<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > (1) Why did Professor Tsinghua become a beggar? </h1>
In October 1937, by this time, the Japanese had occupied Peiping and Tsinghua University had moved to Changsha. One day, at the entrance of the temporary office of Tsinghua University at the Leek Garden Bible College in Changsha, a ragged beggar came, wearing a tattered robe, carrying a wooden stick in his right hand, carrying a broken pickle jar in his left hand, a bird's nest-like messy hair, his face covered with dust and unable to see his face, only a pair of eyes turned, making people think that he was still alive.
The beggar walked to the door and shouted in a hoarse voice, "Is Principal Mei here?" I have something to tell him alone. ”
The security guard waved his hand and ignored the beggar.
Who knew that the beggar went further, and the words were even more anxious: "Please call down Principal Mei, I have something important to find him." ”
The security guard pushed and shoved a little, shouting: "Go fast, what are you, and you also want to see Principal Mei?" ”
The beggar staggered backwards, but his hand did not support the ground, but tightly guarded the pickle jar, and the whole person fell firmly to the ground. He got up from the ground gasping and was about to go to the security guard again when he saw a man coming out of the gate. The man was long, thin, wearing a long black-gray robe, a light brown gentleman's hat, and a pair of black round-rimmed glasses on the straight bridge of the nose under the brim.
Seeing this man, the beggar rushed forward. The security guards could not stop him, and the beggar had already rushed to the man, followed by an excited and hoarse cry: "Principal Mei! The person who came was Mei Yiqi, who was the president of Tsinghua University at the time.
Mei Yiqi was startled by this posture, and when he saw this beggar clearly, he couldn't help but shed tears in his eyes, tightly grasped the beggar's hand, and shouted: "Professor Zhao, is it you?" How did you find this coming? With that, he dragged the man toward the door.
The beggar who described the withering tree was none other than Zhao Zhongyao, who was a doctor at the California Institute of Technology and a professor of physics at Tsinghua University at the time.
When he arrived at the house, Zhao Zhongyao was relieved, and after pouring a few sips of water, he placed the pickle jar on the desk and said, "Principal Mei, fortunately, I brought things back." ”
"What is this?" Mei Yiqi asked curiously.
Zhao Zhongyao said: "Do you remember that when I came back from the Cavendish Laboratory in the United Kingdom, Dr. Rutherford gave me 50mg radium? After I came to Tsinghua, this radium has been hidden in tsinghua garden. Before leaving Peiping, the Japanese army had already entered the Qinghua Garden, and this radium could not fall into their hands, so I brought it out hidden in the pickle jar. ”
Hearing this, Mei Yiqi understood why Zhao Zhongyao looked like this.
At that time, the situation in Peiping could not be returned, Tsinghua University asked the professors to leave Tsinghua Garden on their own and go to Changsha to assemble, and Zhao Zhongyao, because he wanted to protect radium, went late, and later he had to escape from the Japanese blockade line, from Beiping to Changsha, this way I don't know how much suffering.
Indeed, this road can be described as nine deaths for Zhao Zhongyao.
Zhao Zhongyao - 1928, California Institute of Technology, USA
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > (2) Why does Zhao Zhongyao have such a precious rare substance? </h1>
On June 27, 1902, Zhao Zhongyao was born in the Zhao family in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province. In the summer of 1927, Zhao Zhongyao studied abroad and entered the research department of the California Institute of Technology, and his supervisor was the president of the school and the Nobel Prize winner in physics. In 1929, he first discovered in experimental studies that when hard g-rays pass through heavy elements, there is abnormal absorption and produce a special radiation.
Zhao Zhongyao's work was a pioneer in positron discovery, but unfortunately, it did not receive enough attention at that time. Two years later, Zhao Zhongyao's classmate Philip Anderson won the Nobel Prize in Physics for observing the footprints of positrons, but Zhao Zhongyao, the first person to discover positrons, was left out.
The positive and negative electron annihilation radiation he observed was two years earlier than the positron trails that Anderson later saw. Although he passed by the Nobel Prize, his research results provided a theoretical basis for the development of the positron-negative electron collider, which also established his position in the world physics community.
Afterwards, Professor GEkspons, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and former director of the Nobel Prize Committee in Physics, specifically mentioned Mr. Zhao's historical merit in his book, telling people that it was a "very disturbing omission that can no longer be repaired." "Zhao Zhongyao is a real Nobel Laureate in the hearts of world physicists!"
