Introduction
Qian Xuesen (1911-present) is a famous Chinese physicist and a world-renowned rocket expert. A native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, born in Shanghai.
Graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of China Jiaotong University in 1934, and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology in the United States.
In 1935, he went to the United States to study aeronautical engineering and aerodynamics, and received a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology in 1938. Later, he stayed in the United States as a lecturer, associate professor, professor, director of the Supersonic Laboratory and director of the Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Research Center.
After receiving his doctorate in 1938, he stayed at the school to teach and engage in rocket research.
The struggle to return to the motherland began in 1950. At that time, a senior U.S. Navy general said: "No matter where he goes, Qian Xuesen is worth the strength of five divisions. He must never be allowed to leave the United States." Therefore, Qian Xuesen He was persecuted by the U.S. government and lost his freedom. It took him five years to return to his motherland in 1955.
After overcoming all kinds of resistance and returning to China in October 1955, he served as a long-term technical leader in the development of rockets, missiles and spacecrafts since 1958.
In 1959, he joined the Communist Party of China. He once served as the director of the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the deputy minister of the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry, and the deputy director of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. He currently serves as the Honorary Chairman of China Science and Technology Association.
Qian Xuesen proposed extremely important implementation plans for the development of China's rocket and missile technology. Since April 1956, he has long held the technical leadership position in the development of rockets, missiles and spacecraft, and has made significant contributions to the development of China's rockets, missiles and aerospace industry. Qian Xuesen was vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, member of the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, honorary chairman of the Chinese Astronautical Society, and chairman of the China Science and Technology Association.
Life
1. Early years
Qian Xuesen was born in Shanghai on December 11, 1911. In his early years, he studied at the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University and Jiaotong University. In the summer of 1934, he graduated from Jiaotong University and was admitted to Tsinghua University to study abroad at public expense.
One day in August 1935, Qian Xuesen left the motherland on a ship of the American Mail Line from Shanghai. As the turbid waves of the Huangpu River rolled, Qian Xuesen said silently in his heart as he looked at the gradually blurred Shanghai City: "Goodbye, motherland. You are now dominated by wolves and in chaos. I will go to the United States to learn technology and come back to help you revive one day." Service."
Qian Xuesen went to the United States to enter the Department of Aeronautics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his academic performance has always been among the best. To learn engineering, you have to go to the factory to practice, but at that time, American aviation factories discriminated against Chinese people, so a year later he began to turn to aeronautical engineering theory, that is, the study of applied mechanics. In October 1936 he transferred to Caltech.
Qian Xuesen came here because of his reputation. Because, in the Aeronautics Department of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, there is a famous aerodynamics professor von Kármán, who is Hungarian.
In the early 1930s, aviation science was still in its infancy. Von Kármán was a leading figure in the field at the time and was later known as the "Father of Supersonic Flight." In 1970, a crater on the moon was named after him.
Von Karman raised his head and looked carefully at this dignified, short young man. He asked Qian Xuesen a few questions to answer. Qian Xuesen answered all his questions very accurately after a little thought. Von Karman secretly praised: This Chinese man's thinking is quick and wise. He happily accepted the student. In early 1945, Qian Xuesen became a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Group headed by von Kármán. After Germany surrendered, he went to Europe with the regiment's inspection team to inspect aviation and rocket technology. In early 1947, 36-year-old Qian Xuesen became a full professor at MIT. While under surveillance, in addition to teaching, he did not give up academic research. In 1953, he published "Takeoff from Earth Satellite Orbit", which laid the foundation for low-thrust flight mechanics, and in 1954 he published the book "Engineering Cybernetics" . When he said goodbye to von Karman before returning to China in 1955, von Karman said excitedly: "You have surpassed me academically now!"
