On October 16, 1964, China's first atomic bomb was successfully tested at Lop Nur .
This loud noise shocked the world, let the world re-understand China, and let the world really hear China's voice.
Premier Zhou once said: "With the explosion of the first atomic bomb on the mainland, it is time to sweep away all feelings of inferiority." ”
However, the birth of this atomic bomb can be described as a series of twists and turns.
01
In August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, prompting Japan to surrender unconditionally.
However, at that time, the leaders of the mainland did not attach much importance to the atomic bomb, and Chairman Mao said at a meeting: "There is only the atomic bomb and there is no people's struggle, and the atomic bomb is only empty." Later, in an interview with an American reporter, he said: "The atomic bomb is a paper tiger used by the American reactionaries to scare people, which looks terrible, but in fact it is not terrible." ”
Later, a movie in the former Soviet Union changed Chairman Mao's view.
On December 16, 1949, Chairman Mao visited the former Soviet Union for two purposes. One was to abolish the unequal Sino-Soviet Old Testament, sign the New Testament, and seek economic and technical assistance from the Soviet Union, and second, to celebrate Stalin's seventieth birthday.
After many negotiations between the leaders of the two countries, the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance was finally signed, which stipulated that any one of the two countries should give each other military and other assistance if it was invaded by Japan or the Japanese allies. The Soviet Union had built the atomic bomb, and the treaty was to tell the United States that the Soviet Union would provide nuclear protection to China.
One evening near the end of the visit, in a small auditorium in the Kremlin, Stalin invited Chairman Mao to watch a film about Soviet military secrets, a documentary of the Soviet Union's successful testing of the first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949.
Chairman Mao watched the film very carefully, and after watching the movie, he said to Peng Dehuai next to him: "You must take a good look at it, do some investigation work well, and learn from the advanced technology of the Soviet Union." ”
On the train back to China, he said to Li Yinqiao, the chief guard commander next to him: "This time to the Soviet Union to open their eyes, it seems that the atomic bomb can scare many people, the United States has it, the Soviet Union also has it, we can also do a little." ”
Next, the changes in the international situation made Chairman Mao even more firm in the idea that China would have an atomic bomb.
In June 1950, the Korean War broke out, the Chinese Volunteer Army went to fight in Korea, and China and the United Nations army led by the United States began a bloody war with real knives and guns. At the same time, U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered the U.S. Seventh Fleet to sail into the Taiwan Strait.
In November, the United States sailed an atomic bomb-carrying aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula to conduct a nuclear simulation attack, preparing for an opportunity to attack the volunteers.
Truman declared at a news conference that "all necessary measures, including atomic bombs, will be taken to deal with the current military situation." Since then, he has threatened to use the atomic bomb as an ordinary bomb.
The outbreak of the Korean War and the passage of the U.S. fleet into the Taiwan Strait made Chairman Mao realize that if China did not have nuclear weapons, then Among the world's great powers, China would have no say and would be bullied.
02
On May 19, 1950, Chairman Mao approved the establishment of the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, the first nuclear scientific research institution in New China.
The director at that time was the physicist Qian Sanqiang, who later served as the technical chief and chief designer of the atomic bomb research. Before qian sanqiang returned to China, he already had a considerable reputation in the French scientific community.
In 1937, the 24-year-old Qian Sanqiang went to France to study and studied in the famous Curie Laboratory, under the tutelage of Joliot Curie and his wife. During his study abroad, he and his wife He Zehui confirmed the new fission method of nuclear fission, which caused a huge sensation and became known as the "Curie couple" from China.
In 1948, at the age of 35, Qian Sanqiang decided to return to China. At that time, he already had a considerable position in the French scientific community, he was the research supervisor of the French National Center for Scientific Research, had a favorable living environment and research environment, and had considerable research funds.
Even so, he was still determined to return to China, and he said to the puzzled people around him, "When I came out, I was going to return to China one day after completing my studies and make the backward motherland strong." ”
Two years after returning to China, Qian Sanqiang was commissioned to prepare for the establishment of the Institute of Modern Physics, and at that time, China's atomic energy industry was still blank.
