Today (August 3) is the birthday of Academician Cheng Kaijia, my country’s longest-lived academician who has made “ two bombs merits” and is known as the “nuclear commander”. The old man was born on August 3, 1918, and passed away on November 17, 2018, at the age of 101. People often talk about nuclear degeneration, and the most terrifying thing is nuclear radiation . But why can Academician Cheng Kaijia, who has dealt with "nuclear" his whole life, live so long?
Let us see what the old gentleman has experienced in his life.
He missed the Nobel Prize when he was young.
Cheng Kaijia, whose ancestral home is Huizhou, was born on August 3, 1918 in Wujiang, Jiangsu (now Wujiang District, Suzhou City). Grandfather Cheng Jingzhai, father Cheng Shitong, mother Dong Yunfeng.
In 1931, he graduated from Guanyin Lane Primary School in his hometown, Shengze, and was admitted to Xiuzhou Middle School in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, where he was taught by the educator Principal Gu Huiren.
In 1937, Cheng Kaijia graduated from high school and was admitted to Jiaotong University and Zhejiang University. Since Zhejiang University gave Cheng Kaijia a public scholarship for individual outstanding candidates, Cheng Kaijia finally chose Zhejiang University. Cheng Kaijia was taught at Zhejiang University by Shu Xingbei, Wang Ganchang, Chen Jiangong, Su Buqing and other first-class teachers in the academic field.
In 1941, Cheng Kaijia graduated and stayed in the Department of Physics of Zhejiang University as an assistant professor, and began to study the theory of relativity and elementary particles.
In 1944, Cheng Kaijia completed a paper entitled "Weak interaction requires a meson with a mass of 205 protons". The British scholar Needham personally revised it and sent it to Dirac. Dirac (British theoretical physicist, quantum mechanics (the founder of He won the Nobel Prize in 1979, and the mass of the new particles he measured was basically consistent with Cheng Kaijia's calculated value that year.
In August 1946, Cheng Kaijia went to the University of Edinburgh to study abroad and became a student of Professor Bonn, a master of physics. During this period, Cheng Kaijia was mainly engaged in research on the theory of superconductivity. Together with his mentor, he proposed the double-band model of superconductivity. He believed that superconductivity originated from the empty band in the energy band due to the asymmetry of electrons in the Brillouin zone angle. Singular distribution. In the autumn of 1948, Cheng Kaijia received a doctorate in philosophy and became a researcher at the Royal Institute of Chemical Industry.
Resolutely returned to China to engage in atomic bomb research
In August 1950, Cheng Kaijia purchased the necessary books, packed his luggage, and resolutely returned to the Department of Physics of Zhejiang University.
In 1952, during the restructuring of colleges and universities across the country, Cheng Kaijia was transferred to the Department of Physics of Nanjing University as an associate professor. He has been engaged in teaching and research of theoretical physics, invested in the preparation of the metal physics teaching and research office and the construction of the metal physics major, and compiled metal physics and solid state physics. Waiting for teaching materials.
In 1958, Cheng Kaijia changed his major again, and together with Shi Shiyuan, he founded the Nuclear Physics Teaching and Research Office of Nanjing University, and then accepted the task of establishing the Jiangsu Institute of Atomic Energy.
Cheng Kaijia in 1963
In 1960, Cheng Kaijia received an order to serve as the deputy director of the Ninth Research Institute (Institute) of the Second Ministry of Machinery Industry. He participated in the development of the atomic bomb and was in charge of two major areas: equation of state theoretical research and detonation physics research. block work. From then on, he worked for more than 20 years without being known to the outside world.
In 1977, he served as deputy commander of the nuclear test base of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission and director of the research institute.
spent most of his life working on nuclear testing.
After 1984, Cheng Kaijia successively served as a standing member and consultant of the Science and Technology Committee of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (General Armament Department), and as a consultant of the National Superconducting Expert Committee.
Since the 1990s, research has continued in aspects such as material theory and high-power microwaves.
On the morning of November 17, 2018, Cheng Kaijia died of illness in Beijing at the age of 101. Becoming the longest-lived "two bombs and one satellite" meritorious service.
Secrets and stories of longevity
In addition to his outstanding life, the most legendary thing about Academician Cheng Kaijia is his longevity.
Did he not go deep into the nuclear test site? The answer is no, he not only went deep into the test site, but also reached the core area. Moreover, the explosion method of China's first atomic bomb was decided after he denied the airdrop.
