Every October, the international Nobel Prize is announced, and it often causes a round of heated discussion.
Since the founding of New China, there have only been two people in the United States, who have won the Nobel Prize as Chinese nationals.
One is Tu Youyou, who won a medical prize for discovering artemisinin.
The other was Mo Yan, who won a literary prize.
Physics and chemistry awards, which represent the world's top scientific and technological directions, seem to have never been associated with our country.
But in fact, many people do not know.
As early as the last century, there was such a person, and almost every one of his research findings could make the academic community sensational and make the world uproar.
He is known as the first cattle man of Chinese science.
And if there were no accidents, he would have won 3 Nobel Prizes for China.
And for various reasons, I missed it again and again.
This person's name is Wang Ganchang.
When everyone else was upset about his repeated rubbing shoulders and winning the Nobel Prize, Wang Ganchang himself said with no concern:
"I never regret it."
That's the truth.
After all, after understanding his experience, you will find:
The weight of the "Nobel Prize" is still too light for Wang Ganchang after all.
After graduating from the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University, with a heart of scientific salvation, Wang Ganchang obtained the qualification of studying abroad at public expense in Jiangsu Province and went to the University of Berlin in Germany for further study.
At that time, the professor in charge of leading him was not small.
She was the famous nuclear physicist Meitner and was praised by Albert Einstein as "our Marie Curie".
But also because of her paranoia.
Wang Ganchang, 25, missed the Nobel Prize for the first time.
In 1932, the second year of studying in Wang Ganchang.
Marie Curie's daughter and son-in-law took the lead in proposing and discovering a super powerful new particle energy.
Proper penetration of 10 cm thick lead plates is not a problem.
They believe that this is most likely the result of "gamma rays".
Many scientists have re-done this experiment and agreed with this hypothesis.
Figure | The Little Curie couple, F. Joliot and Irena Curie
However, Wang Ganchang, who has participated in many relevant academic seminars, is keenly aware that something is wrong.
He intuitively suspected that gamma radiation did not have such a strong penetrating force at all.
Wang Ganchang immediately ran to his mentor, Matner, and proposed to her that if he could redo the experiment with a more advanced detector" called the Cloud Chamber, there might be an unsure discovery.
Meitner smiled and shook his head in refusal.
I felt that the young student in front of me was too naïve. What's more, a hairy guy who has just started, what ability can compete with many scientific giants.
Figure | Wang Ganchang in his youth
Wang Ganchang was not dead-hearted, and pleaded several times in succession.
Meitner, however, insisted on going his own way, refusing to give experimental equipment and opportunities.
He was also advised to:
"You're smart, but there's no point in repeating other people's experiments, and you'll reach another peak by blazing new trails yourself."
But who guarantees that the existing peaks cannot be removed?
But Wang Ganchang had no choice but to give up in the end.
Later, only 3 years later, the British physicist Chadwick also had doubts, and also thought of redoing the original experiment with the "cloud chamber".
As a result, he discovered a new particle that shocked the world— neutrons.
Its power can easily break the nucleus of uranium in half, which is the legendary fission.
The discovery of the neutron, equivalent to a key, opened the door to the atomic bomb.
Chadwick won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics.
When He learned of this news, Meitner was so shocked that he couldn't even hold the cup in his hand, and personally went to the door to apologize to Wang Ganchang.
Compared to the loss of not getting the Nobel Prize.
Wang Ganchang is more regretful, because he knows that nuclear energy will become the bell that reshapes the laws of the world in the near future.
Only one step away, the key to this atomic bomb could have been held in the hands of Chinese.
Moreover, at this time, Wang Ganchang would not expect that the rest of his life would be with two Nobel Prizes, and he would miss it.
Figure | Wang Ganchang
After graduating with a doctorate, Wang Ganchang refused to be retained by his mentor's friends one by one and decided to return to China to serve.
Picture | 1933, Wang Ganchang (second from left) and other Chinese students taking a group photo in Germany
But a scene that happened while passing through Italy made him unable to let go for a long time.
