At the age of 21, he was selected to study atomic bomb technology in the United States; at the age of 25, he became an associate professor at Peking University; at the age of 35, he became the deputy director of the Nuclear Weapons Research Institute, fully responsible for the scientific and technological work in the development of nuclear weapons; at the age of 70, he became the first president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; at the age of 80, the state named an asteroid discovered on his birthday... He said he had done only one thing in his life — to engage in Chinese nuclear weapons.
In the "two bombs and one star" founding list, there is a name that cannot be bypassed - Zhu Guangya. In the late 1950s, after being appointed the scientific and technological leader in the development of China's nuclear weapons, he participated in leading all 45 of our country's nuclear tests. General Zhang Aiping said, "Comrade Zhu Guangya was my first teacher on the nuclear industry front," Li Jue said, he was an "outstanding scientific and technological talent," and Wang Ganchang said, "Zhu Guangya is truly remarkable." He is Li Zhengdao's close friend, Qian Xuesen's "person behind him", and the most respected heroic mentor of Chen Jiaer, the former president of Peking University.
Those who came into contact with him thought that he had the spirit of a scholar and the style of a Confucian general, and was the "handsome man of all the marshals", but he himself almost did not talk about himself on the grounds that "the cause is everyone's".
A few months ago, an exhibition of Zhu Guangya's life deeds was held at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. On the day of the launch, the reporter met Zhu Mingyuan, the eldest son of Zhu Guangya. In Zhu Mingyuan's eyes, his father's legendary and mysterious life also had a great influence on him.
Three in and three out of Peking University, each "out" is related to nuclear weapons
Liberation Daily: Why have you hardly seen articles written about Zhu Guangya for so many years?
Zhu Mingyuan: In fact, it is not that no one has written, but that the articles written to him cannot pass the pass, either they are detained or returned because they do not agree to publish. My father always said, "Write about others first, and I'll talk about it later." "He's low-key, he's always been away from the media, and he rarely talks about himself. Even in the ranks of the "two bombs and one star" founding fathers, he was the last to decrypt it. It was not until his later years, when his father was pushed from behind the scenes, that his personal affairs were revealed bit by bit.
After my father retired, we suggested that he write a memoir, and my father listened to it, just laughing, and he always kept a scientist's heart and never recalled the past. He always said that there are always regrets about what he has done in the past, and if he has the opportunity to do it again from the beginning, he will definitely do better. He had the future in mind, those things that were full of unknowns, challenges and hopes, and had not yet been accomplished.
Jiefang Daily: What role did Zhu Guangya play in China's early nuclear weapons development arena?
Zhu Mingyuan: Academician Hu Side, who once served as the president of the Nuclear Weapons Research Institute, said: "In the high-level decision-making leadership position, from a technical point of view, I personally think that he plays an important role in the style of Zhuge Liang. Researcher Zheng Shaotang said, "If Deng Jiaxian, director of the Theory Department, is compared to 'China's Hans Bate', then, as the leader in charge of scientific research at that time, Zhu Guangya can be called 'China's Oppenheimer'." However, when my father talked about and recalled his work during this period, he compared himself to a "bottle mouth", and the above policy and the following opinions had to go through his 'bottle mouth' to carry on the upper and lower levels, and some had to be screened, filtered, and selected the main content to summarize and report.
My father always said that he had done one thing in his life - to engage in Chinese nuclear weapons. His experience can be summed up in "three in and three out of Peking University", and every "out" is related to nuclear weapons.
The first time was to enter the Southwest United University to study physics, in 1945 the United States dropped two atomic bombs in Japan, in order to save the country scientifically, his father was selected by the National Government, left the Southwest United University (Peking University) to study atomic bomb manufacturing technology in the United States; after returning to China in 1950, he returned to the Department of Physics of Peking University to teach. In 1952, he left Peking University for the second time, he went to Panmunjom in North Korea to participate in the armistice negotiations, one task was to serve as an interpreter for the secretariat of the delegation, and the other task was to investigate as an observer whether the United States had used atomic bombs in Korea; in May 1955, he returned to Beijing to prepare for the establishment of the Physics Research Laboratory of Peking University, the task was to train specialized talents for China's atomic energy science and technology undertakings as soon as possible, and later the research office was renamed "Department of Technical Physics". In February 1957, my father left Peking University again to become the deputy director of the Neutron Physics Department of the Atomic Energy Research Institute.
