- [Foreword]
At 3 pm on October 16, 1964, a huge mushroom cloud suddenly appeared in Lop Nur, Xinjiang, China, and China's first atomic bomb was successfully detonated. In an instant, countless Chinese people cheered and ran to tell each other, with tears in their eyes.
This "big bang" shocked the world. It not only broke the monopoly of the superpowers and the nuclear threat , it also improved China's international status and was also of great significance to maintaining world peace.
Of course, behind the rise of the Chinese people, there are countless scientific researchers struggling in obscurity. In addition to Qian Xuesen , Deng Jiaxian and other well-known academic leaders, there is also a female scientist who has also made great contributions to China's nuclear industry.
Her name is Wang Chengshu , and she was once the only woman in Factory 504.
Wang Chengshu
The success of the development of my country's first atomic bomb is inseparable from her.
We pulled back the time to a certain day in 1961. On that day, Qian Sanqiang, the deputy director of the Second Machinery Department of the 504 Factory, called Wang Chengshu to the office and asked: "The country is now in short supply of highly enriched uranium R&D personnel. How about you?" Are you willing to participate?"
The seemingly thin Wang Chengshu replied without any hesitation: "I do."
This is a job that needs to be carried out secretly. Participating in this project means staying away from family and remaining anonymous. However, for the needs of the construction of the motherland, Wang Chengshu was willing to leave his small family for everyone, even "abandoning his husband and children"...
- [Extremely high talent in science, impressive achievements]
In June 1912, Wang Chengshu was born in Shanghai, ranked second in the family, was named Cheng Shu by her parents in the order of "poems, books, rituals, and Yi".
When she was very young, the second young lady from a scholarly family seemed to be different from the girls around her. Instead of learning piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, she would rather stay alone in the study and read physics books with gusto.
In the era when Chinese women were oppressed by feudal ideas, many people believed that a woman's lack of talent was a virtue. Therefore, Wang Chengshu's behavior was incompatible with the surrounding environment. Fortunately, Wang Chengshu came from a prominent family and his parents were enlightened. When their daughter wanted to go to school, they did their best to support her.
The advanced scientific knowledge from the West impacted Wang Chengshu's mind. At a young age, she felt that China, which was suffering from war and persecution, was in urgent need of scientific support. So, in school, she studied extremely hard. She once said: "Maybe my interest can become a weapon to save the country in the future!"
In 1930, Wang Chengshu was recommended to the Physics Department of Yenching University with excellent results. There were 13 people in the class at that time, and she was the only girl. Because Wang Chengshu was in poor health and often fell ill, he looked thin and small. And this also makes people worry about whether she can keep up with her study progress and complete her studies.
In the end, Wang Chengshu lived up to expectations. Although only 4 of these 13 people graduated, Wang Chengshu ranked first.
In addition to her own efforts, this is also enough to show her high talent in physics.
Due to her excellent grades, Wang Chengshu got the opportunity to stay at Yenching University, and the school also awarded her the Golden Key Award, the school's highest honor. In 1936, Wang Chengshu obtained a master's degree in physics from Yenching University and served as a teaching assistant in the physics department of Yenching University. The following year, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, and she had to leave Beijing and moved to Nanchang, Guilin, Wuchang and other places.
Because of his fame at Yan University, Wang Chengshu met his fiancé Zhang Wenyu.
Wang Chengshu and Zhang Wenyu
In 1939, Zhang Wenyu returned from studying in the UK and they got married. Unlike other women, Wang Chengshu was not willing to return to the family after marriage. With the help of her husband, Wang Chengshu successfully obtained the "Balbo" scholarship and was the first "married woman" among all students admitted to the University of Michigan.
Therefore, Wang Chengshu went to the United States alone to study for a doctorate in 1941, and studied under Professor Uhlenbeck. The two of them conducted theoretical research on gas molecular kinetic theory . In the third year when Wang Chengshu went to study in the United States, Zhang Wenyu also came to the United States to do research work at Princeton University . The couple lives in two places and can only get together during winter and summer vacations.
In this fertile soil of knowledge, Wang Chengshu crazily absorbed knowledge and made even more amazing achievements.
In 1944, she received her PhD from Michigan. In 1951, she created an equation named after her and her mentor - the "Wang Chengshu-Uhlenbeck equation", which is still used by the scientific community today.
In 1952, she was the first to prove the Sonnen polynomial, which caused a sensation in the world.
