1944, she participated in the Manhattan project of making atomic bombs in the United States, and was the only China in the team.
1963, she helped Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning win the Nobel Prize.
1972, she became the first female professor in Princeton, breaking the tradition that Princeton never hired female professors.
This is Wu Jianxiong.
Daughter's body and man's heart
1912 may 3 1 day, Wu Jianxiong was born in Liuhe town, Taicang, Jiangsu province.
My father studied in the famous Nanyang Public School and took part in the struggle against Yuan.
Wu Fu is open-minded, has no traditional preference for boys, and attaches great importance to Wu Jianxiong's education. Wu Jianxiong, who grew up in such a good family environment, has a good temperament and spirit of exploration.
1929, she graduated with honors from Suzhou No.2 Women's Teachers College, and was also sent to the Physics Department of Nanjing Central University.
Originally, she only planned to be a primary school teacher after graduation (at that time, girls' teaching was as popular as our current civil servant Yuan. )
But the patriotic father doesn't want her to live a normal and stable life like this. But let her go to college and serve her country.
Without my father's encouragement, I might be teaching in a primary school somewhere in China. My father taught me to be a man? Big me? , not? Me? .
Gifted, go to the United States for further study.
Encouraged by her father, she went to Central University for further study.
At this time, I met the person of my life? Mr. Hu Shi.
Because of Wu Jianxiong's brilliant talents and excellent grades, Hu Shi, who loves talents but cherishes talents, attaches great importance to her, gives her high hopes and often gives her guidance.
1934, 2 1 year-old Wu Jianxiong graduated with the highest score in the whole school and was valued by Zhejiang University. Please be a teaching assistant in the physics department.
It wasn't long before he was selected to do research in Academia Sinica.
Her family thought that she was a natural foodie in the field of physics and hoped that she could make more contributions to the motherland, so they decided to send her to the United States for further study.
She worked hard to overcome her days in a foreign country, and Mr. Hu Shi did not alienate their teachers and students because of the distance.
Mr. Hu Shi wrote to her:
You are a very smart person, so you must cherish yourself, and your future achievements are limitless. During your overseas stay, you should pay more attention to the cultural relics in your state, read more books on literature and history, and read more other sciences, so as to broaden your horizons and have incisive opinions.
Between the lines reveals the love and patriotism for Wu Jianxiong.
One is an enlightened father, and the other is an inculcated tutor, which makes Wu Jianxiong full of enthusiasm for his work.
The mother of the atomic bomb, Japan surrendered unconditionally
194 1 At the end of the year, after the Pearl Harbor incident, the United States participated in World War II and declared war on Nazi Germany.
And Nazi Germany implemented it in February 1937? Uranium program? .
If you want to fight, you must have military strength, otherwise you can only be slaughtered on the chopping block.
In this way, the United States has the determination to succeed one step ahead of Germany. Do it. 1June, 942, the U.S. War Department began to develop the atomic bomb, which is the Manhattan Project.
At that time, the best nuclear scientists in western countries (except Nazi Germany) were among the projects.
Wu Jianxiong, as a foreign female scientist, is in charge of the core nuclear fission reaction? She is also the only female physicist in China who participated in the top secret project.
Its experiment successfully solved the major problem that the chain reaction could not continue, directly inspired Fermi, the core figure, and greatly shortened the trial-production process of the atomic bomb.
The ultimate goal of the Manhattan Project is to build an atomic bomb before the end of the war. After the successful development of the atomic bomb, it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and it was impossible to prevent it. Japan was so scared that it directly announced its unconditional surrender.
Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao won the Nobel Prize, but they missed it.
1956, proposed by Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao? Parity conservation law? This experiment is so difficult that no one can prove their theory.
So they thought of Wu Jianxiong.
At this time, Wu Jianxiong and her husband, Yuan Jialiu, have bought air tickets back to the mainland, and she wants to go back and see the motherland she yearns for.
But this challenging experiment attracted her.
Her husband, Yuan Jialiu, also actively supported and encouraged her, and returned a boat ticket to return home alone.
