't say enough, I finally found you!" Zhao Zhongyao replied.
Principal Mei hurriedly said, "Hurry, let's talk about it first." ”
After saying that, Mei Yiqi invited Zhao Zhongyao into the principal's office and poured him a cup of tea, only to notice that Zhao Zhongyao was holding a pickle jar and not leaving his hand. Mei Yiqi asked him to put it down, and Zhao Zhongyao looked at the pickle jar in his arms, which was really relieved, put the pickle jar on the table, and took a sip of tea.
Then he opened the pickle jar, took out the complete lead bucket from it, and said, "Principal, this is the 50 mg radium I brought out of tsinghua's laboratory." ”
Principal Mei was stunned after hearing this, and only then did he understand why Professor Zhao Zhongyao, who was originally personable, was now dressed in tatters, and it seemed that he had experienced something.
It turned out that after the Japanese army invaded Andi, Principal Mei fled with the students in a hurry and established a temporary school, which was busy every day and could not take into account many things. Later, I suddenly realized that the things in the laboratory had not been taken away, but it was too late, and Principal Mei sighed for a long time because of this matter. Now seeing that Zhao Zhongyao actually brought the radium out, Principal Mei was happy and moved in his heart.
In this way, Zhao Zhongyao completed his mission perfectly.
The legendary experience of Zhao Zhongyao is even more worth mentioning.
Lost the Nobel Prize
Time back to around 1930, when Zhao Zhongyao was still studying at the California Institute of Technology in the United States.
At the age of twenty-seven or eight, after research, he found that the annihilation radiation of positive and negative electron pairs, and further measured the energy of this radiation, which is just equivalent to the size of the rest mass of the electron.
This research discovery was unprecedented at the time, he was the first person to make this scientific research result, and the scientific research result was great enough to make Zhao Zhongyao win the Nobel Prize in Physics!
Regrettably, the Nobel Prize was later awarded to his classmate Anderson, who discovered this scientific research in 1936, more than 6 years later than Zhao Zhongyao.
Because of this incident, Professor Exton, the former director of the Nobel Prize Committee in Physics, once used this as a lesson, affirming that Zhao Zhongyao was the first person to discover this scientific research, and warned people: "This is a disturbing and irreparable omission." ”
Mistakes have already been made, and it is difficult to harvest the water, and in this way, the person who should have won the Nobel Prize in physics has become a nameless person.
After this incident, people around him were expressing regret for Zhao Zhongyao's experience, and people often came to comfort him.
In this regard, Zhao Zhongyao did not pay attention to it, the so-called master is a talent with a large pattern and a long vision, and Zhao Zhongyao can be described as a real master. He warned himself that as a physicist, he was born for new research discoveries, not for winning prizes, so the Nobel Prize was not available, and it had no impact on his life.
Zhao Zhongyao still soaked himself in the laboratory and did research all day long. Soon after, he published a series of papers, including the far-reaching "Measurement of Hard Gamma Ray Absorption Coefficient", "Scattering of Hard Gamma Rays", "Mixed Cosmic Ray Clustering" and many other papers.
Later, Zhao Zhongyao, who had a great sense of family and country, found that his various achievements abroad were not enough to influence and help his own country, so he was bent on returning to China to support the cause of nuclear weapons research at home.
Day and night, he finally got the opportunity to return home in 1931. Before returning, he received Rutherford's 50-milligram radium at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in england, which led to the scene described above.
In 1931, Zhao Zhongyao returned to his country full of joy, full of patriotic enthusiasm, he served as a professor in the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University, and established China's first nuclear physics laboratory for the first time, and opened the first physics course.
During this period, Zhao Zhongyao and his teacher Ye Qisun trained a group of talents who contributed to the cause of China's nuclear physics.
Among them: Deng Jiaxian, Zhu Guangya, Qian Sanqiang, etc., including Nobel laureates in physics Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao, were also former students of Zhao Zhongyao.
Yang Zhenning and Deng Jiaxian
After Zhao Zhongyao returned to China, he could be described as a real peach and plum in the world, leaving a strong mark on the development of China's nuclear weapons cause.
It is no exaggeration to call him the founder of the cause of nuclear weapons.
It has made great contributions to China's "nuclear cause"
In fact, to see a person's achievements, it is not necessary to see how many awards he has won, but more importantly, to see how many people he can influence.
Li Zhengdao later said: "Teacher Zhao should have been the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, and we remember Mr. Zhao's outstanding contributions to the development of quantum mechanics in modern physics and to the cause of science and technology education in New China, as well as his lifelong integrity, loyalty to science, simplicity and practical scientific spirit." ”
Such a high evaluation, only the truly great physicist Zhao Zhongyao can be called. Because of his contribution, this page is not enough to finish.
The second from the left in the second row is Zhao Zhongyao
In the summer of 1946, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, all walks of life on the mainland were in ruins, especially after experiencing the mass creation of the war, which made Zhao Zhongyao realize that weak countries have no diplomacy and weak countries have no status.
It was precisely because China's comprehensive national strength at that time was too weak that it led to the trampling of others, and it was just a matter of being bullied during the corrupt rule of the Qing government.
There is no need to think about it, but it is because China was backward in science and technology, backward in weapons, and more deadly, China did not have nuclear weapons. Such a reality has made it impossible for China to carry out international exchanges in a tough manner.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhongyao felt heartache, as if the cause of all this should have been borne by them.
What a noble sense of responsibility and patriotism.
