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A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

25 years ago, May 28, 1998,

A 96-year-old man passed away peacefully.

All of China, there are no people,

Noticing this sad news,

No one feels sad.

But in the world's top scientific circles,

The death of this old man caused a great shock.

They know that this means:

The Chinese, who deserved the Nobel Prize, is gone;

The originator of nuclear physics in China, gone;

The common teacher of the masters of Chinese physics, gone!

However, even if I solemnly type his name now,

I believe that the vast majority of people have seen it,

Still at a loss.

Don't believe it, you see -

His name is Zhao Zhongyao.

This era, perhaps, is impetuous,

People are more willing to get close to popular, recreational stars,

And for the national warriors who carry the heavy weapon of the country on their shoulders and are the lifeblood of science and technology,

Nothing to feel, no interest.

This society, maybe a snobbish society,

Meritorious and famous, often appear upside down,

Those who have great achievements may not be famous.

An old scientist who tells the truth and does honest things,

In the memory of the crowd,

Instead, it will be ignored and forgotten.

So the times, so the society,

You can't help but not be sentimental, not to complain about great people.

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲ Zhao Zhongyao

In 1902, Zhao Zhongyao was born

In Zhejiang Zhuji, a large family in decline.

His father Zhao Jihe practiced medicine for a living,

Integrity and integrity,

Rich people ask him to prescribe tonics,

He would lose his temper and say:

"Come to me again if you are sick,

I only heal the sick and nothing else. ”

Therefore, Zhao Zhongyao's family has been relatively poor since he was a child,

But he learned his father's straight character all his life.

My father was influenced by new ideas at the end of the Qing Dynasty,

Would love to do something for the country,

Change the situation of poverty and weakness,

And because of his limited cultural level, he is unable to do so,

We can only put our hopes in our children,

Let them study well and become useful people to society.

Zhao Zhongyao firmly remembered his father's teachings,

Since then, at every juncture in his life,

In every decision he makes, he puts the country first.

At the age of 19, Zhao Zhongyao was admitted

Nanjing Senior Master (later renamed Southeast University, now Nanjing University),

In three and a half years, complete the credits.

After graduation, he stayed in school to work as a teaching assistant for Ye Qisun.

Ye Qisun later became a generation of grandmasters in the Chinese physics community.

In 1925, Ye Qisun was hired by the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University.

Bring Zhao Zhongyao, who works diligently and steadfastly, with him.

The next year, Zhao Zhongyao became a teacher,

He became one of the first five teachers in the Department of Physics of Tsinghua.

During the two years at Tsinghua, in addition to work,

Zhao Zhongyao hates to supplement electricity, mechanics, mathematics and other courses,

But he saw that physics in China was just getting started.

There is still a considerable gap with foreign countries,

Therefore, in the summer of 1927 he decided to study abroad.

At this time, his father had been dead for several years.

He used his usual savings to eat frugally,

I borrowed some money from my friends and teachers,

I went to the Research Department of the California Institute of Technology.

No one thought that the history of physics,

Will be changed by a decision by the young man.

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲In 1926, Zhao Zhongyao (back row, second from right) and Mei Yiqi (front row, second from left) and others took a group photo

Zhao Zhongyao's mentor Millikan,

In 1923, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics and was a great academic master.

Millikan initially gave him a research topic that was easy.

Just do an optical experiment according to the regulations,

If you get the results within two years, you can get your doctorate.

Zhao Zhongyao thought that the difficulty was too low and he could not learn much technology,

This goes against his original intention to go abroad -

He didn't study abroad to get a diploma,

Instead, I hope to learn more about technology, which can come in handy when I return home.

As is the practice of Caltech,

What the tutor gives the student has to do,

So, when Zhao Zhongyao asked his mentor to change the topic for him,

The whole school was shocked, they had never seen such a wayward student.

Millikan did not scold him, changed his research topic,

Called "absorption coefficient of hard γ rays in matter", it says:

"You think about it."

Zhao Zhongyao thought in his heart that the difficulty was not enough, and replied:

"Okay, I'll think about it."

As soon as Millikan heard this, he became angry on the spot:

"It's an interesting and important topic.

If you don't do it, just tell me, don't think about it. ”

Only then did Zhao Zhongyao express his willingness to accept this topic.

Later, Millikan quipped to others,

Zhao Zhongyao, this person, "does not know the height of the sky and the thickness of the earth."