Especially when they learned that she was a Chinese woman, everyone was amazed. Wang Chengshu single-handedly proved to the world that "even though women are not as good as men," women can also achieve pivotal achievements in the world of physics.
Uhlenbeck said of her: "She is really a rare talent."
The Western scientific community believed that if Wang Chengshu continued to develop like this, he would win the Nobel Prize. When she made a A decision that surprised everyone.
- [The founding of New China, returning home]
In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, and the country's development was in urgent need of talents. Wang Chengshu and his wife decided to return to the motherland and serve the country. However, Wang Chengshu was already pregnant at the time, and his plan to return to China could only be put on hold for the time being.
According to the U.S. policy at the time, as long as you live in the United States for five consecutive years, you can obtain U.S. citizenship. But Wang Chengshu vowed to bring all his knowledge back to his motherland, so they refused.
Soon after, the Korean War broke out, and Sino-US relations deteriorated sharply. The President of the United States issued a ban: "All Chinese scientists engaged in physics, agronomy and medicine in the United States are not allowed to leave the country" . Chinese students staying in the United States are not only blocked from returning home, but may also be persecuted.
Just like an American professor said: "You will be potential atomic bomb makers when you go back."
When Wang Chengshu and his wife planned to return to China, they encountered all kinds of obstacles from the United States, but no matter how generous the conditions proposed by the United States, they remained unmoved. In desperation, the United States not only sent agents to monitor her whereabouts, search her luggage, and illegally interrogate her, but also confiscated the semiconductor materials she purchased for the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Some of their close friends couldn't help but advise them: "China is very poor now and the conditions are too bad. Let's wait and see."
But Wang Chengshu didn't think so. She said: " I can't wait for others. After building China well, I will come back . I will return to the country to create the conditions myself. My career is in China. I will dedicate myself to the country. I will do whatever the country needs."
In this way, Wang Chengshu and her husband avoided U.S. surveillance. , while secretly preparing to return to China. They gave small refrigerators, televisions, etc. to their friends. In order to prevent being discovered, materials and books that may be used when returning to China were packed into more than 300 packages, totaling more than 2,000 pounds, and mailed back to Beijing.
Later, through the unremitting efforts of Premier Zhou Enlai, at the Geneva Conference , the United States lifted the ban on Chinese scientists.
Wang Chengshu
In the late autumn of 1956, Wang Chengshu and his family finally returned to their motherland after more than ten years. Seeing the five-star red flag flying in the sky, she felt indescribably excited. Someone asked her if she was willing to join the party. She replied: "I came here for the Communist Party's New China. If you want to join, I will join the Communist Party of China."
Wang Chengshu was already 44 years old at the time, and was one of the first batch of scientists to return to China. , she was assigned to be a researcher at the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and concurrently served as a professor in the Department of Physics at Peking University, teaching thermodynamics and statistical physics.
Chairman Mao once said: "In today's world, if we want not to be bullied by others, we cannot live without atomic bombs."
In 1958, China began to establish a thermonuclear fusion research institute. This was a cutting-edge task that was highly confidential in the world and was completely blank in the country. Comrade Song Renqiong approached Wang Chengshu and asked her if she was willing to change her career to conduct thermonuclear fusion research. For middle-aged Wang Chengshu, her major has been finalized, and changing careers means starting everything from scratch.
Wang Chengshu is in a dilemma. If she changes careers, it means giving up her previous career. Naturally, she feels very reluctant to give up. . But if it does not change, the development of the motherland will stagnate. Without the development of science and technology, it will be difficult for China to become strong again.
Thinking of this, she resolutely said to Song Renqiong: "I am willing." ”
In this way, Wang Chengshu left his husband and son, came to a research institute in the suburbs of Beijing, and lived in a dormitory. He could only see his husband and son on weekends.
In the research institute, Wang Chengshu led a group of comrades to study in the Soviet Union. The train back from the Soviet Union took seven days, so she used this time to translate the latest American books on thermonuclear fusion into Chinese. The team led by Wang Chengshu not only filled the national gap, but also provided a solid foundation for my country's controlled thermonuclear fusion and plasma physics. The research laid a solid foundation.
- [Anonymous, selfless dedication]
In June 1959, Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated. The Soviet leadership betrayed their trust and tore up the contract. Soviet experts took away all the technical data and equipment and said sarcastically: “Can you build this factory on your own? It seems that they can only sell scrap metal. "
China's nuclear weapons research suddenly fell into trouble.