So in the summer of 1946, Zhao Zhongyao went through some consultations, eliminated some difficulties and obstacles, and finally obtained the status of an observer, allowing him to visit the atomic bomb experiments in the United States Pacific.
Zhao Zhongyao (front row, first from left) visits the United States as an observer to test the atomic bomb
In the process of visiting, Zhao Zhongyao sighed about the strength of nuclear weapons, and for a while he was in a trance, and in his fantasy, it seemed that he was now on China's soil, visiting China's nuclear weapons.
It wasn't until the people around him spoke that Zhao Zhongyao pulled himself out of his immersed fantasies and returned to reality.
He understood that nuclear weapons research is by no means an easy task, and with China's current strength, even if it takes a long time of manpower, material and financial resources, it will never be able to develop them.
So Zhao Zhongyao polished his eyes, and after visiting the atomic bomb experiment in the United States, he decided to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States to engage in nuclear weapons research and learn American nuclear weapons research technology.
At that time, Zhao Zhongyao was already 44 years old, and he had already passed the age of confusion, at this time, Zhao Zhongyao was more wise and his thinking was clearer, which was really rare.
During his scientific research at MIT in the United States, he participated in the design, development and processing of proton electrostatic accelerators, and purchased a shortage of nuclear physics experimental equipment and accelerator components for the mainland.
At that time, due to the decline of national strength in the mainland, these precision instrument manufacturing industries were very backward, so they had to rely on imports and international support, but China, which had no international status, was very unappreciated at that time. It is very difficult to get these precision instruments.
Zhao Zhongyao's move can be described as adding wings to the development of the mainland's nuclear weapons cause.
When he returned home, he experienced twists and turns
Zhao Zhongyao stayed in the United States for a total of 4 years, learned a lot of advanced technology, in 1950 when he planned to leave the United States, the United States authorities did not allow him to return to China, because he carried a large number of nuclear weapons equipment and experimental equipment, which attracted the attention of the FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation, made a bad speculation about him, and eventually led to Zhao Zhongyao's plan to return to China stranded, temporarily stranded in the United States.
After that, Zhao Zhongyao traveled in many directions during the period, realizing that such a long period of wear and tear was not the solution to the problem, and finally Zhao Zhongyao relied on his own strength to first consign dozens of boxes of equipment and equipment to China by ship.
After transporting the equipment away, Zhao Zhongyao felt very relaxed, but he did not realize how he should get out.
Because of the FBI's surveillance, his every move was inconvenient. In particular, at that time, the navigation between China and the United States was stopped for some reasons, and it took several months for him to catch the ship back to China.
As a result, as soon as he boarded the ship, he was found by the FBI people, who insisted that There were suspicious items in Zhao Zhongyao's luggage and had to be inspected.
At that time, the nuclear weapons equipment had been shipped back to China, and Zhao Zhongyao was not worried. But the headache is that when it was in Yokohama, Japan, the US military turned over a letter written to him by Zhao Zhongyao's daughter, which read: "Defeat the wolf of american imperialism ambition." ”
This incident happened to let MacArthur, commander-in-chief of the US forces in Japan and the United Nations forces invading North Korea, know about it, and he was very angry and put Zhao Zhongyao and two other scientists in prison.
This incident caused a great sensation in China, because there was no humanitarian spirit, the mainland people were extremely indignant, and when the mainland leaders learned of this incident, Premier Zhou took the lead and issued a solemn statement to protest against the matter.
In addition, 189 scientists jointly protested against the unfair behavior of the United States.
Under such public pressure, the United States had no choice but to release the three scientists detained, and Zhao Zhongyao had been in prison for 47 days.
Zhao Zhongyao, Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian and other 100 students studying in the United States took a group photo on the deck
I thought that after the release, the storm could stop here, and who knew that the US side, which had ulterior motives, actually handed over Zhao Zhongyao to The Taiwan Representative Office in Japan.
At that time, the Kuomintang suffered a defeat and retreated to Taiwan, and when it learned that a Chinese physicist had returned to China, he made some threats and inducements against Zhao Zhongyao, hoping that he could serve the Kuomintang.
Zhao Zhongyao's determination to return to China will not be affected by various interests, nor will he be defeated by evil forces, which can be said to be "rich and noble cannot be adulterous, poor and lowly cannot be moved, and mighty cannot be bent", and the eldest husband should do the same.
In this way, Zhao Zhongyao experienced 9981 difficulties comparable to the Western Heavens, and finally after more than two months, he set foot on the land of the motherland and returned to the embrace of the motherland.
Zhao Zhongyao (front row, second from right) returned to New China via Hong Kong
After returning to China, he established the first nuclear physics laboratory and presided over the construction of the first proton electrostatic accelerator with an energy of 700,000 electron volts, which promoted the development of nuclear weapons research.
In 1958, Zhao Zhongyao organized the establishment of the second proton electrostatic accelerator with an energy of 2.5 million electron volts on the mainland.
In the following years, Zhao Zhongyao has been committed to the basic research of nuclear reactions on the basis of electrostatic accelerators and member accelerators, and has published many papers.
Recalling Zhao Zhongyao's life, it can be described by a poem by Tagore:
The roots buried in the ground produce fruit from the branches, but they do not demand anything in return.
Zhao Zhongyao was one of the pioneers and founders of the study of nuclear physics, neutron physics, accelerators and cosmic rays on the mainland; at the same time, he was also a pioneer in the discovery of positrons.
Accumulating fame and fame, Zhao Zhongyao still lives a simple, humble and truly admirable life, and is an example for all our Chinese!