Qian Xuesen is the founder of China's two bombs and one star, and even more the founder of China's aerospace industry, known as the father of China's aerospace industry, and his name is almost unknown to everyone in China.
But what few people know is that in the 1970s, when Qian Xuesen appeared in the New York Times, there was a name that appeared with him, but that person was called the person behind Qian Xuesen because he was too low-key.
He was zhu Guangya, the founder of the two bombs and one star who organized and called on international students to return to China and devoted his life to nuclear weapons research.
<h1>Famous teachers teach, devote themselves to physics</h1>
Zhu Guangya was born on December 25, 1924 in Yichang, Hubei Province, and because his father worked for a French company, Zhu Guangya received a more advanced Western education at a very young age.
In high school, Zhu Guangya and his two older brothers were forced to move to Sichuan due to the times, and began to transfer schools continuously, and after experiencing Hechuan Chongjing Middle School and Jiangbei Qinghua Middle School, Zhu Guangya settled down in Chongqing Nankai Middle School.
It is worth mentioning that at that time, Zhu Guangya happened to catch up with Academician Wei Rongjue, who had just graduated from college, to teach here.
Under the guidance of this outstanding physicist, Zhu Guangya developed a strong interest in physics, and after graduation, Zhu Guangya was admitted to the Department of Physics of National Central University.
I have to say that in terms of teachers, Zhu Guangya's luck can be described as very good, after experiencing the teaching of Academician Wei Rongjue, he entered the university and met Professor Zhao Guangzeng, who had just returned from the United States.
You know, at that time, the development of science and technology in the United States far exceeded that of China, and an excellent teacher who had just returned from studying in the United States represented a more advanced knowledge reserve, which was Zhu Guangya's first contact with foreign "advanced science".
In the sophomore year, Southwest United University came to Chongqing to recruit transfer students, in the face of the best university in China at that time, Zhu Guangya could not be said to be unmoved, and soon after, with the help of several Nankai alumni, Zhu Guangya successfully applied for the southwest United University.
Here, Zhu Guangya was successively taught by Zhou Peiyuan, Wang Zhuxi, Ye Qisun, Wu Youxun, Zhu Wuhua, Wu Dayu and many other well-known professors.
And these people are all shining figures in the history of Chinese science, among which Professor Wu Dayu is known as the father of Chinese physics.
Under the careful cultivation of these famous teachers, Zhu Guangya established a very solid foundation in physics during his college years.
<h1>The expedition to the United States was frustrated, and he began to study abroad life for nuclear physics</h1>
After graduating from university, Zhu Guangya, eager to continue his studies, chose to stay in school as a teaching assistant, and at that time, at the time of China's victory in the War of Resistance, Chiang Kai-shek proposed that China should have its own atomic bomb.
Therefore, under the arrangement of the National Government, wu Dayu, Zeng Zhaoyu, and Hua Luogeng were selected to go to the United States to investigate.
At that time, the Nationalist government also proposed that every scientist needed to bring two assistants with him, and Wu Dayu chose Zhu Guangya and Li Zhengdao, who also graduated from Southwest United University.
For Zhu Guangya at that time, being able to follow Wu Dayu to the United States to investigate was a great blessing in his academic career, and Zhu Guangya, who was full of ambition at the time, did not know that the trip to the United States was destined not to be as smooth as he imagined.
In the face of a Chinese delegation that traveled thousands of miles to the United States, the United States relentlessly stated that it would not open up its atomic bomb research technology to any country other than the United States.
In the face of the resolute U.S. government, the delegation, which knew that the trip was hopeless, was ready to inquire about the next step at home, but who knew that soon after they arrived in the United States, the country fell into civil war.
The Nationalist government that sent them abroad had long been overwhelmed with itself, and in desperation, the inspection group, which had been set up on an ad hoc basis, was dissolved on the spot.
Although the expedition group was disbanded, Zhu Guangya did not forget his mission to the United States, and he resolutely entered the graduate school of the University of Michigan in the United States and began to study nuclear physics that he was not familiar with.