In the spring of 1961, Qian Sanqiang once again invited Wang Chengshu, who was nearly fifty years old, into the office. He asked her seriously: "The country is developing an atomic bomb, which is confidential. Extremely strong job, you will no longer be able to attend any public meetings in the future, let alone international conferences. Are you willing to work anonymously for the rest of your life? "
The thin Wang Chengshu answered decisively again: "I do! "
Later, Qian Sanqiang told her about the difficulties faced by Factory 504 at that time. Factory 504 was built at the suggestion of Soviet experts and used a full set of Soviet machinery and equipment. Now the Soviet Union has withdrawn all the experts and the documents are incomplete. , now there is an urgent need for theoretical research work.
After the story was finished, Qian Sanqiang gave her a task: "You go and study the separation of uranium isotopes by diffusion method, get the theoretical work started, and train the theoretical team. "Separating uranium isotopes is another cutting-edge technology that is extremely difficult. In order to study the separation of uranium isotopes, the state has established a simulation workshop at the Institute of Atomic Energy. After the test is successful, it will be put into operation at the 504 plant in Lanzhou.
This time, Wang Chengshu has to start from scratch again, and even have to completely leave his family and be removed from the physical world, as if he has disappeared from the world. Such conditions would be difficult for anyone to accept. But in Wang Chengshu's heart, China is the place where she was born and raised. . As long as the motherland can develop better and better, it doesn't matter if she remains anonymous, even if she spends her whole life.
In 1962, Wang Chengshu led the research team to the 504 Factory on the bank of the Yellow River in the northwest.
From then on, she will She began to work on nuclear bomb research for 30 years.
She was the only woman in the entire 504 factory, but her performance was no worse than that of the men. She worked hard, constantly traveling between Beijing and Northwest China, and Time is racing. During this period, Deng Jiaxian, Qian Xuesen, Yang Zhenning all came to ask her questions. It can be said that Wang Chengshu can also be regarded as their teacher.
From left: Deng Jiaxian, Wang Chengshu, Yang Zhenning, Zhang Wenyu
After several years of hard work Struggle, Wang Chengshu used his strength to slap the Soviets in the face. On January 14, 1964, Factory 504 successfully obtained the first batch of qualified products of highly enriched uranium. On October 16 of the same year, my country's first atomic bomb successfully exploded.
When the whole world looked at China with admiration and scientists such as Qian Xuesen were promoted to the altar, Wang Chengshu remained unknown and continued to immerse himself in nuclear research work, "abandoning his husband and son" for the sake of the country.
Due to excessive brain use, Wang Chengshu's hair turned gray in two or three years. She who originally looked younger than her peers seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. Behind the huge light of China, there has always been her unknown figure.
Wang Chengshu is fully qualified to be called "Mr."
For decades after that, she remained anonymous, and it was not until she was 80 years old that she was successfully decrypted.
It was also in this year that Zhang Wenyu learned of her achievements.
On June 18, 1994, Wang Chengshu died of illness at the age of 82 due to overwork.
Wang Chengshu joined the party in 1961. Every month thereafter, she would use 200 yuan from her 280 yuan salary to pay party dues, and use the remaining dozens of yuan to help people with academic and life difficulties.
She lived in poverty all her life, was indifferent to fame and fortune, and made selfless contributions. She hasn't had a new coat in decades, and all the furniture in her home is old. In the United States, she can live in a bungalow and drive a sports car, but for the motherland, she is willing to live in a bungalow and squeeze into the bus. It's not that I don't like life in the United States, it's just that China needs her more.
Before she died, she confessed: "No funeral, donate the body, donate the inheritance."
This gentleman came clean and left cleanly.
Despite this, she still said modestly before her death: "I have wasted eighty years and returned to China for thirty-six years. Although I have done some work, due to subjective and objective reasons, I have not been able to fully realize my original intention before returning to China. I deeply feel that I am ashamed of the Party and the people."
When he was working in the 504 Factory, Qian Sanqiang came to Lanzhou, and the two had such a touching conversation:
"What difficulties do you have working here?"
"No!"
"Then what are the difficulties in life?"
"No!"
"Is there anything you want me to say to Wenyu?"
"No!"
"If you continue to choose the nuclear industry and continue to play a role in Factory 504, Are you willing?"
"I do!"
There are not many people in this world who can be called heroes. Mr. Wang is definitely worthy of these two words!