In 1931, Zhao Zhongyao visited the famous Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, where he studied under the famous physicist Rutherford. In the process of teaching, Rutherford was impressed by Zhao Zhongyao's spirit of diligent study, and when Zhao Zhongyao returned to China, he specially gave him a 50 mg radioactive experimental radium. Although the radium was banned all over the world, he went through all kinds of dangers to bring the 50-milligram radium back to China and stored it in a safe in the laboratory of Tsinghua University for research purposes.
In 1935, some teachers and students of the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University took a group photo: Zhao Zhongyao, the third left in the front row, and Qisun on the left
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (3) took more than 1 month, he brought 50 mg radium from Beiping to Changsha</h1>
On July 29, 1937, the Japanese army occupied Peiping. Tsinghua University was even more harassed, and the Japanese army repeatedly stole a large number of precious books and instruments in the name of visiting, and carried them out in a truck. Seeing that the situation was out of control, the Tsinghua school dismissed all the students and school staff, leaving only the "Tsinghua University Custody Committee" composed of Bi Zhengxuan, Chen Chuanxu and five others to stay at Tsinghua. Zhao Zhongyao, who was then a professor in the Department of Physics at Tsinghua University, was also dismissed and fled for his life.
But he didn't go, and the 50mg radium was always on his mind. At that time, high-energy physics had just emerged, radium was a high-energy physical material that was embargoed all over the world, rare and abnormal, not to mention in poor and weak China, this radium was the only key to open the world of high-energy physics.
On September 4, 1937, Zhao Zhongyao quietly sneaked back to Beiping, but instead of going directly to Tsinghua Garden, he advanced to No. 3 Beizongbu Hutong, which was the home of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin. At that time, Liang Sicheng had just received an invitation to sign the "East Asian Co-Prosperity Association", and the couple deeply felt that Peiping could no longer stay, and was packing up and preparing to leave Beiping at night.
Zhao Zhongyao and Liang Si had a good deal, and this time they came to Liang Sicheng in particular, in order to borrow Liang Sicheng's car to facilitate going to Tsinghua Garden to take out the secret radium. Listening to Zhao Zhongyao's words, Liang Sicheng decided to go to Tsinghua with him on an adventure.
At dusk that day, Liang Sicheng and Zhao Zhongyao drove out of Beiping and went all the way to Tsinghua Garden in the northern suburbs. At that time, many Japanese could be seen on the road, but fortunately the two were not intercepted. The car drove into Tsinghua Garden, and the huge campus was empty and in a mess, and there were traces of harassment and looting by the Japanese army. In the past, this peaceful and peaceful Qinghua Garden with the sound of books is now only a round of remnants of the moon reflecting the dead trees, which adds a little more gloom and terror to this hazy night.
The two drove downstairs to the laboratory, and Zhao Zhongyao found the corner of his secret radium, fortunately disguised properly, and the Japanese army did not notice. He picked up the lead cylinder containing radium and returned to Beiping in Liang Sicheng's car. The two break up in a remote alley, Liang Sicheng continues to return home with his wife and children to prepare for the escape, while Zhao Zhongyao disappears into the night alone with a radium.
In order not to attract the attention of the Japanese army, Zhao Zhongyao gave himself a makeover. He changed into a long shirt, deliberately made some holes in it, and rolled a few more times on the ground, making him covered in dust. As if that wasn't enough, he broke his hair again, smeared some soot on his face, and dressed himself up like an old farmer on the outskirts of Beiping to be relieved.
At that time, there were Japanese troops or puppet troops stationed on the eastern, northern and northwest sides of Beiping, and only the southern side could escape. However, the only southbound Pinghan Railway has long been cut off because of its proximity to the Lugou Bridge, and if you want to escape from Beiping as soon as possible, you can only take a car to Tianjin and then turn the water to the south. On the way out, all important intersections, stations, and railway stations have checkpoints set up by the Japanese, but fortunately, Zhao Zhongyao changed his appearance in advance, mixed in the crowd and was not detected by the Japanese.
