In August 1955, China and the United States held talks in Geneva. After many negotiations, the U.S. government reluctantly lifted the ban on Chinese scholars returning to the United States. Qian Xuesen took the lead in returning to China.
As soon as the news came out, scholars who had been trapped in foreign countries for a long time were excited.
Among them is Guo Yonghuai. Qian Xuesen's best friend.
Qian Xuesen later said, "There were many Chinese students in the United States at that time, but the only one I knew most was Guo Yonghuai."
Guo Yonghuai studied at the California Institute of Technology in the United States, where he studied aerodynamics under the "Father of Aviation" and fluid mechanics master von Carmen, studied aerodynamics, and obtained a doctorate. He later became an associate professor at Cornell University.
Guo Yonghuai
Together with Qian Xuesen, he proposed the concept of "upper critical Mach number", which solved the problems that have plagued the aviation field for many years and laid a theoretical foundation for the birth of supersonic fighters.
The U.S. military attached great importance to him and invited him to participate in military research.
Before working, you need to fill out a form, and one of the questions is: If there is a war, would you like to serve in the United States?
It was supposed to be a routine questionnaire, but Guo Yonghuai picked up a pen and wrote a "no" heavily.
He made no secret of it, frankly, "I came to Cornell University, only temporarily, and I want to return to my home country when the time is right."
As a result, he was directly on the "blacklist" of the United States and became the object of close attention.
While working as an associate professor at Cornell University, Guo Yonghuai fell in love with Li Pei and married, and had an only daughter, Guo Qin.
Guo Yonghuai and Li Pei
The family of three lived a stable and happy life, living in a three-story villa with a garden and a basement, only about ten minutes from Cornell University.
Children are like dolls, smart and cute. Madame concentrated on taking care of his life. They sometimes go out to sea in a speedboat to enjoy the scenery of the sea and the sky.
Guo Yonghuai loves photography and has taken many photos of his daughter and wife, confirming the moments of a happy life.
But Guo Yonghuai always thought of the motherland.
A family went out to sea by boat
In 1956, Guo Yonghuai gave up a generous salary, gave up superior scientific research conditions, refused all kinds of retention of teachers and students of the school, and set off to return to China.
Before leaving, he burned the results of his ten years of research.
Li Pei dissuaded, "Why burn it?" Guo Yonghuai nodded his forehead: "It's all in my head!" ”
Colleagues and friends also discouraged, "The material scientific research conditions in New China are not as good as those in the United States, and you should not consider your own career development, but also consider your family life." ”
Guo Yonghuai replied indignantly: "When I went abroad, I was just going to return to China after completing my studies!" The poor family and the poor country can only explain the incompetence of the son! ”
After returning to China, the family of three lived in Zhongguancun, which had just begun to be built, and it was still very desolate, and the supporting facilities could not keep up. There wasn't even a hospital.
Guo Yonghuai's family of three
In 1959, the Soviet government unilaterally defaulted and withdrew all experts in China. Guo Yonghuai was ordered to join a secret state mission.
Cold and dry in the great northwest, climate change is impermanent, Guo Yonghuai one stop is a day, relying on steamed buns to make a meal with pickles at noon, and working overtime until late at night.
But the wife did not know this, she only knew that the husband suddenly began to be busy, often for months, no news, as to where he went, what he was doing, completely unknown. Even often parting ways. Couples get together less and leave more.
The wife doubted this, cried, and cut the family portrait in one breath.
Guo Yonghuai could only be silent.
On October 16, 1964, Lop Nur was successfully detonated, and China's first atomic bomb was successfully detonated, shaking the world. Guo Yonghuai and Peng Huanwu took their families to Wang Ganchang's house for dinner. All three were very excited and drunk.
Li Pei looked at the three people and seemed to understand something.
Just when Guo Yonghuai was in the great northwest, their only daughter, Guo Qin, went to the countryside to Inner Mongolia.
Guo Qin was smart and beautiful from childhood, with good grades, and knew the piano and accordion, but she was physically weak, completely unable to adapt to rural labor, and collapsed and cried because she could not complete the arranged physical labor.
Guo Qin's dormitory at that time
Guo Yonghuai's colleague William had sent a letter. He stayed at Cornell for a good salary. The daughter who used to play with Guo Qin went to college, read, traveled, and owned a private jet of her own.
On December 4, 1968, a major breakthrough was made in the development of thermonuclear weapons. Guo Yonghuai flew back to Beijing that night to attend the meeting the next morning.
On that day, the fog in Beijing was thick, and when the plane landed, it suddenly had an accident and crashed on the spot. Except for the captain, all the crew were killed.
In the midst of the chaos, the captain only heard Guo Yonghuai shouting, "My briefcase!" ”。 The fire burst forth and plunged into a sea of fire.
When Guo Yonghuai's body was found, it was already charred. He hugged the guards tightly. Sandwiched between the two bodies was a briefcase, which was intact under the protection of the remains.
Inside are test data for thermonuclear missiles.
At that time, Zhou Enlai was meeting with foreign guests, and when the secretary hurried to the side and quietly reported the matter, Zhou Enlai temporarily suspended the meeting with foreign guests. He left the venue and cried bitterly.
After Guo Yonghuai's death, Li Pei devoted his whole body and mind to the cause of science education, and was a famous linguist, known as the "mother of Chinese applied linguistics".
Her daughter, Guo Qin, interrupted her studies because she went to the countryside to join the team, and only had a junior high school education.
Guo Qin later suffered from cancer and died of illness at the age of only 45. She had no children, leaving her lonely mother alone in her old age.
Late Years Li Pei
After the death of her father, Guo Qin often played Li Tiemei's singing passage in "The Red Lantern" on the piano: "My father is like a pine cypress with a strong will, standing up to the sky and is a heroic Communist Party." ”
Standing tall against the sky, with iron bones.
In a foreign land on the other side of the ocean, there is the pride of a frank and frank Chinese boy, in the desert of the northwest, there is the arrogance of generous and tragic songs in Tang Dynasty poetry, and on the plane where the fire rises, there is the decisiveness of "the boy's heart is like iron".
Among the "two bombs and one satellite" scientists, Guo Yonghuai is the only scientist who has made outstanding contributions in the three fields of "two bombs" and "one satellite", and the only martyr who sacrificed his life in the workplace.
In 2018, the International Minor Planet Center named the two asteroids Guo Yonghuai and Li Pei respectively.
Although there is no bloodline, the name will be immortal.
Reference: "National Memory" "Two Bombs and One Star" Guo Yonghuai series
"The Picture Scroll Made of Memories" Bian Dongzi
Author: Lemon