On that day, Wang Ganchang originally wanted to visit Dr. Fermi, a powerful figure known as the "father of nuclear reactors" in later generations.
But the master who loves football went to watch the game and was not at home, Wang Ganchang pounced; when he turned the road through a tavern, he saw a rich businessman, wrestling with the blue and white porcelain cup with wine to play,
He also said contemptuously:
"Porcelain is indeed very valuable, but it is also as vulnerable as its name china..."
The people around them burst out laughing.
Wang Ganchang listened, and his heart was angry and painful, so he had to speed up the pace of returning to China.
"Why snow shame, in my students."
At the invitation of President Zhu Kezhen, Wang Ganchang came to Zhejiang University to teach modern physics.
Knowledgeable and humorous, 29-year-old Wang Ganchang became the youngest and most popular professor at Zhejiang University.
He was affectionately ridiculed by his classmates as "Professor Doll".
Figure | Second from the right in the first row, Wang Ganchang
Unfortunately, the mountains and rivers are stained with blood, and the smoke is everywhere, and the road to preaching and teaching is not easy.
Japan occupied Chinese territory and, while carrying out enslavement education, destroyed the national fire.
In August 1937, the Southern Front lost the Battle of Songhu.
Zhejiang University forced the beginning of a two-year long "exile", and the whole university's teachers and students collectively migrated west 7 times, a total of 2600 kilometers, which can be called the "Long March of the Wen Army".
Figure | Schematic map of the westward migration of Zhejiang University
The only remaining "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" in the region is hidden on the way to the westward migration of Zhejiang University.
Before leaving, President Zhu Kezhen solemnly instructed:
"This is the treasure of our country's culture, and you must protect it well, and you must not take it lightly."
Figure | The "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" is grouped in the Guiyang Dimu Cave
However, the Japanese army was violent and wanton, and naturally it would not be spared.
Enemy planes were sent to track and bomb day and night, dropping 118 bombs in one day.
Classrooms, dormitories, and luggage were all burned down, and teachers and students survived by relying on caves in the mountains...
Figure | memory guizhou
In the face of enemy artillery fire, Wang Ganchang was never afraid.
Even if every time the alarm sounded and the explosion was happening, he could still stand at the entrance of the cave without changing his face and give a lecture to the students emotionally.
Many years later, he has a decisive influence on the development of China's nuclear science and technology:
Cheng Kaijia, Qian Personnel, Lü Min, Hu Jimin, Xin Xianjie, Li Zhengdao...
Almost all of them were students who had been taught by Wang Ganchang himself.
Picture | Wang Ganchang and the teachers and students of the Department of Physics
Even under such difficult conditions, he even conquered world-class problems in one fell swoop.
Following the discovery of the previous neutron, the neutrino was also theoretically established, but no one could prove its existence.
And Wang Ganchang did it!
He published the famous paper "Suggestions on Detecting Neutrinos", and as soon as the news spread, it quickly boiled over the entire physics community.
Later, this method was named the "King-Allen method".
Wang Ganchang once predicted that whoever can discover neutrinos will win the Nobel Prize.
It is a pity that in the old China, there were no advanced equipment conditions.
In the end, American scientist Reins successfully observed neutrinos in experiments using the "Wang-Allen method" and won the Nobel Prize.
Wang Ganchang's folding of the Nobel Prize this time is not because of manpower, but only because of national strength.
Too weak.
Figure | Former China
On the other side, the minions of Japanese militarism expanded like crazy on the world battlefield.
Finally broke the bottom line of the United States.
In August 1945, several white-clad fighter planes flew over Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and after finding their positions, two 10,000-ton atomic bombs fell thousands of miles and smashed The Land of Japan.
Japan, which had suffered a heavy blow, surrendered on its knees and bowed down to its subjects.
Countries around the world have also been shocked by the power of the "mushroom cloud" and stepped up the development of nuclear weapons.
But it turns out that the next nuclear threat from the United States has begun to target China.
They intended to kill chickens and monkeys, start the Korean War, and repeatedly invaded northeast airspace.
Chinese volunteers joined the fighting at the request of North Korea.
