The Jewish businessman said to our staff cautiously: "I have the highly enriched uranium 
35 needed to make atomic bombs. You China does not have atomic bombs now. With this, I can help you develop it quickly!"
Atomic bombs It is an important weapon of the country. Our country's leaders all know the importance of the atomic bomb. However, due to limited conditions, there is a lack of raw materials to make the atomic bomb. This enriched uranium was an extremely scarce material at that time. Once China possesses it, it will greatly shorten the distance we need to make an atomic bomb.
Enriched uranium
This matter was of great importance, so the staff immediately reported it to the relevant leaders of the State Council for them to make a decision on the matter.
In the State Council, after hearing the news, the comrades suggested that Premier Zhou negotiate with Jewish and buy this batch of raw materials! Premier Zhou was not carried away. After learning about this incident, he calmly said: "We must verify the authenticity!"
Under the instruction of Premier Zhou, it became the top priority to be responsible for verifying the authenticity, and verifying the authenticity The fake number one candidate is Mr. Yang Chengzong, a Chinese physicist.
杨成宗
So why would the country give this task to Mr. Yang Chengzong? Is the uranium carried by the Jews real? What method will Yang Chengzong use to distinguish authenticity?
A genius who came from a poor family
Yang Chengzong was born in Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province in 1911. There are many scientists in modern my country. They all come from famous and landlord families, but Yang Chengzong is an exception. His family has been farmers for generations, and his father worked as an accountant in a rice store. .
Although there are no highly educated talents in his family, his parents all understand the importance of studying. Therefore, when Yang Chengzong was five years old, he was sent to school. When he entered the school, everyone discovered that this child had extraordinary talents. Damn, my brain is extremely useful.
The teacher Yang Chengzong in front of the grave of Marie Curie
The teacher was happy to have discovered such a talent. Under his recommendation, Yang Chengzong was sent to the "Banyang School" founded by Mr. Zhang Taiyan to continue his studies.
The so-called "Half-Western School", as the name suggests, means that traditional and Western education go hand in hand. It is a new school at that time.
Yang Chengzong's grades in school were very good, and he eventually went to the High School Affiliated to Datong University with first place. When he was in the attached middle school, because his grades were so outstanding, he directly skipped a grade and entered to study in of Datong University.
Yang Chengzong
Yang Chengzong's mathematics, physics and chemistry scores were excellent, and his Chinese score was the first in the school. However, such a Chinese genius did not choose to engage in literature, but devoted himself to radioactive materials.
Radioactive substances were considered an emerging field at the time. If our country can cultivate such talents, it will definitely gain the right to speak in this field in the future.
Cao Huiqun, the president of Datong University, thought highly of Yang Chengzong. On his recommendation, Yang Chengzong entered the Peking Research Institute after graduation.
Yang Chengzong
At the Peking Research Institute, his teacher was called Zheng Dazhang. Zheng Dazhang is a famous physicist in my country. His teacher is even more powerful, the old Marie Curie (ie Marie Curie). It is also because of this relationship. In the future, Yang Chengzong will become the direct disciple of Marie Curie .
Due to the turmoil in the country during the Republic of China, the funding allocated by the government to this institute was quite limited. Only two masters and apprentices, Yang Chengzong and Zheng Dazhang, could really persist in research at the institute.
The two traveled far and wide to explore uranium mines in various parts of our country. In the end, they were unable to continue due to lack of funds.
Yang Chengzong
In 1937, after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Zheng Dazhang took his apprentice Yang Chengzong to Shanghai for refuge.Zheng Dazhang's uncle was a traitor; and the Wang puppet regime also favored Yang Chengzong. The two men of
offered generous terms and jointly invited Master and Disciple Zheng Dazhang in an attempt to let them serve as the Minister of Education of , the puppet regime of . The two masters and apprentices had lofty ambitions and did not want to join the ranks of this group of people, so they rejected the traitor's invitation.
Unfortunately, Zheng Dazhang lived in extremely poverty. Because he had no money to eat, in 1941, he starved to death in a small temple in Shanghai. When the news of the master's death reached Yang Chengzong's ears, his heart was extremely painful!
Master Yang Chengzong
Master did not give up for five buckets of rice, and eventually starved to death because of poverty. As the only apprentice of Madame Curie in Chinese history, he should have made greater contributions to the country, but he eventually died in middle age, leaving him Infinitely regretful!