After leaving Beiping, he squeezed a train going south at a station, afraid that the pickle jar would be lost or accidentally broken, so he clutched the jar with both hands and shrunk in the corner of the train and did not dare to move. There were not only fleeing people on the carriage, but also the figure of Japanese soldiers could be seen in some of the carriages, who were holding guns and searching around the carriages for important Chinese figures who had fled.
On the train, Zhao Zhongyao met several professors and students he had met on weekdays, but he did not dare to say hello. These people have also changed their identities, disguised as ordinary people do not dare to speak out, occasionally acquaintances recognize each other, but also dare to blink their eyes, really become the "way of the eye".
In this way, Zhao Zhongyao stopped while walking with the fleeing crowd, and the luggage on his body was constantly abandoned, and only the pickle jar was clinging to it. It took more than a month for him to finally escape from Beiping to Changsha, which led to the scene where he held the pickle jar and met Principal Mei.
Zhao Zhongyao (1902-1998), a native of Zhuji, Zhejiang, was a physicist and pioneer of nuclear physics research and accelerator construction in China
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > (4) walked to Kunming, he was branded with two blood marks on his chest</h1>
Zhao Zhongyao did not stay long in Changsha. In January 1938, as the war intensified, Changsha was exposed to the horseshoe of the Japanese army, and the Changsha Provisional University, composed of three universities, Tsinghua, Peking University and Nankai, was required by the Nationalist government to move to Kunming, Yunnan Province, and to form the Southwest United University (Southwest United University). At that time, the teachers and students of the three schools who moved to Kunming were divided into three teams and went to Kunming through different routes. Zhao Zhongyao walked by water, and the team consisted mainly of teachers and their families, some weak boys and all girls, a total of more than 600 people. They will reach Guangzhou via the Cantonese-Hankou Railway, then yunnan via the Yunnan-Burma Railway in Hong Kong via Vietnam, and finally to Mengzi and Kunming.
This road trekked through mountains and rivers, the journey was more than ten thousand miles, and no matter where he went, Zhao Zhongyao hugged the lead cylinder of the radium. When the team arrived in Hong Kong, they had to wait for the boat, so they stayed in Hong Kong for a week. At that time, Japan had not yet declared war on Britain, and Hong Kong was still a prosperous paradise for the teachers and students who had fled to this place, and many teachers and students had met to visit all parts of Hong Kong, but Zhao Zhongyao kept the lead cylinder in the large warehouse where he lived, and even slept on his pillow. A teacher who knew about this matter offered to help him take care of it, but he shook his head and refused, saying that this thing has radiation, and I can hold it myself at ease.
As a professor of physics, Zhao Zhongyao knows better than anyone what kind of harm radium does to the human body. And such close contact with high radiation sources, even if there is a lead cylinder as an isolation, but when he walks to Kunming, his chest is still burned with two blood marks. But for him, he was particularly excited, and it was worth the hardships of this road, because he saved an incomparably important wealth for China's high-energy physics cause.
Later, when he was in the Southwest United University, limited by the simple scientific research environment at that time, high-energy physics experiments could not be carried out normally, and the radium that Zhao Zhongyao desperately saved failed to play its due role, but could only be quietly sealed, which also became a regret in his heart.
Southwestern Union University has no buildings, only huts and masters. Zhao Zhongyao and his colleagues have cultivated such accomplished talents as Nobel prize winners Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning, two bombs and one star heroes Zhu Guangya and Deng Jiaxian, and China's highest national science and technology award winners Liu Dongsheng, Wu Zhengyi, Huang Kun, and Ye Duzheng, which are a major contribution to the physics community.
In 1946, Zhao Zhongyao (front row, first from left) visited the United States as an observer to test the first atomic bomb
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (5) the road back home through twists and turns</h1>
In 1946, Zhao Zhongyao went to the United States to participate in the atomic bomb explosion test on bikini island in the Pacific Ocean. After the visit, he stayed in the United States to study nuclear physics theory and experimental techniques. From 1946 to 1950, Zhao worked in the Electrostatic Accelerator Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Carnet Base Magnetic Research Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Nuclear Reaction Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology.