Figure | Korean
The war was fought so hard that the United States even used a highly lethal shell in order to annihilate the Chinese army.
The Chinese command suspected that it might be an atomic bomb.
Require domestic experts to immediately send experts to the scene to view.
And this person is None other than Wang Ganchang.
After receiving the instructions from the front, Wang Ganchang immediately made a portable detector and rushed to the battlefield regardless of the danger to his life.
Fortunately, after careful investigation, no radioactivity was found.
Pictured| Wang Ganchang (right) in 1952 on the Korean battlefield
Although the Korean War ended in a draw, the shadow of the nuclear threat has always hung over China.
If you want not to be bullied, you have the right to speak.
No matter how difficult it is, China must also build its own atomic bomb!
However, the newly founded new China was poor and white, and its vitality was seriously injured.
How can it be easy to possess nuclear weapons of the highest order?
At first, China could only take the initiative to seek foreign aid from the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union, which had been accustomed to dominating for a long time, was of course full of vigilance and defense.
The leaders of the two sides had a hard time, and the Soviet Union was finally willing to accept it, and it could also send experts and scholars to exchange and learn nuclear technology.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long.
The international situation has changed drastically, first the Soviet Union has been unable to intervene in China's sovereignty tests, and the relations between the two countries have gradually become rigid.
At the same time, the United States and the Soviet Union broke the ice to establish diplomatic relations, and in order to curry favor with the United States, the Soviet Union's big brother intervened in China's backhand.
The Soviet side actually took the initiative to express its position:
It was decided not to provide any nuclear technology to China for two years.
Unilaterally tear up the agreement with China.
It turns out that weak countries also have no "righteous alliances."
Sino-Soviet relations broke down completely, and the Soviet Union successively withdrew experts to aid China, burning the relevant drawings and documents to ashes, and not forgetting to make a cruel remark:
"Without the help of the outside world, China will not be able to build an atomic bomb in another 20 years, so let's keep this pile of scrap copper and rotten iron."
One of the experts was overwhelmed and said when he left: "It doesn't matter, we are gone, you still have Wang Ganchang." ”
At this time, Wang Ganchang was still in the Dubner Institute in the Soviet Union.
Three years ago, he was sent to the Soviet Union to study, and with his outstanding strength, he was promoted from an ordinary researcher to a deputy director.
Not long ago, he also led the team to create another feat: the first anti-sigma negative superko was found from 40,000 pairs of negative films.
It has become a milestone in the history of high-energy physics in the world.
Wang Ganchang's name was also published in newspapers around the world.
Figure | In 1960, Wang Ganchang (front row, 4th from left) took a group photo with members of his research group at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubner, Soviet Union
Everyone firmly believes that as long as Wang Ganchang is willing to continue his research, it is only a matter of time before he wins the Nobel Prize.
But at this time, he was holding a top-secret telegram from the motherland.
The United States is strong, the Soviet Union is treacherous.
Encircled and suppressed China must find another way out of the cracks.
The third time he came to the nobel prize door, it was already a good time and place, but Wang Ganchang chose to close this door with his own hands.
Give up all achievements, honors and future, and embark on the road back to China without looking back!
The Days when the Soviet Union decided to stifle all of China's nuclear technology.
It happened in June 1959.
In order not to forget this history, China decided to name the plan to develop the atomic bomb independently as "Project 596".
This task holds the state's top secrets, and once it joins, it must be anonymized, giving up all identity and contact, even to the family, and not revealing more than half a sentence.
The point is that this walk may be a lifetime.
Wang Ganchang, who was more than half a hundred years old, pondered for a moment and then replied forcefully:
"I want to serve the country with my own example."
Since this day, Wang Ganchang has taken the place of Soviet expert.
It has become one of the "three pillars" of the China Nuclear Weapons Research Institute.
Even Wang Ganchang, the person, disappeared out of thin air ever since.
But a familiar figure appeared in the Great Northwest No Man's Land, his name was Wang Jing.
Leading a group of scientific research leaders to climb mountains and wade through the water, Wang Ganchang and they finally arrived at the atomic bomb "test base" in the depths of the desert.