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲In 1929, Zhao Zhongyao (second row, second from right) took a group photo at Caltech

What Zhao Zhongyao didn't know was that

And when he took on the topic,

Almost knocked on the door of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

After hard work and patient experimental research,

In 1930,

Zhao Zhongyao was the first to find evidence of the existence of positrons,

This is a Nobel Prize-level discovery.

However, in 1936,

When the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded prizes for the discovery of positrons,

Zhao Zhongyao is not on the list,

The winner was his classmate Anderson.

This thing,

It has been a public case in the physics community for many years.

About half a century later,

Anderson wrote a book acknowledging that

While at Caltech,

He is only separated from Zhao Zhongyao's office by a wall,

His research was inspired by Zhao.

Exburn, who was the director of the Nobel Prize in Physics jury,

Also commenting more than half a century later,

This is an "omission that cannot be remedied".

Nobel laureate Li Zhengdao directly pointed out:

"Zhao Zhongyao should have been the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize,

Just due to someone else's mistake,

Buried his glory. ”

Zhao Zhongyao's research has been belatedly affirmed.

The world owes China a Nobel Prize,

It is already a common understanding in the physics community.

But he himself is indifferent,

Never associated himself with the Nobel Prize.

No wonder Lee Zhengdao admired him extremely much,

Say that he is unpretentious, down-to-earth, and loyal only to science.

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲In 1927, when Zhao Zhongyao first went to Caltech to study

In the late autumn of 1931, Zhao Zhongyao visited Britain,

Meet Rutherford, a master of nuclear physics.

He wanted to stay longer,

But I saw the news of the 918 incident in the newspaper,

The thought of returning home suddenly became stronger.

As he parted, Rutherford said to him with great feelings:

"You go back and get some money through the government or industrialists.

Do science well.

You used to study with us a lot Chinese.

The results are good, but when I go back, I can't hear the sound,

I hope you go back and continue to do scientific research. ”

After returning to China, Zhao Zhongyao returned to the Department of Physics of Tsinghua as a professor.

China's first nuclear physics course,

Established China's first nuclear physics laboratory,

Taught Qian Sanqiang, He Zehui, Wang Daheng and other students.

In the eyes of others, Zhao Zhongyao at this time can be called famous,

Dr. Liu Mei, Tsinghua Professor, Nobel Prize Prospective Laureate,

But he himself is still plainly dressed,

No smoking, no drinking, no snacking,

Dancing is not good, not foreign at all.

After the July Seven Incident, Zhao Zhongyao took the lead in leaving Beijing,

He has successively taught at Yunnan University, Southwest United University, and Central University.

Due to the soaring prices in wartime,

When it was the most difficult, the family made their own soap for sale,

in order to barely make ends meet.

However, for a scientist,

The most torturous thing is that

The country is in ruins, there is simply no money for scientific research,

He was afraid that he would fall into Rutherford's warning.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, in 1946,

The United States tested an atomic bomb on a small island in Bikini in the Pacific,

Allied governments were invited to send observers to observe the site.

Zhao Zhongyao, known as the "originator of nuclear physics in China",

Definitely the best choice,

Others look at the liveliness, but he looks at the doorway.

When the mushroom cloud rises into the sky,

All observers return to the U.S. mainland to play and then return home separately.

At this time,

Zhao Zhongyao "disappeared".

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲ In 1946, Zhao Zhongyao (front row, first from left) prepared to board a destroyer to watch the atomic bomb test explosion

He sneaked back to his alma mater, Caltech.

Prepare to complete this important mission to the United States——

Learn about the latest advances in nuclear physics,

And managed to buy equipment for nuclear physics research.

Sa Bendong, director general of the Academia Sinica, entrusted him with $120,000,

Ask him to buy scientific research instruments on his behalf,

In particular, nuclear physics research is urgently needed for accelerators.

China wants to develop its own nuclear physics business,

Accelerators are the most basic equipment,

But at that time a complete electrostatic accelerator was ordered,

The asking price is $400,000.

The funds in Zhao Zhongyao's hands are tantamount to a drop in the bucket,

And the United States will never allow the export of such products,

What to do?

The only feasible way,

It's an accelerator designed by yourself.

purchase of components and a small amount of nuclear physical equipment that are difficult to produce domestically,

Then return home to assemble it yourself.

It's an extremely laborious and time-consuming road.

Zhao Zhongyao gave up experimental research in nuclear physics for this reason,

Focus on the development of electrostatic accelerators.