He and his wife He Zehui started from scratch, and the office was selected in a courtyard in Huangchenggen, and the members of the institute counted only 5 of them. Every day, the couple cycles around Beijing to visit thrift stores and scrap collection stations, looking for old hardware materials and electronic components.
Later, the two men drew their own drawings and manufactured two simple lathes, and it was with these two lathes that they manufactured the instruments and equipment that the institute urgently needed.
Two young people, a courtyard, two bicycles, and two simple lathes are the prototypes of the first nuclear scientific research institution on the mainland.
Slowly, the institute grew stronger and stronger, and nuclear physicist Wang Ganchang and theoretical physicist Peng Huanwu joined the institute one after another. In the years since, nuclear physicist Deng Jiaxian, physicist Zhu Guangya, aerodynamicist Guo Yonghuai, materials scientist Wu Ziliang, nuclear physicist Chen Nengkuan have returned from the United States, nuclear weapons technology expert Cheng Kaijia has returned from Britain, and radiochemical scientist Yang Chengzong has returned from France.
03
During the establishment of the Nuclear Research Institute, the international situation facing New China became more and more severe.
On the Korean battlefield, after eight months of fierce fighting between the Chinese volunteers and the U.S. army, they won five victories in five battles, and the U.S. army had to retreat south of the 38th Parallel to accept the negotiations.
At the negotiating table, the two sides are deadlocked over the demarcation of the military demarcation line. The representative of the United States arrogantly said, then let the cannon bomb machine gun negotiate. Then the war started again.
In 1952, the second year of the Korean War, Eisenhower was elected President of the United States. He then ordered the transport of missiles containing atomic bombs to Okinawa in an attempt to threaten China with nuclear force. In the face of the threat from the United States, Chairman Mao replied strongly, "How long it will take to fight is up to the president of the United States to decide." They fight as long as they want. After more than a year of long war, the Korean War officially ended.
Just when people were breathing a sigh of relief, the situation in the Taiwan Strait suddenly became tense again.
In 1954, the United States and Taiwan signed the U.S.-Taiwan Mutual Defense Treaty, which stipulates that the United States maintain and develop Taiwan's armed forces. Subsequently, the ARMY's army, navy and air force conducted a joint sea crossing and landing operation, liberating the gateway to The Great Exhibition Island, Yijiangshan Island.
US President Dwight Eisenhower used the same old method, and he publicly declared that in the face of the situation in the Far East, there was no reason why the United States should not use atomic bombs. At the same time, the United States has also publicly conducted atomic weapons tests in order to threaten China.
The successive threats of nuclear weapons made the leaders feel humiliated, but at that time, China did not have the ability to independently develop nuclear weapons, so it thought of a way to turn to the Soviet Union's big brother.
Taking advantage of the opportunity for Soviet leader Khrushchev to come to China to participate in the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao proposed to Khrushchev that China wanted to study the atomic bomb on its own and hoped that the Soviet Union would help him. Unexpectedly, Khrushchev said directly after listening, "It is too expensive to engage in that thing, and it is too expensive to do so, and it is not enough to concentrate all of China's electricity and money now." Moreover, our big family has a nuclear umbrella, there is no need for everyone to do it. ”
Although Khrushchev did not agree to help China develop nuclear weapons, he finally agreed to help China build a small nuclear reactor and train technical forces.
At that time, China's economic strength was indeed not enough to build an atomic bomb, and at that time, China's oil production methods were still in the period of the foreign affairs movement, the workers tried their best, and the annual oil output of the country was only 120,000 tons, and the foreign exchange reserves were only 200 million US dollars.
When the United States built the first atomic bomb, it invested 500,000 people, one-third of the country's electricity, cost $2.3 billion, and took seven years to develop it.
04
In addition to its lack of economic strength, China at that time also lacked the most important uranium ore for the study of nuclear weapons.
In order to find uranium ore, Li Siguang, Liu Jie and a group of geologists and exploration team members ran all over the country, west to Xinjiang, north to northeast, and south to Guangxi. Three exploration teams climb mountains and mountains every day, eat and sleep in the wind, ride horses when they can't move, pull grass and catch fish on the spot when they are hungry, and only go to the simple tent wherever they go.
