Uranium is the "pot of rice" of the nuclear industry, and the production of nuclear fuel is the use of suitable extractants to separate uranium-235, which contains only 0.72% of uranium ore. It can be said that a suitable extractant is the "key" to the formation of highly concentrated uranium.
In order to find this "key", an organic chemist was ordered to solve this important problem in the process of atomic bomb testing under the strong ideal and belief that "the needs of the country are their responsibilities". He is the pioneer of chinese extractant chemistry research, the famous organic chemist, and yuan chengye, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Yuan Chengye Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences
The son inherits his father's business and enters the world of organic chemistry
In 1924, Yuan Chengye was born in Xiaoyue Town, Shangyu, Zhejiang. His father, Yuan Kaiji, studied in the United States, obtained a doctorate in chemistry from Vickonia University, and worked in Shanghai and Nanjing after returning to China. His father named him "Inheriting", which means "Son Inheriting Father's Business".
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Yuan Chengye's family fled south, traveling to Guangzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Chongqing and finally settling in Sichuan. Yuan Chengye spent his middle school years at Sichuan Santai Senior High School.
Yuan Chengye became very interested in chemistry under his father's enlightenment education, and was sent to the Department of Chemistry of Northeastern University when he graduated with excellent grades. However, because his father thought that organic chemistry was an experimental course, and the university at that time did not have this condition, he was not supported to study chemistry. Yuan Chengye took the exam again, chose the most difficult economics department at that time, and was also successfully admitted with excellent results.
The road to study under the war was not smooth, the family was in financial difficulties, coupled with the lack of interest in the major studied, Yuan Chengye had no choice but to drop out of school and go home after a year of studying in the department of economics.
During this period, the family struggled to maintain their father's income alone, and in order to improve their lives, Yuan Chengye and his family began a side business of making stearic acid. Stearic acid was the main raw material for wax paper, soap, and alabaster at that time, and needed to be extracted from butter. Under the technical guidance of his father, Yuan Chengye and an employee formed a "chemical factory" with only 3 people. They worked in production under rudimentary conditions for two years, an experience that further fostered Yuan Chengye's interest in the field of practical chemistry.
In 1944, Yuan Chengye followed his father's advice and was admitted to the National Pharmaceutical College (now China Pharmaceutical University) to study medicinal chemistry, officially entering the world of organic chemistry.
Study in the Soviet Union and be a veritable "red expert"
After graduating from university, Yuan Chengye successively served in the Shanghai Aftercare Business Custody Committee and Shanghai People's Pharmaceutical Company, responsible for the production of sulfonamide, penicillin and other drugs. After the liberation of Shanghai in May 1949, the spring breeze blew to all walks of life in Shanghai, and Yuan Chengye's pharmaceutical industry also gave priority to the production of various drugs that could solve the suffering of working people's diseases according to policy requirements.
Witnessing the great changes in the social life around him made Yuan Chengye feel a lot of emotions, and the help and guidance of the communists around him also made Yuan Chengye's understanding of communism deepen, and gradually changed from interest to love. In March 1951, Yuan Chengye wrote in his "Volunteer Letter for Joining the Party": "In my work and study after liberation, I have indeed realized that the Chinese revolution must have the leadership of the Communist Party in order to achieve complete liberation and victory. ”
Yuan Chengye at Moscow University Source: Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
In July 1951, Yuan Chengye was one of the first batch of public students sent by the mainland to study in the Soviet Union. He worked on anticancer drugs at the All-Soviet Institute of Medicinal Chemistry in Moscow and received his associate doctorate in science in 1955.
During his four years of study and life in the Soviet Union, Yuan Chengye not only learned professional knowledge, but also took the initiative to study the history of the United Communist Party, political economy and the main classic works of Marxism-Leninism. This study experience gave Yuan Chengye a relatively in-depth understanding of the socialist system and deeply realized that only by mastering Marxism could he do a good job in scientific and technological work.
"Communist Party member is not only a glorious title, he has the glorious mission of transforming the world, and I want to strive to be an excellent communist party member, a veritable red expert." He said.
In 1956, Yuan Chengye, who graduated and returned to China, was transferred to the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to carry out scientific research work after several twists and turns, and successively set up and led research projects such as peptide synthesis, ionizing radiation chemical protection drugs and anti-virus impregnation agents.
Obedience requires a "change of career" to devote oneself to the cause of national defense
On October 16, 1964, the first atomic bomb on the mainland was successfully tested, and a huge mushroom cloud rose in the desert of Lop Nur in Xinjiang, for this day, countless scientific and technological workers made unimaginable hard work, including Yuan Chengye's figure.