- A barren land, next to a mass grave.
However, all the experimental personnel were highly motivated, built bunkers, set up tents, recorded the measured data against the wind and sand, and adjusted the direction of research and development over and over again for artillery experiments.
Each assembly process must be completed in one go, and each section of the underground buried line must be repeatedly confirmed.
At hand and under his feet are full of explosives and radioactive materials, and he cannot save his life if he is not careful.
24 hours is not enough, and everyone's eyes are straight.
The R&D process is already a difficult and dangerous process.
Partial house leaks and overnight rain.
A three-year-long natural disaster struck, plunging the country into a famine.
This scientific research team in the northwest only has steamed buns and dried vegetable soup as daily food, and in the most difficult times, even rats and leaves have to be used to feed.
Due to the extreme lack of nutrition, everyone's body has a red light:
Night blindness, unresponsiveness, swelling of the whole body ...
Will scientists fall, and will the atomic bomb still be built?
The central leaders were worried and asked about Wang Ganchang:
"Comrade Professor, when will your 'cannon battle' ring?" ”
Wang Ganchang would always smile and reply, "Soon, soon." ”
There was never a word of abandonment mentioned.
Behind this solemn commitment, he turned around and continued to lead the members, exhausted, fighting day and night.
Moreover, they must race against the clock, because there is not much time left for them.
At that time, the 20th Corps of the Volunteer Army, which had just triumphed from the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, suddenly changed its route back to China without warning and mysteriously did not know where to go, which had already aroused the suspicion and vigilance of the US military.
It was on an ad hoc basis that this force was dispatched to the Great Northwest Test Base.
After several traces, China's nuclear weapons program was discovered by the United States, and they began to plan to destroy it by force.
The father and son of the Jiang family on the other side of the strait even more actively said that they could cooperate in sending special forces to be the vanguard...
The development of China's atomic bomb has reached the final stage.
At the moment of the thousand guns, Wang Ganchang and they could only urgently transfer.
Abandoning the original Soviet site, we came to Lop Nur Gold and Silver Beach, a place with an altitude of 3800 meters above sea level and a temperature difference of more than 80 ° C in the morning and evening.
Even young people often have altitude sickness such as hypoxia dizziness, dry lips and purple hair, and nosebleeds.
Wang Ganchang was the oldest and suffered from high blood pressure, but he was still at the forefront.
Finally, after another six months of trial and verification.
On October 16, 1964, China's first atomic bomb exploded successfully, and a loud bang shocked the world.
The lion is awake, and its voice is high.
It was a full 5 years earlier than the Western countries had expected.
At the same time, they also guessed that the host behind this experiment was Wang Ganchang.
By the time he reappeared in public, Wang Ganchang, who had regained his identity, was already a 71-year-old man with silver hair.
He used 17 years of incognito to raise the status and future of a country.
The two sideburns are white and have no regrets, only for China's eternal youth.
I remember that one year on Chinese New Year's Eve night, the yellow sand in the northwest was under my feet, but the stars were brilliant.
He and Deng Jia first drank in the tent.
Deng Jiaxian suddenly choked up and said, "Comrade Wang Jing has been called for more than ten years, and today I will call Wang Ganchang once." ”
The words did not fall, and both of them were in tears.
Write at the end:
How fortunate we are to be born in today's China.
The strength of the motherland has given us comprehensive protection.
The strength of the motherland also makes the world full of awe for it.
The epidemic is out of control, foreign riots, economic sanctions...
No matter how far we go, a Chinese passport can always let us go home safely.
Therefore, to love this land has become a simple and natural thing to do.
But we are all well aware of China decades ago
Backwardness, poverty, chaos.
Someone once asked: "If there is no applause, some are just laughter and contempt, will you still go to the country?" ”
And Wang Ganchang told us the answer with his actions.
Patriotism is not only because of how good the motherland is.
More because of how much the motherland needs.
This pure heart is the front that we are today, truly worth yearning for.
Source: Kokukan, original title :"Chinese suddenly disappeared for 17 years, the world owes him 3 Nobel Prizes"
Author: Xuan Yi
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