Many people laughed at him as a "fool",

Don't use the great opportunity to go abroad to engage in research,

but spend time on things that don't bear fruit.

Accelerator is not Zhao Zhongyao's old line,

Why should he spend his time and energy?

Ye Minghan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, later recalled:

"Teacher Zhao believes that a person makes achievements abroad,

For improving the scientific and cultural level of the Chinese nation,

It does not play much role in the country's prosperity and strength.

Only in the country to create experimental bases for nuclear science,

Only then can we carry out research work and cultivate talents in China.

For this reason, he believes that the sacrifice of the individual is worthwhile. ”

In 1948,

Zhao Zhongyao was elected as the first academician of the Academia Sinica,

In the lineup of academicians with only 81 people, there is a place,

It can be seen that his achievements and status have been recognized.

However, few people know that

This academician elected in absentia,

At this time, in the United States, down,

Running around to entrust people, hoping to find a processing plant with a fair price,

And he eats three meals a day, all with boiling water and bread,

It doesn't look like an academician.

In order to save money, he spends two thousand dollars a year.

It was only 1/5 of the personnel sent abroad at that time.

In exchange for the convenience of learning and consulting,

He worked as a temporary worker in several laboratories in the United States, and even volunteered.

In exchange for a batch of electronic instruments and sporadic equipment,

Significant savings in the purchase of equipment.

The country is busy with the civil war,

No one worries about Zhao Zhongyao anymore.

This top physicist,

But his heart is thinking of the scientific research of his motherland,

In the end, he focused his energy on "how to save the most money".

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲In the 1940s, Zhao Zhongyao was in the United States

And in 1950,

New China had been born, and the Kuomintang had retreated to Taiwan.

With the help of American scientists,

Zhao Zhongyao checked more than 30 boxes of equipment and equipment back to China in advance,

Unexpectedly, it was targeted by the FBI.

After the other party detained several boxes of key equipment, they were allowed to go.

In August of the same year,

Zhao Zhongyao, Qian Xuesen and other more than 100 scholars studying in the United States,

Take a U.S. cruise back home.

Just as he was about to set sail, the FBI suddenly came on board and searched,

Qian Xuesen was accused of being a "spy" and taken away and detained.

Because Zhao Zhongyao's dozens of boxes of things have been sent out in advance,

The other party didn't find anything,

Zhao Zhongyao was only allowed to go.

Not long after the release, the United States regretted it.

They believe that

Qian Xuesen can reach five divisions alone,

However, Zhao Zhongyao, who missed the Nobel Prize,

How many divisions can be reached, no one can count.

So, the US High Command,

Three interception orders in a row,

It is necessary to stop Zhao Zhongyao.

When the ship passed through Yokohama, Japan,

MacArthur's army rushed to the ship and did not say a word,

Zhao Zhongyao was sent to Sugamo Prison in Japan.

Zhao Zhongyao's luggage and notebooks were all confiscated,

Even a bar of soap should be taken for inspection,

The registration list reads

"A piece of something that looks like soap".

meanwhile

The Taiwan authorities sent people to comfort Zhao Zhongyao,

Say that as long as you are willing to go back to the United States or go to Taiwan,

Everything can be solved.

Fu Sinian, president of National Taiwan University, also sent an urgent call:

"I hope that my brother will come to Taiwan to work together, just in case."

Zhao Zhongyao called back and said:

"My intention to return to the mainland has been decided!"

The news of the US military's detention of Chinese scientists,

Finally attracted the attention of world public opinion,

Even the American scientific community has expressed strong protests.

Under the strong pressure of public opinion,

After two months of entanglement and detention,

The US military had to let Zhao Zhongyao go.

At the end of November 1950,

Zhao Zhongyao, who broke through many obstacles,

Finally returned to the motherland after many years of absence.

The equipment and parts he will bring back,

All handed over to the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Subsequently, in 1955 and 1958, respectively,

He presided over the construction of the first and second proton electrostatic accelerators in mainland China.

The success of these two studies,

It plays a decisive role in the development of the mainland's nuclear industry,

Until 2000,

His accelerator was completely "retired".

Whatever the case,

Zhao Zhongyao has always been honest and simple, and never said words that follow the trend,

Always adhere only to the view of benefiting the country and the people,

This cost him a lot politically.

In 1956, 12 countries including the Soviet Union and China jointly established the Institute of Nuclear Research.

Zhao Zhongyao is a member of the Chinese side.