In the following years, due to the war, Yang Chengzong also lived in poverty. During this period, the Wang puppet regime sent invitations again, but he sternly rejected them.
His patriotism moved a person thousands of miles away. This person was Qian Sanqiang, one of the heroes of the two bombs. Qian Sanqiang heard about Yang Chengzong's patriotic deeds and knew that he was a rare talent.
Qian Sanqiang
At this time, Qian Sanqiang was in France and was the apprentice of Madame Curie's daughter Irene Curie. Coupled with the relationship with his master Zheng Dazhang, Yang Chengzong came to France smoothly in 1947 and followed Irene from then on. Na Curie continued to study radioactive substances such as radium.
Never forget patriotism in a foreign land
In January 1947, Yang Chengzong came to the Curie Laboratory in Paris to study radioactive chemistry. Prior to this, Zheng Dazhang had taught Yang Chengzong a lot of knowledge about radioactive materials, so after Yang Chengzong came to France, he quickly integrated into it. Into the atmosphere of the laboratory.
Yang Chengzong and Madame Curie
Irene Curie was deeply impressed by this student from the East. She did not expect that in poor China, there were outstanding talents such as Yang Chengzong and Qian Sanqiang. There is also great interest in scientific research.
After that, Ileana Curie also introduced Zheng Dazhang to her husband Joliot Curie. Joliot Curie was the winner of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He expressed great appreciation for Yang Chengzong. Just like this,
and a few people worked in the laboratory in France for four years. Within four years, New China had been established and Qian Sanqiang had returned to China.
Yang Chengzong
What surprised Qian Sanqiang was that both Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou attached great importance to the atomic bomb. Although New China had just been founded, they had already proposed to build nuclear weapons .
As early as May 1949, not long after Qian Sanqiang returned to China, Premier Zhou entrusted him with purchasing relevant equipment for the development of the atomic bomb, and also allocated him US$50,000, which really cost him his entire family fortune.
Qian Sanqiang originally wanted to return to Paris and buy instruments in person. However, due to the founding of New China, foreign countries imposed a blockade on China, and he was ultimately unable to go abroad.
Yang Chengzong
The money was also transferred to Yang Chengzong by Premier Zhou, hoping that Yang Chengzong could purchase equipment from France and seek advice from Joliot Curie.
Traffic was very inconvenient that day, and the money was not handed over to Yang Chengzong until 1951. Later, he received a letter written by Qian Sanqiang to himself.
Qian Sanqiang said in the letter: "To study the atomic bomb, we need a counting carry device. The Soviets are only willing to provide us with two-digit carry devices, but France has the best carry device in Europe. I hope you can find a way to buy it. This kind of instrument."
Yang Chengzong, fourth from the left in the front row, and top three from the left
Yang Chengzong took over the task, but it is really difficult to buy this kind of instrument! Due to the outbreak of the Korean War , the entire Europe was taking the opportunity to exclude China, so it was difficult to buy.
At the most critical moment, it was Madame Curie who came to help. After learning that Yang Chengzong wanted to buy a counting device, Madame Curie found relevant personnel from the French government and obtained these instruments on the grounds of medical research. .
After getting the instrument, Yang Chengzong was so excited that he didn’t know what to say to thank Madam Curie. However, Madam Curie said: "If you want to thank me, then go and meet my husband. He has something to say that he has already thought about." I told you!"
Yang Chengzong and his wife
Then Yang Chengzong went to Joliot Curie's home. Joliot Curie was very excited that day. He waved his arms and said: "Go back and tell Mao Zedong to oppose the atomic bomb. , you must have the atomic bomb yourself! The atomic bomb is not terrible, and the principle of the atomic bomb was not invented by the Americans. You have a group of excellent scientists, you should use it quickly!"
Joliot Curie is a famous French anti-war person. After the outbreak of the Korean War, he had been cheering for China in France, but Yang Chengzong could not fully understand the meaning of these words at the time. He did not fully understand the meaning until he returned to China.
In the autumn of 1951, Yang Chengzong returned to his motherland after five years of absence. After his return, he learned about the difficulties facing the country: the United States has used nuclear weapons to blackmail and threaten China, keeping us under control everywhere.
