Nuclear weapons are universally recognized as "mass killers", and on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan, which eventually ended World War II, making Japan the only country that has suffered a nuclear attack so far.
After discovering the enormous power of nuclear weapons, almost every country that wants to compete for a place in the world has stepped up the development of nuclear weapons for no other reason: if others have us who do not, then once it is really time to do it, we will lose the ability to resist.
However, not every country has succeeded in producing nuclear weapons, and so far, including legal and illegal, there are only 10 countries that possess nuclear weapons, and my country is certainly one of them.
As we all know, China conducted its own nuclear tests under a weak industrial base at home, while being blockaded by Western technology and hostile to the former Soviet Union.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" >· "pioneer officer" of China's atomic bomb research</h1>
At home, when it comes to atomic bombs and nuclear weapons, we first think of qian Xuesen and Deng Jiaxian, who are the heroes of "two bombs and one star," and Zhao Zhongyao, who is equivalent to the "vanguard officer" of China's atomic bomb research cause, seems to be mentioned very often.
Zhao Zhongyao was the first scientist in the world to discover antimatter and positrons, and these discoveries were once accused of "winning the Nobel Prize", but Zhao Zhongyao's glory has always been buried.
But perhaps more importantly for us, Zhao Zhongyao is the "vanguard officer" of China's nuclear weapons research and the "most experienced person" in China's atomic bomb work. In 1931, Zhao Zhongyao returned to China from his studies in the United States and served as a professor in the Department of Physics at Tsinghua University, after which he opened China's first nuclear physics course and presided over the establishment of China's first nuclear physics laboratory.
Moreover, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao was Ye Qisun's "eldest disciple," and together the two of them cultivated a large number of "two bombs and one star" talents who later contributed to China's atomic energy cause, including Qian Sanqiang, Deng Jiaxian, Cheng Kaijia, and so on.
In the summer of 1946, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao was assigned by the Nationalist government to go to the United States as a representative of scientists to watch the atomic bomb test on Bikini Island, and at that time, the Nationalist government also had a great interest in atomic bombs and wanted to develop atomic bombs.
After all, the enormous power caused by the atomic bomb that exploded in Japan in 1945 is obvious to all, but all major governments will be interested in this "weapon of mass destruction", even if it is not necessary to invade the outside world, nuclear weapons can also be used to deter other countries.
Therefore, at that time, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao went to the United States not only to visit the atomic bomb test, but also to go with a "mission": The National Government hoped that Mr. Zhao Zhongyao would be able to buy back some equipment needed for the study of nuclear physics for the development of nuclear physics in China.
For Mr. Zhao Zhongyao, with his contacts and academic achievements accumulated over the years of studying in the United States, it was not difficult to buy these equipment, and the difficulty was that China did not have money at that time.
Having just experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan, the domestic environment was still unstable, and the national economy was very embarrassing, when the director general of the Academia Sinica, Saben dong, painstakingly raised only 50,000 US dollars.
Mr. Zhao Zhongyao recalled that at least 1 accelerator was needed to carry out nuclear physics research, and at that time, ordering a complete, 2 million electron volt electrostatic accelerator required at least 400,000 US dollars, how to spend 50,000 US dollars to do something with 400,000 US dollars?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > · How to buy something 400,000 for 50,000? </h1>
According to Mr. Zhao Zhongyao's recollection, at that time, the funds available to him at that time were only $50,000 for the purchase of nuclear physics equipment and $70,000 for other discipline equipment, and his personal living expenses were actually reimbursed.
Therefore, after careful consideration and many discussions with friends, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao believes that it is impossible to order a complete accelerator, and the only feasible way is to buy those parts that are difficult to buy in the United States, design and assemble it into an accelerator, and the remaining funds are used to purchase other nuclear physics equipment.
However, when Mr. Zhao Zhongyao decided to choose this road, it was doomed to be an extremely difficult, time-consuming and laborious road.
Because according to this plan, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao still has to learn a lot of things.
For example, in order to further learn the ion source technology required for the design and manufacture of accelerators, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao visited the Carne Base Magnetic Research Institute in Washington for half a year, because there were 2 proton electrostatic accelerators and 1 cyclotron for him to study.
There, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao also met Mr. Bi Dexian, and the two worked together for a period of accelerator design, and they also ordered a batch of electronic parts for the accelerator there.
For example, in order to find manufacturers who can customize accelerator parts, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao volunteered in multiple accelerator and cosmic ray laboratories at MIT to facilitate contact with manufacturers, order parts, and learn and consult about accelerators.
Mr. Zhao Zhongyao's "volunteer work" was also exchanged for a batch of electronic instruments and other equipment, and a large amount of money was saved for the state to purchase equipment.
After more than 2 years of busy work, it was not until the winter of 1948 that Mr. Zhao Zhongyao completed the task of purchasing nuclear physics experimental equipment.
What we may not expect is that in the process of designing and building the accelerator himself, among the people who have helped Mr. Zhao Zhongyao is the uncle of the former US President Trump, John George Trump.
<H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >· Help from John Trump</h1>
John George Trump was born in 1907 and is the youngest child of the Trump family. As we all know, the Trump family made a fortune in real estate, at that time the Trump family already had its own property in New York, and it can also be said that John Trump is a "rich second generation".