When the institute was ready to launch another accelerator in the USSR,

Zhao Zhongyao directly opposed:

"We are also a member state,

Why can't accelerators be built in China? ”

Unexpectedly, because of this incident,

In the later anti-rightist movement,

He was publicly criticized.

A scientist who is too realistic,

Obviously not adapted to that era that was too vigorous.

His rationalization proposal for the development of science,

It doesn't always get the attention it deserves.

When China's own mushroom cloud soars into the sky,

Those who are familiar with the development of China's atomic bomb,

It is said that Zhao Zhongyao is the creator of this mushroom cloud.

But among the "two bombs and one star" father,

We don't see his name.

I have to say that Zhao Zhongyao is the most tragic scientist in history,

He missed it twice in his life,

A glorious title that should have been imposed on him -

Last time I missed the Nobel Prize because of a mistake on the judges,

This time it's because of endless political campaigns.

He lost valuable time to do scientific research.

Fortunately, he is a person who does not seek to make a name.

China's atomic bomb successfully exploded,

It shows that he has studied hard in the United States for so many years,

His personal sacrifices have value.

Moreover, among all 23 "two bombs and one star" Fathers,

At least 8 were his students, including:

WANG Ganchang, ZHAO Jiuzhang, PENG Huanwu, QIAN Sanqiang,

WANG Daheng, CHEN Fangyun, ZHU Guangya, DENG Jiaxian,

He has reason to be proud.

Not only that, the earliest Chinese Nobel Prize winners,

Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning were also his students.

His scientific life,

Continued in the next generation of scientists.

Lee Cheng-dao said:

"From the 1930s to the end of the 20th century,

Physicists who grew up in the country,

are all trained by Teacher Zhao,

Educated and inspired by Teacher Zhao. ”

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲ Zhao Zhongyao (right) with Yuan Jialu and Wu Jianxiong

Until the beginning of the decade of unrest,

He also naively wrote his scientific research ideas into big-character newspapers,

Soon, he became the object of revolution.

At that time, he gave up his great scientific research prospects,

In order to become better and stronger for the motherland, risk death to return home,

And now, because of this experience,

He was treated as a "special suspect" and put in a cowshed.

This lost time can never be remedied.

In the mid-1970s,

When Zhao Zhongyao recovered his reputation, he was old,

No specific scientific work has been done again.

During the quarantine review, he recalled:

"Because of my meager talents, coupled with the limitations of conditions,

The work did not achieve much.

The only thing that can masturbate is that for more than sixty years,

I have been working diligently for the Motherland,

Tell the truth, do the honest thing,

There is no self-gain, no wasted time. ”

Even in the most wrongful years,

He was still so humble, so upright.

He did not receive the honor and fame he deserved,

He has always been so tireless and unknown,

Never show yourself,

So much so that the world almost forgot,

The existence of this master who made epoch-making contributions.

Until 1995, when Zhao Zhongyao was 93 years old,

The Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation awarded him a prize of HK$100,000.

And Zhao Zhongyao changed hands and donated it all,

To reward accomplished young scientists.

May 28, 1998 ,

96-year-old Zhao Zhongyao passed away.

His death is still silent,

The farewell ceremony of the body is also extremely simple,

In keeping with his lifelong low-key personality.

Only the scientific community knows,

What does Zhao Zhongyao's departure mean,

As Lee Cheng-dao said in his message of condolence:

His death is a great loss to the scientific community all over the world!

A generation of national warriors, 25 years after the death of immortals

▲ Zhao Zhongyao is signing

Zhao Zhongyao said a sentence in his later years:

How much can a person do,

To a large extent, it is determined by the times.

And what I'm trying to say now is,

How many people can a person remember,

To a large extent, it is also determined by the times.

The reason for writing this article,

Write about a great scientist who is not well known among the countrymen,

Just hope,

More people know about Zhao Zhongyao,

Even if it's just one more person, ten more people.

At least, the future Chinese,

will not in turn mock our time,

Laugh at our shallowness and not knowing the real master,

Only know some fast-dying star idols.

Bibliography:

Zhao Zhongyao: "My Memories"

Zheng Zhipeng: "The Outstanding Life of Nuclear Physicist Zhao Zhongyao"

Wu Yuenong: "The Regret of the 1936 Nobel Prize"

Cai Yilan and Ma Tongjun: "For the Motherland, For Science"

Liu Huaizu: "Li Zhengdao speaks at the centenary of the birth of Zhao Zhongyao"

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