Qian Xuesen became the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory led by Karman. of a graduate student. This laboratory later became the cradle of American rocket technology, and Qian Xuesen was one of the first three members to conduct rocket technology research here. From 1929 to 1934, he studied in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. After graduation, he applied for Tsinghua University to study in the United States as a public student. After admission, he interned at Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport. From 1935 to 1939, he studied in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and received a master's degree. From 1936 to 1939, he studied in the Department of Aeronautics and Mathematics at the California Institute of Technology in the United States and received a doctorate. From 1939 to 1943, he served as a researcher in the Department of Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology. From 1943 to 1945, he served as an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology (during this period: from 1940 to 1945, he was a communications researcher at the Sichuan Chengdu Aviation Research Institute). From 1945 to 1946, he served as associate professor in the Department of Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology. From 1946 to 1949, he served as associate professor and professor of aerodynamics in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1949 to 1955, he served as director and professor of the Jet Propulsion Center at the California Institute of Technology. Married Jiang Ying in 1947.
Returned to China in 1955.
From 1955 to 1964, he served as director and researcher of the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and director of the Fifth Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense. From 1965 to 1970, he served as deputy minister of the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry. From 1970 to 1982, he served as deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology. He has also served as the first and second chairman of the Chinese Society of Automation, honorary president of the Chinese Astronautical Society, the Chinese Society of Mechanics, and the Chinese System Engineering Society, executive director of the Presidium of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and member of the Department of Mathematical Physics. From 1986 to May 1991, he served as Chairman of the Third National Committee of the China Association for Science and Technology. In May 1991, he was elected as the Honorary Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology at the Fourth National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology. In April 1992, he was appointed as the honorary chairman of the Presidium of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In June 1994, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Qian Xuesen was an alternate member of the 9th to 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and vice chairman of the 6th, 7th and 8th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Qian Xuesen is a pioneer and outstanding representative of China's aerospace science and technology industry. He is known as the "Father of Chinese Aerospace", "Father of Chinese Missiles" and "King of Rockets". While studying and researching in the United States, he collaborated with others to complete the "Review and Preliminary Analysis of Long-Range Rockets", which laid the theoretical foundation for surface-to-surface missiles and sounding rockets. The hypersonic flow theory he co-proposed with others laid the foundation for the development of aerodynamics. laid the foundation. At the beginning of 1956, the "Opinions on Establishing my country's National Defense Aviation Industry" was submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. In the same year, based on his suggestions, the State Council and the Central Military Commission established the Aviation Industry Commission, a leading organization for missile and aviation scientific research, and was appointed as a member. In 1956, he was appointed to establish China's first rocket and missile research institute, the Fifth Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense, and served as the first director. He presided over the completion of the "Establishment of Jet and Rocket Technology" plan, participated in the development of short-range missiles, medium- and short-range missiles and China's first artificial earth satellite, and directly led the "two-bomb combination" of using medium- and short-range missiles to carry atomic bombs. test, participated in the formulation of China’s short-range missile-carrying atomic bomb “two-bomb combination” test, participated in the formulation of China’s first interstellar aviation development plan, and developed and established engineering cybernetics and systems science. He has made pioneering contributions in the fields of aerodynamics, aerospace engineering, jet propulsion, engineering cybernetics, physical mechanics and other technical sciences. He is the founder and advocate of theoretical and applied research on modern mechanics and systems engineering in China.
In his early years, he did pioneering work in many fields of applied mechanics and rocket and missile technology. Many theories proposed by independent research and cooperation with von Kármán laid the foundation for the development of applied mechanics, aeronautical engineering and rocket and missile technology. After returning to China, he served as a technical leader in the development of rockets, missiles and satellites for a long time, and made outstanding contributions to the creation and development of my country's missile and aerospace industries. He has conducted creative research and made significant contributions in many theoretical fields such as engineering cybernetics, systems engineering and system science, thinking science and human body science, and Marxist philosophy. He won the first prize of the Natural Science Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1956 and the special prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 1985. In 1991, he was awarded the honorary title of "National Scientist with Outstanding Contributions" and the First-Class Hero and Model Medal by the State Council and the Central Military Commission. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Won the first prize of the Natural Science Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1957. In 1979, he won the Distinguished Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology. Won the National Science and Technology Progress Special Award in 1985. In 1989, he won the "Little Rockwell Medal", the "World-class Science and Technology and Engineering Celebrity" award and the title of honorary member of the International Institute of Technology. In October 1991, he was awarded the honorary title of “National Outstanding Contribution Scientist” and the First-Class Hero Model Medal by the State Council and the Central Military Commission. In January 1995, he won the "1994 Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Excellence Award". In 1999, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission decided to award him the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Meritorious Service Medal." In October 2006, he won the "China's 50 highest honors in aerospace industry, two bombs and one satellite".
