Ye Qisun is a famous physicist and educator in the mainland, known as the designer of "China's modern science and technology building" and the "breeder" of "two bombs and one star".
Ye Qisun
Among the 23 "two bombs and one star" Yuanxue, ten were his students and two were his students, and although Qian Xuesen and Tu Shouyi did not directly study under Ye Qisun, they both became famous because of his success.
Ye Qisun can be called a handsome talent who nurtures scientific and technological talents, and his superb way of nurturing talents provides reference and reference for the cultivation of innovative scientific and technological talents in mainland China in the new era.
Discerning and insightful
"There is Bole, and then there is Maxima, and Maxima is often there, and Bole's is not often." Ye Qisun has unique insights in discovering and mining talents, and can be called the Bó Lè of the science and technology industry. His insistence on hiring Hua Luogeng is a typical example.
Hua Luogeng was originally a grocery store guy. In 1931, at the age of 21, Hua Luogeng was appreciated by Xiong Qinglai, the head of the mathematics department of Tsinghua University, and entered the mathematics department of Tsinghua University to do secretarial work. Hua Luogeng cherished this hard-won opportunity, and in his spare time, he audited the classroom whenever he had the opportunity and worked hard to conduct mathematical research.
Hua Luogeng at work
The diligent and studious Hua Luogeng slowly attracted the attention of Ye Qisun, then dean of the School of Science, and when Ye saw Hua's papers published in foreign journals, he greatly appreciated it, and immediately discussed with Xiong Qinglai to appoint Hua Luogeng as a university faculty.
When the news broke, many professors opposed it, believing that the move was out of line.
Ye Qisun was unmoved, and said: "It is a good thing that Tsinghua has Hua Luogeng, don't be limited by qualifications. ”
Later, Ye Qisun recommended Hua Luogeng to study in the UK, which not only made Hua Luogeng himself, but also cultivated a pillar of the country.
Southwest United University
Another example of Ye Qisun's discernment of talent is the discovery of Li Zhengdao. In 1945, Li Zhengdao transferred from the Department of Physics of Zhejiang University to Southwest United University. In the autumn of that year, it coincided with the government's entrustment of Southwest Federation University to recommend outstanding young people to study abroad, and two places were given to the Department of Physics.
According to common sense, this study abroad could not be the turn of sophomore Li Zhengdao, but Ye Qisun, who was the director of the Standing Committee of Southwest United University at the time, thought that Li Zhengdao was a rare genius, so he recommended Li Zhengdao to study abroad.
Years later, Lee recalled, "He decided my destiny. ”
Ye Qisun's Li Zhengdao exam questions
Painstakingly nurturing talents
In 1925, 27-year-old Ye Qisun went to Tsinghua to teach, and in the following 50 years of teaching career, whether he encountered hardship or was wrongfully imprisoned, he always adhered to the belief of saving the country through science and technology, and educated and guided students to closely combine the pursuit of truth with the feelings of home and country and the rise and fall of the nation, and become the backbone of the nation and the pillar of the country.
After the "Dagukou Incident" broke out in 1926, he told his student Wang Ganchang with tears in his eyes: "A country is like a person, the law of the jungle is an immutable law, and if our country is not to be humiliated by foreigners, it can only rely on science, and only science can save our nation." ”
Ye Qisun's strong patriotic feelings deeply infected Wang Ganchang. Since then, science and patriotism have become Wang Ganchang's constant pursuit throughout his life. Later, this great scientist, who had rubbed shoulders with the Nobel Prize three times, remained anonymous for 17 years and made great contributions to the development of the two bombs on the mainland.
In 1929, Wang Ganchang was in Tsinghua Garden
In the face of the praise from the outside world, Wang Ganchang said affectionately: "Tsinghua University is my cradle, and the decisive influence on my life's path is Professor Ye Qisun. ”
Under the influence of Ye Qisun, after Qian Xuesen, Zhao Jiuzhang, Wang Daheng and others completed their studies, they resolutely gave up preferential treatment abroad, and even ignored personal safety, broke through many obstacles, returned to Sangzi, and served the motherland.