Father's "three in and three out" is not only the process of Chinese realizing the "atomic dream", but also full of his sincere love for the motherland and his tenacity and dedication to the cause of science.
During his studies in the United States, Zhu Guangya formed a deep friendship with Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning, who came to the United States and studied at the University of Chicago. In 1947, Zhu Guangya, Yang Zhenning (second from left) and Lee Jeong-do (first from right) meet at the University of Michigan in the United States.
Liberation Daily: What is the biggest problem he faces when he returns to China to develop nuclear weapons?
Zhu Mingyuan: When he was the deputy director of the Nuclear Weapons Research Institute in 1959, the development of nuclear weapons was still a blank, and the most difficult thing was that the technical personnel who had just been transferred from all over the country lacked professional knowledge, and many people had never seen what uranium looked like. At that time, the Nuclear Weapons Research Institute, my father said that it was like a factory and a school, it was a somewhat peculiar research institute, and the laboratories were brightly lit every night, and everyone's emotions were in a state of excitement. At that time, the atmosphere of discussion and work was that whether it was authoritative scientists Wang Ganchang, Peng Huanwu, Guo Yonghuai, or recent college students, they could all take to the podium and write and draw on the blackboard, and the academic atmosphere was very relaxed and democratic, which was a real "group speech hall".
During the critical period of China's first atomic bomb development, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain signed the "Partial Test Ban Treaty," the purpose of which was to prevent China from acquiring nuclear weapons in a vain attempt to strangle China's nuclear weapons cause in the cradle. After his research, my father wrote a report that "stopping nuclear testing is a big hoax" and said, "We must not be fooled by them." We can not only try, but also seize the opportunity, the time is not waiting." When he held a symposium with the scientific and technological personnel, everyone said: "If you want to tie our hands and feet, this can't be done!" "This incident has strengthened their confidence and determination to overcome the technical difficulties of underground nuclear testing and break the nuclear monopoly of superpowers."
He was called "the man after Qian Xuesen"
Liberation Daily: Speaking of Zhu Guangya, there is an important "Open Letter to Students Studying in the United States", did he mention this letter?
Zhu Mingyuan: This matter is interesting to say, my father himself never mentioned this matter, when I was working at a research institute of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, an academician and the old director mentioned this letter to me, and also said the original text of a few sentences, and his open letter of more than 1600 words used 11 exclamation points, and his emotions were extremely full. As soon as I got home, I asked my father, is there such a letter? He nodded, said a word "yes", and there was no follow-up. A letter that everyone thought was so important, he downplayed it.
University of Michigan Graduate School, 1947 (from left: Lee Jeong-do, Yang Zhenning, Zhu Guangya)
Liberation Daily: At that time, Zhu Guangya and Li Zhengdao were sent to study abroad together.
Zhu Mingyuan: Yes, the classmate that my father talked about the most was Li Zhengdao, and almost every time Li Zhengdao returned to China, his father would accompany him to meet or take time to meet him.
In 1946, the Nationalist government selected talents to study atomic bomb technology abroad. The three professors of Southwest United University, Wu Dayu, Hua Luogeng and Zeng Zhaoyi, are the top scientists in the three fields of physics, mathematics and chemistry. Each of them can choose two assistants and go to the United States together. Mr. Wu Dayu selected his father and Li Zhengdao from among the students, and specially taught them a quantum mechanics class. At this time, his father was 21 years old and was an assistant professor at Tsinghua University; Li Zhengdao, 19, was a sophomore at Southwest United University. In the process of learning, they interacted with each other, and their common interests allowed them to build a deep friendship. Later, they took a boat to the United States, and spent more than a dozen days and nights across the Pacific Ocean, and they coexisted in the same cabin, and their friendship gradually deepened.
