Wu Jianxiong: He once built an atomic bomb for the United States, and after his death, the tombstone reads: A permanent Chinese
Do not let the eyebrows, Ji Jian as a male. She, a beautiful and gentle Jiangnan woman, participated in the Manhattan Project made of the American atomic bomb, known as the mother of the American atomic bomb, China's Marie Curie. She personally put Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning on the podium of the Nobel Prize, but she missed it herself. Her achievements in scientific research surpassed that of her husband, who was also a physicist. She was the first Chinese woman to join the ranks of world-class physicists.
The female scientist's name was "Wu Jianxiong", a very masculine name. This name is naturally related to the elders in Wu Jianxiong's family. 1912 Wu Jianxiong was born in Suzhou, his father's name was Wu Zhongyi. His father was an advanced intellectual of the time, fighting for equality between men and women in Chinese society. Moreover, he hoped that his daughter would grow up to be a "scarf girl who does not let her eyebrows", so he named her "Ken xiong". Thanks to his father's advanced and enlightened thinking, Wu Jianxiong did not like poetry and song like girls of his age when he was a child, but he was extremely interested in mathematical physics. In 1930, at the age of 18, Wu Jianxiong was admitted to national central university (now Nanjing University).
Before entering the university, Wu Jianxiong knew that if he wanted to study science in depth, it was not enough to rely on the current knowledge reserve. Therefore, she used the summer vacation before entering the school to teach herself a lot of mathematical books, which laid a good foundation for her to successfully enter the Central University. In the autumn of 1930, Wu Jianxiong officially entered the Central University. In his first year of college, Wu inadvertently discovered his interest in physics. In addition, there are many famous physicists in the Department of Physics teaching there, which deeply attracts Wu Jianxiong. So in the second year of college, she resolutely transferred to the department of physics, and from then on she began her brilliant life in the field of physics.
In 1934, she graduated first in her class, which laid a good foundation for her future research in nuclear physics. In August 1936, with the encouragement of his university supervisor Professor Gu Jingwei and the sponsorship of his uncle Wu, Wu Jianxiong boarded a Hoover pavillion cruise ship and set off for the United States to pursue a doctorate. In San Francisco, Wu met another physicist, Yuan Jialuo, who led him on a tour of the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Scientists in this lab have only recently invented the cyclotron, the most advanced instrument for accelerating charged particles in spiral orbits.
Sadly, her application was blocked again and again due to foreign prejudices against Chinese and women at the time. However, Wu Jianxiong is still very determined. With extraordinary talent and perseverance, she finally entered the Institute of Physics as she wished. In order to devote herself to her own research career, Wu Jianxiong fed bread and milk for three meals a day, experimented all day, and even fainted many times, but she insisted on making the experiment perfect every time. Finally, in 1940, Wu Jianxiong received a doctorate and was recognized by more and more peers. In September 1944, the nuclear chain reaction of the reactor established by the United States in Washington encountered unknown problems, and atomic bomb research came to a standstill.
At that time, atomic bomb research was the world's leading technology, and the continuity of atomic bomb explosions was also a world-class problem that was difficult to solve. Wu Jianxiong was only responsible for the continuity of the nuclear explosion and how to ensure the continuous reaction of the atomic bomb after the nuclear explosion, which made many world-class scientists at the time very headache and tricky. Oppenheimer, as the general manager of the project, faced this problem for the first time, he thought of his former student Wu Jianxiong. So, he gave this task to Wu Jianxiong. It is precisely because of this that Wu Jianxiong was able to participate in the core project of such a secret defense science program in the United States as a foreigner who had just arrived in the United States and did not have American citizenship.
As we all know, in 1956, two scientists, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao, proposed the hypothesis that the universe may not be conserved in the decay of β. However, it was Wu Jianxiong who began experimenting with experiments at the age of 44. In scientific research, Wu Jianxiong has always been a "pragmatist". She advocates "bold hypothesis, careful verification", and strives to prove any possible hypothesis with a rigorous experimental process, accurate experimental results, and strong scientific evidence. She had previously specialized in β decay for many years and was a recognized authority in academia. Good things grind, this time she finally succeeded. But in the end, the Nobel Prize went to Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao, and Wu Jianxiong was forgotten.
Later, the official explanation was that Li and Yang submitted a purely academic theoretical topic, and she was partial to the direction of physics experiments and did not meet the rules of the Nobel Prize. Regardless of the truth, we must remember that there is such a person in the scientific community who has been breaking through himself and solving problems that others cannot solve. Her achievements in the world are there for all to see, and she will always be proud to be Chinese. She used to say, "Although I am outside, I always remember that I am a Chinese, but my horizons are broadened." ”
After receiving many honors and even being classified as a U.S. citizen, Wu Jianxiong still wanted to return to China and serve China. Wu Jianxiong had been away from China for more than 30 years in 1973, and she had always missed China. This year, her children also expressed their willingness to help their mother return to their hometown. So Wu Jianxiong began his journey home. On September 22, 1973, Wu Jianxiong finally returned to China from the United States. In 1982, Wu made the shocking decision to resign from all high-paying positions in the United States and become an honorary professor at Nanjing University, Peking University, the University of Science and Technology of China, and a teacher at Chinese universities.
Chinese has always paid attention to the roots of fallen leaves, so after Wu Jianxiong died of illness, her husband brought her ashes back to China and buried them in her hometown of Jiangsu, but unfortunately Wu Jianxiong did not return to her hometown before her death. After Wu Jianxiong's death, the inscription on her tablet reads: "Forever Chinese" Although he has been engaged in scientific research in the United States for a lifetime, Wu Jianxiong has always been eager to return to the embrace of his motherland. Science knows no borders, and everything we do is for the common good of all humanity. In the world, Wu Jianxiong is an excellent female scientist, and in wu Jianxiong's eyes, she will always be a Chinese son and daughter.