<h1>The first voice led to the boom in the return of Chinese students to China</h1>
In 1949, the founding of New China, the country is in a state of ruin, all walks of life are in the embarrassing period of talent scarcity, in the face of such a scene of waiting to be moved, the state began to strongly call on overseas students to return to China to participate in the construction of new China.
But after all, this was a distant call that crossed the ocean, coupled with the difficulty of information dissemination at that time, the initial call had little effect, but fortunately, zhu Guangya received this call from the motherland soon after.
On March 18, 1950, Zhu Guangya and 51 Chinese students published an open letter.
In this "Open Letter to Students Staying in the United States", Zhu Guangya, who has always been silent and taciturn, made a generous statement: "Students, listen! The motherland is calling to us, go back! Let us go back and sprinkle our blood and sweat on the land of our motherland. We in China are going to come out! We have stood up, hurry back, the motherland is eagerly waiting for us! ”
In the open letter of more than 1,600 words, Zhu Guangya used a full 11 exclamation points, each of which was knocked on the hearts of Chinese students.
And Zhu Guangya's enthusiasm for the fire of the rise of the motherland hidden in the text has burned into the hearts of many international students.
This letter caused a huge response among Chinese students at that time, and many international students who were hesitant to see this letter resolutely chose to return to China.
Many years later, Lee joked: "Of the few people that Chiang Kai-shek sent to the United States, only Zhu Guangya was a party." ”
<h1>Loss of Soviet aid, difficult nuclear tests</h1>
Shortly after the open letter was issued, Zhu Guangya returned to Beijing through Hong Kong. After returning to China, Zhu Guangya first served as an associate professor in the Department of Physics of Peking University, and then transferred to the Department of Physics of Northeast Renmin University.
In the spring of 1952, Zhu Guangya was sent to North Korea as an English translator to participate in the panmunjom armistice negotiations, when the US military repeatedly threatened China with nuclear weapons, which made Zhu Guangya determined to build nuclear weapons for China.
Three years later, the central government decided to start developing the atomic bomb, and Zhu Guangya was transferred back to Peking University to participate in the formation of the atomic energy major and shoulder the heavy responsibility of cultivating China's first generation of atomic energy talents.
In 1957, Zhu Guangya was transferred to the Institute of Atomic Energy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to participate in the construction and start-up of the reactor with the assistance of the Soviet Union.
In this base camp of my earliest atomic energy research, Zhu Guangya led the design of the light water zero-power device, which successfully took the first step in the manufacture of Nuclear Reactors in China.
Three years later, shortly after Zhu Guangya was appointed vice president of the Ninth Research Institute, due to the sudden deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations, all Soviet experts withdrew and took away many important equipment, which caused an almost devastating blow to the atomic bomb development work that had just started.
In the face of the atomic bomb development work that has officially begun, Chinese scientists with almost zero reference materials can only continue to research hard.
At that time, almost no one was optimistic about them, and some people even thought that without the help of the Soviet Union, China would not be able to build an atomic bomb, but the doubts of others did not affect the research progress of Zhu Guangya and others.
Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian, and Zhu Guangya were in the Tiananmen Tower
In 1962, the Ninth Research Institute proposed to the leaders that the first nuclear test would be carried out within two years, and to this end, Zhu Guangya personally prepared two "programmatic documents" for China's nuclear weapons, which played a very crucial role in the subsequent development of the atomic bomb.
At that time, there was also a confidentiality agreement, and all the personnel involved in the development of the atomic bomb could not disclose the work to the outside world, and even Zhu Guangya's eldest son guessed his father's occupation by speculation after the atomic bombing.
From left: Zhu Guangya and Cheng Kaijia
<h1>The second voice, the earth-shattering loud sound of the East</h1>
At 15:00 on October 16, 1964, on the Gobi Desert in the Great Northwest, a strong light quickly swept by, followed by a loud mushroom cloud.
The atomic bomb, which was later called the "Loud Sound of the East," successfully exploded in the Gobi Desert, and China, which had once appeared weak and deceitful in the international arena due to the lack of scientific and technological development, finally stood up at this moment.