In the early stage of exploration, due to the backward technical means and difficulties, in order to find uranium ore, even more than a dozen exploration team members paid their lives, it took eight months, and finally collected the first piece of uranium ore in Guangxi.
After finding the uranium ore, the central government began to formally establish a nuclear weapons research institute, the Nuclear Weapons Bureau, referred to as the Ninth Bureau, under the full responsibility of Marshal Nie Rongzhen and Vice Premier Chen Yun.
The first step in nuclear weapons research is to find a suitable research base, which requires good confidentiality, sufficient water and electricity, and convenient transportation. The selection was made, and finally the gold and silver beach in Xihai Town, Haiyan County, Qinghai Province was selected.
In 1958, General Li Jue, director of the Ninth Bureau, led the first batch of technicians and the People's Liberation Army to the cold and oxygen-starved Jinyintan to build a nuclear weapons development base, when their equipment was particularly rudimentary, with only four trucks, four jeeps and three tents. More than twenty people were crammed into three tents, sleeping on boxes or lying directly on the ground when there were not enough beds.
Their only heating equipment is a small stove, and if they want to drink water, they go outside to get some snow, put it on the stove to melt and drink. When there is the most water shortage, each person can only drink one-third of the water in the tea tank, which is still the amount of water drunk in a day. Each meal can only eat a small bowl of half-cooked rice porridge, mixed with sand and soil.
It was under such difficult conditions that the advance team completed the planning and layout of the entire field area in only one year. In February of the following year, more than 10,000 infrastructure construction teams entered the site area and began to formally build the site area. Since then, the scientific researchers of the Ninth Bureau have successively relocated to the 221 factory in Jinyintan, and the development of the atomic bomb has officially begun.
Not long after the development of the atomic bomb began, the international situation changed dramatically, and Poland and Hungary defected one after another and no longer obeyed the command of the Soviet Union. At this time, in order to win over China, Khrushchev changed his original attitude and promised to assist China in making an atomic bomb. The Soviet Union offered China three kinds of help, the first was the model drawings, the second was the technology of making the atomic bomb, and the third was the expert.
Soon after, however, Khrushchev's attitude changed drastically, and he first sent a letter to the central leaders saying that the Soviet Union was negotiating an agreement with the United States and Britain on a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons.
In 1958, he visited the United States again, shared a car with Kennedy, and behaved particularly friendly, and the tension between the two countries was eased. Soviet newspapers declared that the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States sat together and that human history had entered a new turning point.
Soon after, Khrushchev withdrew all the Soviet experts, and after this group of experts left, dozens of projects and hundreds of contracts were torn up, many major projects came to a halt halfway, factories stopped production, because no instructions were left, and expensive machines were not moved.
In the face of this situation, Chairman Mao said particularly firmly: "We can try it ourselves, and this is also an exercise for us." ”
05
If the study of the atomic bomb is a dragon, then the theoretical shooting team is its leader.
At that time, China was still blank in nuclear weapons technology, and Deng Jiaxian led the scientific and technological personnel of the Theory Department to learn from scratch. Since foreign books and materials were in foreign languages, and there was only one copy, Deng Jiaxian had to organize one person to read it first, translate it, and print it overnight.
After hard study, the Theoretical Department finally selected neutron physics, fluid mechanics, and physical properties under high temperature and high pressure, which were the main directions of attack for the development of the first atomic bomb on the mainland.
At that time, the research environment was particularly difficult, the whole country was short of clothing and food, and the staff could only do research hungry, often working until late at night, sometimes even all night. At the same time, the equipment in the research institute was very backward, and Deng Jiaxian and the researchers could only use a few simple hand-cranked calculators or even abacus calculations, when the marijuana bags containing scratch paper alone were piled up as high as mountains.
In September 1962, Deng Jiaxian came up with an atomic bomb theoretical design plan, which laid the foundation for China's nuclear weapons research.
However, the situation of famine in the country was even worse at that time, and it was not known whether to solve the problem of people's food first or to build the atomic bomb first. Without food, society cannot be stabilized, and without nuclear weapons, China will always be strained with the nerves of war and face the threat of nuclear intimidation at any time.