He is the author of "Engineering Cybernetics", "On System Engineering", "Introduction to Interstellar Navigation", etc.
Studying and research work is very stressful. Qian Xuesen works more than ten hours a day, reading books for half a day, discussing for half a day, and continuing to work hard at night. Three years later, he obtained a doctorate with honors and stayed at the school to teach, becoming von Karman's right-hand assistant. During this period, he not only mastered the basic knowledge of aerodynamics, but also stood at the forefront of this science. In 1939, he studied aerospace structures and achieved a breakthrough in just one year.
In his second year at Caltech, Qian Xuesen met F.J. Malina, a classmate who was studying rocket technology. After being introduced by Malina, Qian Xuesen participated in the Marxism-Leninism study group at the California Institute of Technology at that time, and met Weinbaum, the secretary of the group and an assistant researcher in chemical physics. In the group, Qian Xuesen studied Engels's "Anti-Dühring" with everyone; current affairs were often discussed in weekly meetings. In the winter of 1938, after the outbreak of World War II, the group disbanded.
In view of the outstanding achievements of Qian Xuesen's research work and the needs of American wartime military scientific research, he was able to participate in confidential work. In 1944, the U.S. military commissioned Professor von Kármán as the leader and Malina as deputy to vigorously research long-range rockets. Qian Xuesen was in charge of the theoretical group and invited Lin Jiaqiao and Qian Weichang to conduct ballistic analysis, combustion chamber heat conduction, combustion theory research and other work.
At the same time, Qian Xuesen also served as a technical consultant for Aviation Jet Company. In early 1945, he was also hired by the U.S. Air Force as a member of the Scientific Advisory Corps. During this period, he gained valuable experience in the scientific research of modern mechanics and jet propulsion, and became a famous and outstanding scientist at that time.
At the end of World War II, the U.S. Air Force highly praised Qian Xuesen for his "tremendous contribution" to the victory of the war. American columnist Milton Vioest believes that Qian Xuesen has been "a key figure in formulating the long-term plan for the U.S. Air Force to transition from propeller-driven aircraft to jet aircraft, and finally to unmanned spacecraft that fly in space." A bright star in the galaxy of scientists who helped the United States become the world's premier military power."
In the summer of 1946, Qian Xuesen left Caltech and became an associate professor at MIT, specializing in teaching graduate students in aerodynamics. In early 1947, 36-year-old Qian Xuesen became a tenured professor at MIT. In the summer of the same year, Qian Xuesen took leave to return to China to visit relatives, and in mid-September he married Jiang Ying (now a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music). Jiang Ying is the third daughter of Jiang Baili, a famous early military theorist in China. She is a soprano vocalist who received good music education in Vienna and Berlin.
From 1935 to 1955, Qian Xuesen lived in the United States for 20 years. During this period, he made brilliant achievements in academics, enjoyed generous benefits in life, and had convenient conditions at work. However, he was always attached to the motherland where he was born and raised. In letters to his father, he lamented more than once, "When will my travel career last?"
2. Returning to China
“I have always believed: I will definitely be able to return to my motherland. Today, I am finally back!” This is what my country’s famous scientist and rocket expert Qian Xuesen said in the care of Premier Zhou Enlai on September 17, 1955. He embarked on the voyage back to China and arrived in Hong Kong on October 1, 1955. When he arrived in Guangzhou on October 8, 1955, he said something very emotional to Comrade Zhu Zhaoxiang, the scientist representative of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who received him. Also returning with him were his wife and two young children.
Qian Xuesen went to the United States as a publicly funded international student in August 1935 to study and research aeronautical engineering and aerodynamics. Before returning to China, he served as director of the California Institute of Technology's Supersonics Laboratory and director of the Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Research Center.