Yang Chengzong and Soviet scientist Heisinsky
Only then did Yang Chengzong understand that China's nuclear weapons must develop as soon as possible! So he told Qian Sanqiang what he said, and through Qian Sanqiang, it reached Chairman Mao's ears.
After Chairman Mao found out, he finally made up his mind to develop the atomic bomb and put Qian Sanqiang, Yang Chengzong and others in charge. Unexpectedly, as soon as the plan was announced, several Jews suddenly appeared in Beijing and disrupted our steps.
Yang Chengzong cleverly checks authenticity
In the spring of 1954, several Jewish businessmen suddenly appeared on the streets of Beijing. Their purpose was very simple, which was to sell highly concentrated uranium-235 to our country.
Yang Chengzong
To make an atomic bomb, uranium 235 is necessary. However, the content of this element in nature is only 0.7% in the polar regions, but the concentration required for an atomic bomb reaches more than 90%.
If you want to extract uranium of this concentration, you also need very sophisticated technology. The ratio of uranium extraction is about 1:200,000. Not only is it very expensive, but more importantly, our country's infrastructure is so backward that it is difficult to build and extract uranium. The facilities are not in good condition.
In addition, to extract uranium 235, a large amount of uranium ore is needed. Since it is the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, our country has not yet proven that there is uranium ore.
Yang Chengzong
Such difficulties have made it impossible for us to develop an atomic bomb. Now someone is taking the initiative to provide uranium-235. If it is true, that is definitely the best!
Since this substance is a scarce resource, the other party’s asking price is also extremely high. Therefore, after the relevant departments reported it to Premier Zhou and other leaders, it immediately aroused extensive discussion among everyone.
Most of the opinions are that many facilities in our country are not enough. Now that someone is actively providing them, we should seize the great opportunity and conduct research and development.
Yang Chengzong and Guo Moruo
But Premier Zhou was more conservative. He thought that he could not be completely believed, so he said to other comrades: "You must verify the authenticity and don't decide easily!"
As soon as the Prime Minister's order came out, the country immediately looked for experts in related fields. Experts, as one of the few people who knew about my country's nuclear program at that time, Yang Chengzong, who had just returned from France, undoubtedly became the best candidate.
After Yang Chengzong received the task, he felt the pressure doubled! Because of the difficulty of identifying this substance, we need the isotope mass spectrometer , but our country does not even have this instrument, so how to identify it?
Yang Chengzong and Qian Sanqiang
Yang Chengzong thought for many nights and finally discovered a trick. He decided to use the principle of transformation of radioactive materials to verify it from the side.
This is like measuring weight directly without a scale, and comparing and replacing objects with known weights. He and his colleagues found the Jews and asked them to provide samples, otherwise they would not buy them.
The Jews felt that China was so backward and there must be no relevant testing equipment, so they boldly provided some samples for us to check.
Yang Chengzong
Although this sample is very similar to uranium 235, after more than ten days and nights of calculations by Yang Chengzong, he finally discovered that this substance is far from uranium 235, and some contents are only about 1%, which is the same as that found in atomic bombs. The need is very different!
After further identification, Yang Chengzong discovered that the so-called "uranium 235" was actually "uranyl nitrate".
After the results came out, the Jews were dumbfounded. They admitted that it was not uranium-235, but a substance containing uranium. In the end, the scam was discovered by Yang Chengzong, and they also left China in disgrace!
Yang Chengzong
Fortunately, there are smart scientists like Yang Chengzong here, otherwise our country will suffer great losses! Yang Chengzong also won everyone's appreciation by virtue of this incident.
The intentions of the Jews are undoubtedly vicious. They use the fact that the Chinese urgently need nuclear weapons to blackmail the Chinese. Such behavior is extremely despicable!
Some people may read this and wonder: Since Yang Chengzong is so smart, why is he not among the heroes of the two bombs that we later mentioned? Why is he not as famous as Deng Jiaxian, Wang Ganchang, Qian Sanqiang and others?
Yang Chengzong (fourth from left)
The answer to this question begins in 1955. An accident that year caused him to retreat to the second line and failed to go to the front line of atomic bomb research and development.
Cultivate peaches all over the world
In 1955, a scientific research institution in Beijing needed to extract neutron source . To develop a neutron source, a key substance, radon, was needed. However, radon is not easy to preserve and requires the assistance of radium elements.