Eclectic talent
In Ye Qisun's eyes, those who are knowledgeable are talents, and those who come from the bottom and have unique skills are also talents.
Yan Yuchang, known as the "Landmine King" in the Hebei-China War of Resistance, was originally a handyman in Tsinghua, and Ye Qisun saw that he was talented and intelligent, and his hands-on ability was promoted, so he promoted him to an experimenter in the physics department of Tsinghua. Under the careful cultivation of Ye Qisun, Yan Yuchang quickly grew into an excellent experimental master.
The slide rule and line gauge used by Yan Yuchang when he taught physics by himself
In 1938, assigned by his mentor Ye Qisun, Yan Yuchang infiltrated the base area in central Hebei to support the anti-Japanese resistance, not only helping the Eighth Route Army solve the problem of explosive self-detonation, but also producing electric detonator circuits from local materials. Therefore, the people of Hebei and China directed wonderful anti-Japanese legends such as tunnel warfare, mine warfare, and ambush warfare.
In order to improve the technical level of researchers in the Department of Physics of Tsinghua, Ye Qisun spared no expense and specially hired a skilled young technician from Germany, not only to help solve the failure of experimental instruments, but also to bring out a group of technical experts, which greatly improved the experimental level of the Department of Physics.
In 1935, some teachers and students of the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University took a group photo, and the fourth from the left in the front row was Ye Qisun
Ingenuity and talent
What is even more admirable is that Ye Qisun accurately predicted the development trend of cutting-edge science and technology at that time, skillfully arranged talents, and made a good talent reserve for the development of various scientific and technological undertakings in New China.
During the period when Ye Qisun presided over the Tsinghua public scholarship study abroad recruitment examination, he not only recruited students from Tsinghua, but also selected talents from top students from major universities across the country, and taught them to study in the world's frontier fields of science and technology. Under the influence of Ye Lao's education, these people grew into pioneers and founders of various fields of science and technology in New China.
When Qian Xuesen graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he studied railway machinery and knew nothing about aviation. In 1934, Qian Xuesen was admitted to Tsinghua under the auspices of Ye Qisun, and Ye arranged for Qian to study in Tsinghua for a year, and then got in touch with von Kármán, a world-famous aviation authority at that time, and asked Qian Xuesen to learn from von Kármán, so that Qian Xuesen said, "I have his love and care for endless in my life."
Young Qian Xuesen
Gong Zutong's original major was nuclear physics, and later Ye Qisun talked to him: "Applied optics is very important in the military, now powerful countries are researching, and the mainland is blank, this year we will send a student to study applied optics abroad." ”
Gong Zutong immediately said: "I will fill the gap if it is a gap", so he switched to applied optics.
In September 1934, Gong Zutong graduated with a doctorate, refused the high salary of the German side, and returned to China, opening a precedent for the development of mainland optics.
Be humble
In 1929, Tsinghua established the Institute, and Ye Qisun served as the director of the Institute of Physics and later the dean of the School of Science. In order to attract and retain talents, he set the salary of the famous physicist Wu Youxun higher than his own, and later he found that Wu Youxun not only had profound academic attainments, but also strong leadership skills, so he took the initiative to resign as the dean of the School of Science and recommended Wu Youxun as the dean.
Wu Youxun
It is precisely because Ye Qisun has gathered talents that Xiong Qinglai, Wu Youxun, Zhou Peiyuan, Zhao Zhongyao, Ren Zhigong and other famous teachers have come. Under the leadership of Ye Qisun, these talented and different famous teachers worked together, which not only greatly improved the research level of the mainland's physics community, but also cultivated a large number of young talents for the mainland and laid a talent foundation for the development of cutting-edge national defense weapons in New China. (Chen Dongwei)
Source: Chinese Cai magazine