Li Zhengdao later stayed in the United States to continue to study physics, and he once said many times: "When Chiang Kai-shek sent out to learn how to make atomic bombs, only Guangya was a party, and he returned to China to make atomic bombs, and no one else did it." ”
Liberation Daily: Zhu Guangya is known as "the person after Qian Xuesen", what is the interaction between them?
Zhu Mingyuan: My father's secretary, Huang Ming, also said about this, in the 1970s, when Chinese news media reported on the list of leaders participating in important events, Qian Xuesen and Zhu Guangya were always connected. This was noticed by the New York Times at the time, and in a short article, he called his father "the man after Qian Xuesen." In fact, in the development of China's strategic weapons, It is indeed difficult for Qian Xuesen and Zhu Guangya to separate: the former is responsible for missiles and satellites, and the latter is responsible for nuclear weapons. Their offices are adjacent, and they discuss things and cooperate very closely. Even when looking at foreign language materials, when he saw a photo of a certain country's nuclear test site area, Elder Qian would immediately cut it out for his father.
From May 23 to 27, 1991, the Fourth National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and Zhu Guangya was elected as the Chairman of the Fourth National Committee of the China Association for Science and Technology. The picture shows Zhu Guangya and Qian Xuesen having a cordial conversation during the meeting.
It's a lot of hard work to do experiments
Jiefang Daily: In the "Exhibition of Zhu Guangya's Life and Deeds", his notes are very neat, is this a habit he has developed since he was a child?
Zhu Mingyuan: Yes, my father's enlightenment teacher, Wei Rongjue, said that Zhu Guangya's homework can be used as a model in the bookstore. When studying in the United States, American professors also thought that reading his father's answer sheet was a pleasant thing and a pleasure, and his classmates also thought that he was "the kind of person who works hard to do experiments."
There are many manuscripts of Zhu Guangya on display. (Photo by Liu Xueyan)
Jiefang Daily: He is not only a good student, but also a good teacher.
Zhu Mingyuan: Yes. In 1952, my father was transferred from Peking University to Jilin to form the Physics Department of Northeast Renmin University, when the country was in urgent need of talents in physics, and was forced by the situation to take classes while building a department. More than two dozen teachers started from scratch, faced hundreds of students, and opened dozens of courses in three grades. At that time, my father was young and exemplary, teaching mechanics and heat in the first year of college and atomic physics in the third year. His lectures were clear, thorough, in-depth and simple, and the board book was also quite neat, and he became a model for teachers for a while. At that time, there was a shortage of teachers, and in order to cultivate the teaching team, my father would teach a class of exercises after the lecture, give demonstrations to the tutors, and revise their speeches. At that time, a tutor only wrote a few dozen words in the lecture, and my father only wrote three pages for him to revise and supplement when reviewing.
My father loved education and loved his students. Chen Jiaer, who was the president of Peking University, told me one thing: his graduation thesis was "Geiger-Müller particle counting tube", which needed a very fine tungsten filament for experiments, and some special vacuum sealants, which were not available in China. In order to ensure that Chen Jiaer did a good job, his father brought him back precious experimental materials from the United States for him to use. Chen Jiaer said: "I feel happy and proud to be a student of Zhu Guangya's teacher in this life. ”
On the night of the successful atomic bombing, I was drunk for the only time in my life
Liberation Daily: What was it like to live in Tayuan (the living area of scientists at that time)? Did you know what your father did when you were a kid?
Zhu Mingyuan: My childhood was spent in the pagoda courtyard, in the early 60s, it was surrounded by farmland, there were ancient towers, small rivers and shady trees, summer nights, frogs chirping continuously, within a few years, the pastoral scenery was replaced by the bustling downtown. We lived in Unit 302 in Building Five, the neighbor was Deng Jiaxian, downstairs was Cheng Kaijia, the next unit was Zhou Guangzhao, and later Wang Ganchang, Peng Huanwu, Yu Min and so on lived in Building Five.