Check? Parity conservation? This is a highly accurate experiment. In order to use the ultra-low temperature instrument of the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, Wu Jianxiong frequently traveled between new york and Washington, working day and night with the team.
As the leader of the project, Wu Jianxiong led the experiment to success and put two young China scientists on the Nobel Prize podium.
I missed the Nobel Prize.
Many scientists feel aggrieved for her, feel sorry for her, and cry out for the prejudice of the West against the East and the prejudice of the East against women:
This is the biggest mistake of the Nobel Committee. Although the concept of parity non-conservation was put forward by Yang and Li, it was discovered by experiments.
She never publicly expressed her view that she didn't win the Nobel Prize, but devoted herself to research.
However, many years later, she wrote in a congratulatory letter to 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Steinberg:
Although I have never done research work in order to win an award, it will still hurt me deeply when my work is ignored for some reason.
Words reveal regrets and grievances. What she wants is not fame and fortune, but truth and justice.
Yeah, who doesn't want to be affirmed? They just want affirmation and respect.
Husband and wife join hands and the husband does it for her? Family man?
That year, after missing the Nobel Prize, Wu Jianxiong simply said a paragraph:
I love my career, not the Nobel Prize. Besides, Mr. Nobel is not my husband. Why do I love him? My husband's name is Yuan Jialiu.
Wu Jianxiong's husband Yuan Jialiu is the son of Yuan Kewen and the grandson of Yuan Shikai. He is also a physicist with international reputation and has made great achievements in the research of high-energy physics, high-energy accelerator and particle detection system.
Wu Jianxiong met Yuan Jialiu when he went to the United States for further study.
Being in a foreign land and classmates, they have been in love for a long time.
One is Yuan Shikai's grandson, and the other is Yuan's daughter Yi Shi. Fate is so wonderful.
Two years later, they entered the marriage hall.
Two people help each other in life and support each other in work.
In order to let Wu Jianxiong devote himself to the research, Yuan Jialiu arranged his home properly and took care of all the work. In order to achieve his wife, he seems to forget that he is also a famous physicist.
Wu Jianxiong is a low-key person, but he often shows love with others:
I have a considerate husband, who is also a physicist. I think if I can get him back to work undisturbed, he will be happier than anything else.
She can devote herself to physics research without any worries, without her husband's silent support and dedication.
China people will always support China's scientific research.
Having lived overseas for many years, Wu Jianxiong Do not forget your initiative mind always cares about the scientific development of the motherland.
Shortly after marriage, in order to let her husband enter the American radio company and continue to engage in cutting-edge technology research, Wu Jianxiong? Stubborn to leave this sunny day? California.
I think RCA is large in scale and well equipped. China needs such a large-scale industrial organization in the future, and he should go there to accumulate some experience.
1946 an American professor wants to donate his books to a university in China before he retires. Thanks to Wu Jianxiong's efforts, he gave these books to Peking University.
1973, Premier Zhou said when receiving the couple:
You are outstanding representatives of China people, who have made contributions to world science. You are the pride of China people and Chinese people all over the world.
1993, with the full participation of Wu Jianxiong and Yuan Jialiu, the magic lamp of science? The third generation synchrotron radiation accelerator was officially launched.
This achievement makes China people rank first in Asia with the United States and Europe in this field.
In her later years, she was still glowing for her country. In order to encourage more people to contribute to the motherland, she donated $250,000 to her alma mater, Mingde School, as a capital construction fee.
He also generously donated nearly/kloc-0.00 million dollars to establish a scholarship for Wu Zhongyi, and awarded the first prize to 59 outstanding teachers and students in Taicang county? Wu Zhongyi Scholarship? .
Yuan Jialiu and Wu Jianxiong.
As a scientist, she can't afford to spend more money, so she spends money as a consultant in excellent scientist schools at home and abroad to promote the development of science and technology construction in the motherland.
1February 1997 16, Wu Jianxiong died of a stroke at the age of 84. Buried in Liuhe, Taicang, Suzhou.
There is such a sentence on the tombstone:
She is an outstanding citizen of the world and an eternal China citizen.
Our times cannot be separated from these great men who pay silently.