At that time, in the face of the mushroom cloud rising in the air, the whole country rejoiced, and Zhu Guangya, who was sitting on the evacuation vehicle, was red-eyed at this moment, and this man who was not confused finally completed his dream of going to the United States as a teenager.
From left: Qian Xuesen, Zhang Aiping, Zhu Guangya
At the celebration that night, Zhu Guangya was drunk, and this was said to be the only time in his life that he was drunk.
The atomic bomb was successfully detonated, but nuclear research did not stop, and soon Zhu Guangya once again threw himself into the development of the hydrogen bomb, and two years and eight months after the atomic bomb explosion, China's first hydrogen bomb successfully exploded.
Thanks to the efforts of Zhu Guangya and others, China surpassed the United States and the Soviet Union in one fell swoop to become the fastest country in the world to develop atomic to hydrogen bombs, and just 10 years ago, China had almost zero nuclear weapons data.
In the decades since, Zhu Guangya has been engaged in the study of nuclear energy, and in 1969, Zhu Guangya organized and directed China's first underground nuclear test, which was a great success and ensured the rapid and sustainable development of nuclear weapons.
From left: Wang Ganchang, Nie Rongzhen, and Zhu Guangya at the nuclear test base in western China
<h1>He was named the Founder of Two Bombs and One Star, and repeatedly refused to be publicized by others</h1>
Later, when Zhu Guangya was the deputy director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, he organized and guided the preparation and research and development of China's first nuclear power plant, and in 1980, Zhu Guangya was elected as a member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which was later an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In 1994, Zhu Guangya was selected as one of the first academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and served as the president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as the first president, he led and established a set of effective work processes, which was a well-deserved hero in the initial period of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
This is also the first time that Zhu Guangya has come to the front of the stage from behind the scenes.
Before that, there were also many articles trying to write down Zhu Guangya's personal deeds, but he always returned it, even in the "two bombs and one star" founder, his name was the last to be declassified.
On September 18, 1999, Zhu Guangya was awarded the Medal of Merit for Two Bombs and One Star by the state, and it was only then that the name that had dedicated his life to the cause of national scientific research was truly known to the Chinese people.
In 2001, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of Tsinghua University, the university specially contacted 23 recipients of the "Two Bombs and One Star Meritorious Service Medal" to celebrate this event, hoping to publish a biography for them as a key book to send to alumni, and 23 scientists gladly agreed.
From left: Li Zhengdao, Zhu Guangya, Huang Zuqia, Yang Zhenning, Wu Qidi
Some of them are self-written, some are ghostwritten by others, and even one scientist wrote more than 80,000 words, while Zhu Guangya wrote less than 6,000 words.
In these short thousands of words, Zhu Guangya objectively and exhaustively recounted the history of the development of the atomic bomb, saying that he was written in an autobiography, but there was no mention of himself in the whole text.
Over the years, Zhu Guangya has been adhering to the principle of low-key behavior and strict self-discipline, and in the face of media interviews and boasts, he always refuses again and again, shirking and saying that he will talk about it later.
In 1996, when Zhu Guangya received a prize of HK$1 million from the Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Achievement Award, he immediately decided to donate the prize money to the China Engineering Fund, and also told the secretary not to publicize the matter, both internally and externally.
<h1>Choose one thing, for the rest of your life</h1>
The 32-year-old scientist, who has been involved in nuclear weapons research for 49 years in his post, has been doing one thing all his life: studying nuclear weapons.
At the age of 81, this old man who had been half a life officially retired, and thought that he could live a stable life with his grandson in mind, but unfortunately, the sky did not go according to people's wishes, and just 5 years later, the scientist who illuminated China for half a century passed away in a hospital bed.
Zhu Guangya spent his life illuminating China's nuclear weapons cause, he was known as the marshal of nuclear weapons research, and his two voices lit up China's rise.
On the day of Zhu Guangya's death, Beijing was full of snow, it was the fall of a giant star, but also symbolized the far away of an era, the giant wheel of history has never stopped, but future generations will always remember those great souls who have paid for the country and the people, their souls return to the firmament, but they are also immortal.
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