At the end of the 1950s, with the changes in the international situation, the mainland began to develop sophisticated weapons and improve conventional weapons while importing and imitating Soviet-style weapons. In the autumn of 1954, when Zhou Enlai learned that an exploration team of the Ministry of Geology had discovered uranium ore on Mount Xifa in Huashan Yao Nationality Township, Zhongshan County, Hezhou City, Guangxi Province, he attached great importance to it, and immediately took samples with Liu Jie, vice minister of the Ministry of Geology, and reported them to Chairman Mao, and the central authorities immediately made a strategic decision to develop the atomic energy industry.
"Opening Stone" uranium ore specimen Source: CNNC
Atomic energy research is in dire need of professionals from various fields. Yuan Chengye believes that "the needs of the country are my responsibility." He immediately suspended the research on amino acid and peptide synthesis drugs that had made good progress at hand, changed the research direction, devoted himself to the development of the mainland atomic bomb, established and led the nuclear fuel extraction research group, and undertook the research task of nuclear fuel extractants.
Qian Sanqiang, a well-known expert in nuclear physics, once said: "The extraction agent research of extracting uranium was a key role in national defense construction at that time, and without it, uranium could not be extracted." ”
Under the leadership of Yuan Chengye, the research team traveled all over the country, from the northeast to Inner Mongolia, from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the Gansu Gobi, and they constantly carried out extraction experiments in mines and factories. After more than a year of successful completion of the task, the new neutral phosphorus extractants P350 and P311 were successfully manufactured. In particular, P350, its uranium, thorium separation coefficient is 80 times higher than the commonly used foreign extractant TBP, many technical indicators are higher than TBP, is used for uranium, thorium separation.
On January 14, 1964, the mainland produced enriched uranium-235 that met the standards.
The extractants studied by Yuan Chengye are not only complete in types, but also serialized in varieties, and later realized industrial production, which continuously met the needs of nuclear fuel production in the mainland. As a result, he was awarded the honorary certificate and certificate of "Dedication to the Cause of Science and Technology for National Defense" issued by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense in 1988.
Yuan Chengye often said to young scientists: "It is not good to do research without interest, but personal interest must be subordinated to the needs of the country." It is precisely under the impetus of this concept that he has changed the direction of scientific research many times and has always served the needs of the country.
Serving the country with absolute sincerity does not change the original intention of scientific research
In the 1970s, Yuan Chengye continued to deepen the study of the structure and properties of extractants. Combined with the comprehensive utilization of non-ferrous metals in the mainland, he successfully developed a variety of extractants that separated rare earths and cobalt and nickel, and made significant contributions to the comprehensive utilization of the three major resources of the mainland (baotou rare earth, jinchuan nickel and cobalt and precious metals, and vanadium and titanium in Panzhihua). He takes extractant chemistry to the next level using methods such as quantum chemistry, molecular mechanics, pattern recognition, and factor analysis. At the same time, Yuan Chengye has also made many achievements in the basic research of organophosphorus chemistry, the asymmetric synthesis of aminophosphonic acid, and the enzymatic catalytic reaction of functionalized phosphonic acid.
In 1997, Yuan Chengye was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "After becoming an academician, you can not be restricted by the retirement age, you can continue to work, and take graduate students." In Yuan Chengye's view, this is the most gratifying thing for him after becoming an academician.
In June 2005, the 81-year-old Yuan Chengye embarked on a tour of Guizhou with the "Academician Expert Advisory Service Group" organized by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, saying: "It is indispensable to make suggestions for local development. ”
In Guizhou, Yuan Chengye worked tirelessly every day, going to the mine, going down to the workshop, discussing and discussing with cadres and workers, and doing everything himself. Often rushing to eat a bite of food at noon, not caring about rest, and continuing to another enterprise in the afternoon to investigate and guide. "I came to the factory and mine to run more, to see more, to do what I have learned, to leave a little more things here." The simple words made everyone present moved.
Academician Yuan Chengye spoke at the 90th birthday and academic report Meeting Source: Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
At the 90th birthday and academic lecture of Academician Yuan Chengye, he said affectionately: "My life's work has been in the Organic Institute. I learned the basic way of doing things and the scientific research methods in the good environment and atmosphere of the organic institute. The results achieved in the past are the result of collective efforts and cannot be attributed to the actions of individuals, and there is still a big gap between the results achieved and the demands of the country and the expectations of the people. Although I am 90 years old, I still have to continue to work hard and work for the party and the country. ”
He has published more than 300 academic papers in his lifetime, trained 25 doctoral students and 22 master's students, and has won many national awards such as the National Science Conference Award, the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award, the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the Third Prize of the National Invention Award.
On the evening of January 9, 2018, Yuan Chengye passed away in Shanghai at the age of 94. On the day of bidding farewell to Yuan Chengye, people hung up a link for him: "Extract phosphating to ascend the mushroom cloud to benefit Shenzhou, and repay the national merits in the thousand autumns with absolute sincerity; strive to govern the peach and Li Zehou to learn, and the style will always be passed on from generation to generation." This is the epitome of Yuan Chengye's lifelong journey of chasing science and truth, and it is also a true portrayal of his heart of serving the country with science and technology.