We all know that Madame Curie became a world-famous scientist through the use of radium. Their family is famous for studying chemical substances. As her daughter's apprentice, Yang Chengzong naturally became the best choice for this task.
Yang Chengzong
In Peking Union Medical College Hospital , there was a large amount of radon and 507 milligrams of radium. These were left over from the Japanese invasion of China. Later, after they withdrew, the preservation facilities here were destroyed. These elements are left exposed.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were not many of these elements left! Since there are not many chemists in our country, everyone does not pay much attention to this thing, resulting in a certain amount of waste.
More importantly, the Japanese put these elements in rubber tubes. After the substances inside volatilized, they dispersed into the ward upstairs, which also had a great impact on the patient's body.
Yang Chengzong
After Yang Chengzong arrived at the scene, he felt that firstly, it was a waste of resources, and secondly, these substances also had an impact on the human body, so he touched these elements with his hands without wearing protective clothing.
Although he collected all these elements, he himself felt a little uncomfortable in one eye at that time.
The comrade next to him shouted: "Professor Yang, why did your eyes turn green!" Only then did Yang Chengzong realize that he seemed to have caused a big disaster!
Yang Chengzong
Due to radioactive elements entering his eyes, his eyes could no longer see soon! Yang Chengzong has since become a one-eyed scientist, which is really regrettable!
But at this time, he still wanted to stick to the front line. At that time, the Soviet Union had a good relationship with our country. In order to help China develop the atomic bomb, they sent a large number of experts to China.
Among them, the representative figure of the Soviet experts was Yang Chengzong’s classmate. They all worked in Marie Curie’s laboratory.
Yang Chengzong
Soviet experts admired Yang Chengzong when they were in France, so after seeing the Chinese representative Yang Chengzong, he exclaimed many times: "Isn't this a great expert in the laboratory!"
Although the Soviets seemed very Enthusiastic, but soon they had conflicts with our staff.
A large amount of uranium ore was discovered in the granite areas of our country. Chinese scientists were very happy and thought they could join forces with the Soviets. As a result, the old-fashioned Soviet people insisted that granite uranium ore cannot be used, and only sandstone uranium ore can be used.
Yang Chengzong
The ideas of the two sides conflicted, and the research reached a deadlock. It happened that the relationship between our country and the Soviet Union was sour, and they withdrew the experts in China, so that we could continue to mine granite uranium deposits. To this day, we have no The uranium-less mines are all in granite areas, which proves that the Chinese are right.
The Soviet experts at that time did not believe it, so they withdrew directly. After the withdrawal, many positions were vacant. Therefore, Yang Chengzong, who had health problems, was assigned to the Uranium Mine Research Institute of the Secondary Ministry in Beijing. Serves as deputy director.
After that, he founded the Department of Radiochemistry and Radiation Chemistry at University of Science and Technology of China , and later provided a large amount of uranium resources for my country's atomic bomb.
Yang Chengzong
In 1980, Yang Chengzong established Hefei United University and served as the chairman of the Anhui Association for Science and Technology. A large number of students he trained became the new generation of scientists in our country, which can be said to be "all over the world".
Yang Chengzong is a real hero behind the scenes. He trained a large number of students, all of whom are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also the founder of radiochemistry in China, providing raw materials for the atomic bomb. But such a hero did not receive any medals in his life.
Some people defended him, but when Yang Chengzong heard this, he just smiled and said: " Just do it! "
Yang Chengzong
Yang Chengzong had lofty ambitions in his life, devoted himself to the country, and never fought for fame and fortune. First, he lived a very leisurely and natural life in his later years. Some people praised him as the "Chinese Biography of the Curie Spirit". Yang Chengzong would feel embarrassed when he heard others compare him to his own teacher.
In November 2011, a generation of great masters died at home at the age of 100.
Yang Chengzong's life has always embodied the great patriotic spirit. Even if he was poor, he was not willing to work for the traitors; even if he was abroad, he returned to the motherland wholeheartedly and cared about domestic development.
Yang Chengzong
Later, he took the lead and dedicated himself to science, paying the price of his eyes! But he didn't win any medals. How could this not be a pity?
We also hope that through this article, more people will recognize such a scientist, who deserves our respect and is even more worthy of our remembrance! Finally, I pay tribute to Yang Chengzong and the scientists of that generation!