Marshal Nie Rongzhen once said in order to collect grain: "In the name of the revolution, I am asking you to immediately build some grain and side food to support our test base. ”
Internal worries have not been solved, and external troubles have also followed. From the day China decided to begin developing nuclear weapons, the United States regarded China as its biggest rival. U.S. President John F. Kennedy said: "China is more dangerous, more threatening and aggressive than the Soviet Union. He had hoped to join forces with Khrushchev to prevent China from developing nuclear weapons, but Khrushchev was not interested in the plan.
Subsequently, Kennedy selected Taiwan as an ally, and he formed the 35th Air Force for Taiwan, with U-2 aircraft provided by the United States and pilots from Taiwan, with the purpose of reconnaissance of nuclear weapons research bases on Chinese territory. If a nuclear weapons research base is discovered, it is intended to carry out a series of strike programmes.
In order to solve the problem of whether to continue to manufacture the atomic bomb, the central organization of the investigation team went to all parts of the country to investigate, and finally came to the conclusion that 1962 was a crucial year, as long as the central leadership personally took charge and personally led, other supports followed up, and the method of ensuring the key points was adopted, and it was possible to develop nuclear weapons and conduct nuclear tests in 1964.
Therefore, in order to further strengthen the study of nuclear weapons, 15 central leaders, including Premier Zhou, Marshal He Long, and Marshal Nie Rongzhen, formed a special committee to unify and coordinate the forces of the whole country to launch a general offensive against the goal of exploding the atomic bomb in 1964.
06
The work on the atomic bomb is important, but so is the choice of test site.
After careful screening, the gobi desert in Lop Nur in Xinjiang was finally selected, and a 102-meter-high iron tower was erected on the Gobi desert, and the atomic bomb was placed on the top of the tower to test explode.
Although the tower only existed for 110 days, countless people have worked hard for it. Technicians often climbed up and down the tower, carefully caring for the equipment on the tower and the atomic bomb that finally went up the tower. Compared with the difficulty of climbing the tower, the bad weather in the Gobi Desert is the biggest enemy.
Working in the Gobi Desert, you have to fight against the high temperature of 40 degrees in the summer, the wind of 10 degrees in the autumn, and the cold of more than 30 degrees below zero in the winter, almost all of which are extreme weather.
The temperature requirements of sophisticated devices such as atomic bombs are particularly high, and the problem of blast chambers on the tower requires that no matter how the external environment changes, it must be guaranteed to be between 15 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius.
In order to grasp the time it takes to reduce the temperature of the blast chamber from 25 degrees to 15 degrees during the test explosion, someone needs to turn off the hot air blower when it is the coldest outside and constantly measure the temperature of the small house.
This task fell to Zhu Jianshi, a graduate of the Department of Mathematical Mechanics at Peking University, who was assigned to the Ninth Academy as soon as he graduated, engaged in atomic bomb theory research, and was later selected to the test base, when he was only 20 years old.
Below the tower is minus 30 degrees, the small house above the tower is 20 degrees above zero, the temperature difference between up and down is 50 degrees, just up and down, hot and cold, a dry is half a month. The temperature graph he drew provided key data to ensure that the atomic bomb could eventually explode at constant temperature.
There are 5,058 people like him who participated in the testing work in Lop Nur in Xinjiang, and most of them, we don't even know their names.
Fast forward to 1964, and the atomic bomb test was fully prepared.
On 4 October, the atomic bomb arrived at the Lop Nur test site.
At 7:20 p.m. on October 14, the atomic bomb was sent to the blast chamber at the top of the tower.
At 4 a.m. on October 16, the staff carried out the final preparations for the test explosion under the tower.
At 6.30 a.m., the detonator was inserted and the staff was evacuated from the blast zone after all the preparations were completed.
At 2.30 p.m., the staff entered the Baiyungang Observatory, 60 kilometres from the blasting zone.
At 2:40 p.m., General Zhang Zhenhua issued an operation password in the main control room, and Han Yunti pressed the detonation button.
In this way, China's first atomic bomb was finally successfully tested.
Now that our country has also become a nuclear power, we have sufficient confidence in nuclear weapons and will not be arbitrarily threatened by the nuclear weapons of other countries, thanks to those heroes who have contributed to the research and development of nuclear weapons on the mainland, they are anonymous, silently paying, and even some people are not known to outsiders for a lifetime.