A family portrait taken by Zhu Guangya and his family in 1974. From the right in the front row are: Zhu Guangya and Xu Huijun; from the right in the back row, they are: daughter Zhu Mingyan, youngest son Zhu Mingjun, and eldest son Zhu Mingyuan.
My father's work was top secret, as were the other uncles and aunts in the yard, and we only knew that most of his bookshelf was physics books, and he often traveled to the northwest. Once I came back from a business trip, some things were on the table, I looked at a small red book, I opened it to see a work card, on which was a photo of my father, but it was written as the deputy director of the state-owned Qinghai Comprehensive Machinery Factory, named "Zhu Dongsheng".
Once the children in the yard got together to chat, and someone suddenly asked a question: What does Mom and Dad do? None of us could answer that. At this time, some people said: Let's recall, is it that every time we have a nuclear test, our parents are not in Beijing? Everyone verified, sure enough, everyone's parents went to Xinjiang and Lanzhou for business trips, and we confirmed this fact, felt very sacred, and sat quietly for a long time.
After the success of the first nuclear test, the People's Daily issued a number, and everywhere was full of jubilation. The teacher arranged for us to write an essay on this, and I mentioned in the essay that we should learn from and pay tribute to the scientists in our country. When my father saw it, he told me very seriously that nuclear testing is not only the credit of scientists, but also the result of the joint efforts of the commanders and fighters, workers, and scientific and technological workers of the People's Liberation Army.
Liberation Daily: There is also a military coat in the exhibition, is there any story behind this dress?
Zhu Mingyuan: My father's military coat, which he has worn for more than ten years, is old and faded, but in winter, he likes to wear it. The coat attracted attention more than once, and when asked, he proudly said: "I was once a member of the Chinese Volunteer Army, participated in the Korean armistice negotiations, worked as an English translator, and fought face-to-face with the Yankees at the negotiating table!" In 1952, when my father was 25 years old and teaching at Peking University, my eldest sister Ming Yan had just been born, and my father told his mother that he was going to "go to the northeast to fight tigers", which was more than a year.
Items used by Zhu Guangya (Photo by Liu Xueyan)
Jiefang Daily: In the General Armament Department of the People's Liberation Army, everyone says that Zhu Guangya's health secret is to smoke, drink, and exercise less.
Zhu Mingyuan: My father drank a lot of alcohol, but he never coveted a cup, he said that in his life, he had only drunk once in his life, that is, the night when China's first atomic bomb was successfully exploded.
My father's habit of smoking was developed after returning from the Korean battlefield, and he could also spit out a series of round and large smoke rings, and when asked how he could have such a high smoking ring skill, he humorously said: This is also thanks to the Panmunjom negotiations. It turned out that at that time, when Chinese and DPRK representatives negotiated with the United States, they often sat quietly for one or two hours, during which the Americans would spray smoke from their noses and spit out smoke rings from their mouths, so our negotiators also began to spit out smoke rings, which were more and bigger than once. My father also joked: "The Americans can't negotiate with us, and they can't spit out smoke rings!"
On September 25, 2005, Zhu Guangya and Xu Huijun took a group photo with their daughter Zhu Mingyan (second from right), eldest son Zhu Mingyuan (first from left), and youngest son Zhu Mingjun (first from right) at the China Nuclear Test Base
Liberation Daily: What was the biggest influence on your father's living habits?
Zhu Mingyuan: For many years, my father's teaching to us was "is it bad to be a little bitter", so not to seek luxury and endure poverty is the precious wealth that my father has passed on to us, which is better than any tangible asset in the world. In October 1996, my father received the "Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Science and Technology Achievement Award" with a prize of HK$1 million. On the first day of the award, he told Ge Nengquan, secretary general of the Academy of Engineering, that he would donate all the prize money to the China Engineering Science and Technology Award Award Fund, and he repeatedly told him not to publicize it. So for a long time, even the Chinese Academy of Engineering did not know about this matter, and no one in the outside world knew about it.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Jun Text Editor: Wang Haiyan Caption Source: Provided by Mr. Zhu Mingyuan
Source: Author: Liu Xueyan