[Edit this paragraph] Scientific Achievements
Qian Xuesen has long served as the technical leader of China’s rocket and space programs and has made huge contributions and pioneering achievements in aerospace technology, systems science and systems engineering. sexual contribution. Qian Xuesen has published 7 monographs and more than 300 papers. The main contributions are reflected in the following aspects:
①Applied Mechanics
Qian Xuesen has done pioneering work in aerodynamics and solid mechanics of applied mechanics. The study of compressible boundary layers conducted in collaboration with von Karman revealed some temperature changes in this field and created the Karman-Qian Xuesen method. Collaborating with Guo Yonghuai, he was the first to introduce the concept of upper and lower critical Mach numbers in transonic flow problems.
②Jet propulsion and aerospace technology
From the 1940s to the early 1960s, Qian Xuesen proposed several important concepts in the field of rockets and aerospace: In the 1940s, he proposed and implemented rocket-assisted JATO, which shortened the runway distance; proposed the concept of rocket passenger aircraft and the idea of ??nuclear rockets in 1949; studied the possibility of interplanetary flight theory in 1953; published "Interstellar Navigation" in 1962 In "Introduction", the concept of a space-to-ground round-trip transportation system using a large aircraft equipped with a jet engine as the first-stage carrier and an aircraft equipped with a rocket engine as the second-stage carrier was proposed.
③Engineering cybernetics
In its formation process, engineering cybernetics took engineering technology practices such as designing stability and guidance systems as its main research objects. Qian Xuesen himself is a pioneer in this type of research work.
④Physical Mechanics
Qian Xuesen’s research on combining the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of rarefied gases in 1946 was a pioneering work. In 1953, he formally proposed the concept of physical mechanics, advocating that the macroscopic mechanical properties of matter be determined from the microscopic laws of matter, changing the past method of solely relying on experiments to determine mechanical properties, greatly saving manpower and material resources, and opening up new fields of high temperature and high pressure. In 1961, the "Lectures on Physical Mechanics" edited by him was officially published. The current leader of this science is Professor Gou Qingquan. In 1984, Qian Xuesen suggested to Gou Qingquan to extend physical mechanics to engineering technology of atomic and molecular design.
⑤System Engineering
Qian Xuesen not only refined the practice of my country’s aerospace system engineering into aerospace system engineering theory, but also proposed the concept of the overall design department of national economic construction in the early 1980s, and also insisted on He is committed to promoting the concept of aerospace system engineering to the construction of the entire country and national economy, and discusses social systems from the perspective of social forms and open complex giant systems. The social form of any society has three aspects: economic social form, political social form and ideological social form. Qian Xuesen thus proposed to divide the social system into three components: the socioeconomic system, the social political system and the social consciousness system.
Corresponding to the three social forms, there should be three types of civilization construction, namely, material civilization construction (economic form), political civilization construction (political form) and spiritual civilization construction (ideology). The construction of socialist civilization should be the coordinated development of these three civilizations. From a practical perspective, what ensures the coordinated development of these three civilizations is social system engineering. From the reality of reform and opening up, not only economic system engineering is needed, but social system engineering is also needed.
⑥Systems Science
Qian Xuesen’s most important contribution to systems science is his development of systematics and open complex giant systems methodology.
⑦Science of Thinking
Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic internationally, but academic thinking is in a state of confusion. In this context, Qian Xuesen stood at the forefront of scientific and technological development and proposed the creation of a science and technology department called noetic science. This was discussed and debated in the Chinese philosophical circles in the 1930s, but could not be explained clearly under the conditions at the time. The proposition is scientifically summarized into the science of thinking. The more prominent contributions are:
(1) Qian Xuesen proposed the creation of a thinking science and technology department in the early 1980s. He believed that thinking science is a science that deals with consciousness and brain, spirit and matter, subjectivity and objectivity, and is a modern science. A large sector of technology. What drives the scientific study of thinking is the need for the revolution in computer technology.