It's just that his "rich second generation" is a little special, because he does not want to inherit the family property, he has no interest in real estate, his interest lies in scientific research, so John Trump decided to do what he is interested in - to do scientific research.
In 1929, John Trump graduated from the Brooklyn Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, and then went to Columbia University for further studies, where he earned a master's degree in physics.
In 1933, John Trump received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1936, when his research direction had shifted to X-rays and he became interested in nuclear physics.
During World War II, John Trump was involved in the research of radar and anti-radar devices in the United States, as well as in nuclear weapons, which made him a nuclear weapons expert and one of the closest american scientists to atomic bomb secrecy.
It is precisely because of this that during his tenure, US President Trump has repeatedly mentioned to the media that he has an uncle who understands "nuclear weapons" very well, and he has discussed the North Korean nuclear issue with him many times to show his professionalism in the "nuclear issue".
Moreover, the US media did not dare to criticize Trump's uncle, and could only attack President Trump by calling trump's relationship with his uncle "not close".
When Mr. Zhao zhongyao was entrusted with the purchase of accelerators in the United States, John Trump was already the director of the Electrostatic Accelerator Laboratory in the Department of Electrical Engineering at MIT, with "abundant resources" on hand.
In order to design and manufacture an electrostatic accelerator, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao first chose to study and research in the electrostatic accelerator laboratory of MIT, mainly learning about the manufacture of power generation parts and accelerator tubes.
In Mr. Zhao Zhongyao's recollection, John Trump was a "warm-hearted and kind" person, but also very supportive of his work, thinking of many ways to build accelerators for him.
For example, when Mr. Zhao Zhongyao encountered difficulties in his study and research, John Trump enthusiastically introduced relevant experts to him and helped him solve problems; for example, John Trump once lent an old atmospheric electrostatic accelerator in his laboratory to Mr. Zhao Zhongyao for experiments.
In fact, through a series of experiences by John Trump, we can infer that he can be said to be "well aware" of Mr. Zhao Zhongyao's purchase of electrostatic accelerators and learning and studying the relevant principles and knowledge of the production of electrostatic accelerators, but John Trump still helped Mr. Zhao Zhongyao, no matter what kind of motivation and psychological state he had at the beginning, this help should not be forgotten.
In addition, in Mr. Zhao Zhongyao's reminiscence article, it is also mentioned that China's atomic energy researchers also purchased a tandem electrostatic accelerator from the United States in 1986, which was also provided by John Trump's company - although John Trump had died at that time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >· Difficult way back home, but fortunately lived up to the trust</h1>
Originally, in the winter of 1948, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao was ready to return to China after completing the task of "equipment procurement", but considering the changes in the domestic war situation, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao decided to wait until the situation calmed down before returning to China to participate in peace construction.
At the same time, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao also believed that he had no experience in nuclear physics experiments through accelerators, and the accumulation of technology and knowledge was not enough, so he decided to continue to study and research at the California Institute of Technology in the United States, so that he could better carry out research work in China.
It was not until 1949, when Mr. Zhao Zhongyao was preparing to return to China, that he knew that under such circumstances, the accelerator could not be brought back to China, so he did not assemble the accelerator, but chose to bring with him the accelerator components and nuclear physics experimental equipment that had been painstakingly customized for several years.
But even the "parts" did not escape the FBI investigation, and although caltech professors insisted in their investigations that the equipment had nothing to do with nuclear weapons, the FBI still seized a large amount of equipment.
In the case of fruitless coordination efforts, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao could only ask the transport company to transport the remaining more than 30 boxes of equipment back to China first.
In the spring of 1950, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao was ready to return to China, but by this time the navigation between China and the United States had stopped, mr. Zhao Zhongyao could only choose to return to China via Hong Kong, and after months of communication and waiting, and the FBI's rotational investigation, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao was finally able to leave the United States after being forced to give up all his physics-related luggage.
Unexpectedly, when Mr. Zhao Zhongyao was riding on the "President Wilson" passing through Yokohama, Japan, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao and 2 other scholars returning from the California Institute of Technology were forcibly imprisoned by American plainclothes personnel in Sugamo Prison in Japan.
At that time, the United States and the Taiwan side threatened and seduced them, claiming that as long as they went to the United States or Taiwan, they would be "good to discuss," but Mr. Zhao Zhongyao had already made up his mind and resolutely demanded to return to the mainland of the motherland.
The news of Mr. Zhao Zhongyao's detention reached the United States, which immediately caused a strong protest from the American scientific community, and John Trump, who has always maintained friendship with Mr. Zhao Zhongyao, also participated in the protest, and finally under the mediation of Premier Zhou, Mr. Zhao Zhongyao and a large number of scientists were able to return to China.
Mr. Zhao Zhongyao finally lived up to his trust, and together with domestic scientists, he built China's first 700,000 electron volt proton electrostatic accelerator in 1955, and 3 years later, Zhao Zhongyao successfully developed a 2.5 million electron volt proton electrostatic accelerator, making a significant contribution to China's nuclear weapons research.
In 1964, China's first atomic bomb was successfully exploded in Lop Nur and China finally possessed nuclear weapons, which can deter the world.
This is the result of the silent efforts of Countless scientists in China, such as Zhao Zhongyao, Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, Wang Ganchang, and so on, but perhaps we should also remember that an American named John Trump once helped Chinese scientists.