How did the first atomic bomb explode? The original plan was to drop it from an airplane. Cheng Kaijia rejected the original air blast plan after analysis and research. He believed that using an airplane to drop the bomb in the first test would increase the difficulties in test synchronization and aiming, and make it difficult to measure the various effects of the atomic bomb. Second, it is too difficult to ensure the safety of bomb-dropping aircraft. After some careful calculations on his small blackboard, Cheng Kaijia finally proposed a plan that was feasible at the time to use a 100-meter-high tower to explode an atomic bomb.
After the first successful underground nuclear explosion, scientists such as Cheng Kaijia, Zhu Guangya, decided to go into the underground core to investigate in order to obtain first-hand information on all aspects of the underground nuclear explosion.
This is the first time in China that we have visited the center of an atomic bomb explosion. No one can tell the dose of radiation in the cave, and the danger can be imagined. However, Cheng Kaijia made careful calculations and believed that he could enter after taking various protective measures. They crawled in the newly excavated small tube hole with a diameter of only 80 centimeters, and finally entered a huge space created by the explosion. The temperature in the cave was very high, and the scientists were so busy that they were sweating profusely. They completed all the inspection work and obtained first-hand information on the phenomenology of China's underground nuclear tests.
Cheng Kaijia lived in the nuclear test base from the first time he set foot in Lop Nur in 1963 to 1985, and devoted all his efforts and talents to creating China's nuclear weapons research and nuclear testing career. Cheng Kaijia has presided over decision-making and directly engaged in overall technical work and research on nuclear testing and testing for more than 20 years. He has solved many specific key technical problems and made nuclear testing an indispensable part of the design, improvement and weaponization of atomic bombs. Cheng Kaijia designed China's first creative and accurate nuclear test plan, ensuring the successful completion of the first nuclear test mission. Even before the first atomic bomb exploded, Cheng Kaijia proposed and repeatedly insisted on a decisive change to underground nuclear testing based on Premier Zhou's inquiry, which was of decisive significance to the improvement of weapons levels and the development of the testing industry. Cheng Kaijia successfully designed and presided over dozens of tests including the first atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, missile nuclear weapon, flat hole, shaft and enhanced atomic bomb. Cheng Kaijia founded China's own systematic nuclear explosion theory and effect research, presided over, participated in and guided the comprehensive summary of nuclear explosion effects, laying a solid foundation for the application of nuclear weapons. Cheng Kaijia is the scientist who has directed the most nuclear tests in China. People call Cheng Kaijia the "nuclear commander."
Being content with one's needs and following the example are naturally Mr. Cheng's life philosophy
As the scientist who has presided over the most nuclear tests, Cheng Kaijia's longevity is not only related to his own open-minded optimism, but also to his wife.
Half of Cheng Kaijia's achievements and longevity can be attributed to his wife Gao Yaoshan, who took great care of Mr. Cheng Kaijia throughout his life. Normally, she raises chickens to lay eggs, then numbers them, and cooks the freshest ones every day to supplement Cheng Kaijia's nutrition. No matter how difficult it is, she must ensure one apple a day. One day, she rushed back to the clinic from the outpatient clinic more than ten miles away to find Cheng Kaijia, just to make up for an egg she had forgotten to give her in the morning. The deep affection is evident. In the mid-1960s, Cheng Kaijia was overworked due to nuclear testing and could not sleep or eat. She walked with Mr. Cheng until midnight every day.
The deep affection and meticulous care of Academician Cheng Kaijia and his wife Gao Yaoshan
enabled Academician Cheng Kaijia to defeat "nuclear radiation" and become a centenarian.
likes Mr. Cheng Kaijia, a hero of the Republic, and even likes the half behind him!
About the author:
Zhai Hengshui, one of the founders of Qilu Evening News , a professor-level senior reporter, has been engaged in journalism for more than 30 years, a member of the China Association for the Promotion of Democracy, and a painter of Shandong Minjin Painting and Calligraphy Academy. He is good at research in the fields of humanities and history, stock market investment, health and wellness, landscape painting and other fields. The philosophy of life is to learn from nature.
WeChat account: zhs13001700999 (Wise men love water)
(produced by One Point "Festival Research", Qilu Evening News-Qilu One Point reporter Zhai Hengshui, reference: Academician Ji Cheng Kaijia: Make life without regrets. Science Network; 101-year-old "China Chronology of Nuclear Forces Commander Cheng Kaijia.”Pictures from the Internet)