At the end of 1949, Zhao Zhongyao began to make preparations for returning to China, and the first and most important thing was to transport the components of the electrostatic accelerator that had been processed for many years and the nuclear physics experimental equipment that had been painstakingly purchased back to China. Fortunately, for a short period of time between the end of 1949 and the beginning of 1950, china and the United States were still navigable. Zhao Zhongyao found a transportation company responsible for the handling of scientific research equipment. At that time, the FBI had noticed that Zhao Zhongyao wanted to ship back the equipment, and they suspected that it contained secret information. Therefore, the agents carried Zhao Zhongyao behind their backs and went to the warehouse of the transportation company to open the box and inspect it without authorization, and even sent someone to the California Institute of Technology to investigate the origin and use of this batch of equipment. Fortunately, Dumond, the scientist who was questioned at the time, was friendly to Zhao Zhongyao, and he explained to the investigators that the equipment had nothing to do with atomic weapons. In the end, the parts were finally transported back to China through twists and turns, playing an important role in the study of nuclear physics in China.
The safe transportation of equipment back to China can be described as a happy event, but Zhao Zhongyao's road back to China can be described as full of twists and turns and dangers. On August 29, 1950, Zhao Zhongyao, Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian, Tu Guangchi, Luo Shijun, Shen Shanjiong, Bao Likui, and more than 100 other Chinese scholars studying in the United States boarded the US ship "President Wilson" together. But no sooner had they boarded the ship than FBI agents boarded the ship to search for it. Qian Xuesen's more than 800 kilograms of books and notebooks were seized, and he was escorted to the island of Termina and locked up. Zhao Zhongyao was also interrogated repeatedly and brutally inspected dozens of boxes of his contents. Fortunately, a month ago, Zhao Zhongyao had brought important materials and equipment back to China, and the rest of the parts were dismantled and placed randomly, thus successfully confusing the American agents. But some of his physics books and scientific magazines were confiscated by U.S. agents for violating export laws.
On September 12, when the ship passed through Yokohama, Japan, it was scheduled to anchor in the port of Yokohama for several hours, and passengers were ready to take a rest after the ship docked. Unexpectedly, just as the ship was approaching the port, the ship announced: According to the urgent notice of the relevant authorities, the ship is not allowed to dock in Japan. Everyone was very disappointed. Just then, a speedboat sped in from the shore. Zhao Zhongyao had a premonition that something unexpected would happen, and it was likely that he had come for himself. He hurriedly handed over a bag of scientific research records he had brought with him to a reliable friend to collect. As soon as the information was out of hand, several US gendarmes with "MP" markings jumped from the speedboat, saying that they were ordered by the US General Command to ask Zhao Zhongyao and three other young scholars who had returned from the California Institute of Technology, Luo Shijun, Shen Shanjiong, and Bao Likui, to talk to the captain's room. Among them, Bao Likui happened to be in the washing room, heard his name called in the microphone, and deliberately did not come out, escaping a disaster. Zhao Zhongyao and two others arrived at the captain's room, where U.S. intelligence officials insisted that they might have secret information and immediately took the three of them ashore to be held at the Nakano U.S. Military Prison in Tokyo on charges of "espionage suspicion" related to nuclear weapons secrets. Soon, the three of them were transferred to Sugamo Prison, which mainly housed Japanese war criminals.
On September 24, Li Siguang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who had just returned from overseas through twists and turns, called US President Truman to lodge a solemn protest. International public opinion also expressed deep sympathy for this matter, and the World Scientific Organization expressed "deep regret" for the behavior of the United States and protested one after another. Forced by the forces of justice, the U.S. government had to release three scientists on October 28, saying the incident occurred out of a "misunderstanding."
A few days later, they left Yokohama via Hong Kong to return home, and were in trouble again as they passed through Hong Kong. The British authorities in Hong Kong said there was a problem with their transit certificates and detained the three men for several days. Since Zhao Zhongyao and others have become news figures that the public is concerned about, and they have the strong backing of New China and hundreds of millions of people behind them, the Hong Kong and British authorities can no longer openly stay in difficulty. In this way, after many days of tossing and turning, it was not until November 28 that Zhao Zhongyao and the three of them finally set foot on the land of the motherland and returned to the motherland that had been separated for many years.
In 1959, China's first particle accelerator project designed by Zhao Zhongyao was successfully completed, and the 50mg radium on the display finally burst out of dazzling and charming brilliance.
Zhao Zhongyao's family portrait in 1956
Professor Yang Zhenning congratulated Mr. Zhao Zhongyao on his 90th birthday Professor Yang Zhenning congratulated Mr. Zhao Zhongyao on his 90th birthday
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