(2) Qian Xuesen advocates that the development of thinking science should be combined with the work of artificial intelligence and intelligent computers. Based on his deep experience of personally participating in the development of applied mechanics, he pointed out that research on artificial intelligence and intelligent computers should use applied mechanics as a reference, take the path of integrating theory with practice, and practice should be guided by theory. The theoretical basis of artificial intelligence is the basic scientific thinking in the science of thinking. The way to study thinking is to find it from the achievements of philosophy. Thinking actually evolved from philosophy. He also believes that the establishment of image thinking is a breakthrough in the current scientific research on thinking, and is also a core issue of artificial intelligence and intelligent computers.
(3) Qian Xuesen applied the system science method to the study of thinking science and proposed a system view of thinking, that is, first using the logical unit thinking process as the micro-foundation, and gradually building a first-order thinking system of a single thinking type. , that is, building abstract thinking, image (intuitive) thinking, social thinking, and specific thinking (inspirational thinking), etc.; secondly, solving the problem of second-order thinking open large system; and finally, decision-making consultation high-order thinking open large system.
⑧Human Body Science
Qian Xuesen is an advocate of human body science in China.
Qian Xuesen proposed using the "human body functional state" theory to describe the human body, an open and complex giant system, and to study the structure, function and behavior of the system. He believes that qigong and supernatural powers are a functional state, which places the research on qigong, supernatural powers and traditional Chinese medicine system theory within an advanced scientific framework, and plays a major role in the research of qigong and supernatural powers. Under the guidance of Qian Xuesen, researchers at the Beijing Institute of Aerospace Medical Engineering began to study the functional state of the human body in 1984. They used multidimensional data analysis methods to synthesize multiple physiological index variables measured on the human body into a representative The change point of the entire system of the human body, as well as its position in the multi-dimensional phase space composed of various variables, moves to a relatively stable position, that is, the position of the target point and target ring. They discovered the respective target points and target rings of the human body's functional states such as wakefulness, sleep, alertness, and Qigong. In this way, the theory of system science is reflected in the human body system, and human body science research begins to have objective indicators and scientific theories.
⑨Science and Technology System and Marxist Philosophy
Qian Xuesen believes that Marxist philosophy is the highest summary of human understanding of the objective world and is also the foundation of modern science and technology (including scientific social sciences) At the highest level, Qian Xuesen summarized the development of contemporary science and technology into ten closely related science and technology departments. The division method of these ten science and technology departments is another innovation of Qian Xuesen's use of Marxist philosophy, especially systems theory, to scientific classification methods.
2007 Touching China Person of the Year - Qian Xuesen
The award speech given to Qian Xuesen by the Touching China Organizing Committee: In his heart, country is the most important, family is the least, science is the most important, and fame and wealth are the most important. Lightest. It took 5 years to return to the country and 10 years to complete. He was the pioneer who pioneered the country's aerospace industry, cutting through thorns and forging wisdom into a ladder for later climbers. He is a treasure of knowledge, a banner of science, and a model for Chinese intellectuals.
I was moved by Yan Su, the Chinese election committee member, who commented on Qian Xuesen: The vast universe and the sky are all contained in the mind of an innocent person. Two bombs that shock the world, one star that soars into the sky, condenses the Chinese pride, and the frost on the temples will not fall into the blue clouds. When my life comes to an end, I look back and smile silently.
I was moved by Chinese selection committee member Du Yubo, who wrote this when recommending Mr. Qian Xuesen: After returning to China, Qian Xuesen showed the tenacity of Chinese scientists; in mechanics, jet propulsion, and aerospace technology, Qian Xuesen showed that a scientist is researching The Dongfanghong satellite, the Shenzhou spacecraft, and Chang'e flying to the moon, Qian Xuesen has given enough strength to China's aerospace industry; today, the career pioneered by the father of China's aerospace is moving forward with great momentum!
I was moved by Chen Zhangliang, the Chinese selection committee member, who wrote this when recommending Qian Xuesen: He not only made outstanding contributions to the progress of mankind in the aerospace field with his rigorous and diligent scientific attitude, but also was indifferent to fame and fortune. and straightforward attitude towards life explain the personality essence of a scientist