At the beginning of October 1937, at the gate of the temporary campus of Tsinghua University in Changsha, a dirty beggar suddenly ran in. He was ragged and unkempt, with a pair of broken shoes on his feet, a crutch in one hand and a pickle jar in the other, and eagerly said that he had something important to see Principal Mei.
The doorman thought that the man was not in his right mind and wanted to blow him away. coincided with the principal Mei Yiqi sending the guests out, only to see that this "beggar" pounced and grabbed Mei Yiqi's sleeve. After shouting "Principal Mei", he burst into tears.
Mei Yiqi didn't recognize who the person was at first, but after a closer look, she found that this "beggar" was Professor Zhao Zhongyao of the Department of Physics, and she couldn't help but burst into tears and stepped forward to hold his hand ......
How did you become like this? Mei Yiqi asked him incredulously.
Zhao Zhongyao said with tears in his eyes: "It's hard to say, I finally found you."
Mei Yiqi hurriedly invited him into her office. It was only then that Zhao Zhongyao carefully put the pickle jar that he had been refusing to leave on the table and breathed a long sigh of relief.
It turned out that Zhao Zhongyao went south alone, all the way, and even became a "beggar", all for the pickle jar in front of him. Who would have thought that this seemingly inconspicuous jar actually contained a lead cylinder, and in the barrel there was actually 50 milligrams of radioactive experimental radium.
In the 30s of the last century, in fact, it was only 30 years since Marie Curie discovered radium. Due to the extremely radioactive nature of radium, it is extremely difficult to refine, and it is an extremely valuable element. The value of 1 gram of radium back then was equivalent to $1.5 million today. So, why does Zhao Zhongyao have such a precious rare substance in his hands?
In 1902, Zhao Zhongyao was born in a scholarly family in Zhuji, Zhejiang. His father worked as a private school teacher and a doctor in his early years, and witnessed many hardships in poor and weak old China, so he always hoped that his children would one day become the pillars of the motherland.
Zhao Zhongyao later lived up to his father's expectations and embarked on a road of scientific research to save the country.
In 1925, shortly after graduating from Southeast University, he served as an assistant professor to Ye Qisun, director of the Department of Physics at Tsinghua University, and served as a faculty member in the experimental course.
This job is a great affirmation for 23-year-old Zhao Zhongyao, but it does not excite him. Because in his teaching experience, Zhao Zhongyao felt the huge gap between China and the West. The fact that China has no access to the world's cutting-edge science and technology makes him very anxious.
In the summer of 1927, Zhao Zhongyao couldn't wait for the quota to go abroad at public expense, so he decided to study in the United States at his own expense. After applying for a half-fee grant from Tsinghua University and borrowing a sum of money from teachers and classmates, he traveled to the California Institute of Technology to study for a doctorate under the supervision of Professor Milligan, who had just won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
But for this inquisitive Chinese student, Professor Milligan was greatly annoyed. It turned out that the newcomer Zhao Zhongyao didn't know the height of the sky, and he disliked the topic given to him by his mentor was too ordinary. After some time, Professor Milligan had to give Zhao Zhongyao a new topic: the absorption coefficient of hard gamma rays as they pass through matter.
When he was given this topic, Professor Milligan himself did not expect that this topic would propel Zhao Zhongyao to a great discovery in physical science.
In 1930, after completing the experiment, Zhao Zhongyao came to a conclusion that shocked the academic community - he observed the positron for the first time in human history, and later experiments made him the first physicist in the world to discover antimatter.
This year, Zhao Zhongyao was only 28 years old, and this experimental result was enough for him to win the Nobel Prize! Unfortunately, the award was given in 1936 to Anderson, who discovered the positron trajectory two years later than Zhao Zhongyao.
Anderson wrote the story in 1983: When I was a graduate student at Caltech, Zhao Zhongyao and I were both graduate students, and our offices were just separated by a wall. My research was inspired by Zhao.
Professor Axpen, who was the director of the Nobel Prize in Physics jury at the time, also admitted: "This is a very disturbing omission that cannot be remedied. Zhao Zhongyao is a real Nobel laureate in the hearts of physicists around the world. ”
The world owes the Chinese a Nobel Prize, and even more so Zhao Zhongyao! But for Zhao Zhongyao himself, these honors outside his body do not seem to be important, and he has never forgotten his original intention of learning the most cutting-edge technology for the country and the people.
In 1931, Zhao Zhongyao went to the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University in England to work with the famous scientist Rutherford. Rutherford was moved by Zhao Zhongyao's diligent study, so when he returned to China, he specially gave him 50 milligrams of radioactive radium.
As one of the indispensable materials for the study of nuclear physics, the value of this gift can be imagined. Zhao Zhongyao later took the 50 milligrams of radium, which had been embargoed around the world, back to China and stored it in a safe at Tsinghua University, where it was required to keep it confidential.
In July 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out. All of a sudden, the Japanese army burned and looted the ancient city of Beiping like locusts in transit, and the university campus was not spared. To this end, the authorities demanded that the universities in Peking and Tianjin be relocated to Changsha and Xi'an as soon as possible.
Under the threat of artillery fire, the teachers and students in Beiping were in full swing to rush some precious books and instruments, thinking of escaping from the city as soon as possible. However, due to the tight time and the fact that too few people knew the inside story, the 50 milligrams of radium that Zhao Zhongyao had stored in the Tsinghua laboratory were actually dropped alive.
At that time, Zhao Zhongyao was in other places, and after learning of this situation, he resolutely "went north" against the current and returned to Beiping.
In order to increase the certainty of getting things back, Zhao Zhongyao found Liang Sicheng, who owned a car. Liang Sicheng didn't think about it, and immediately agreed to take a risk.
At dusk, Liang and Zhao drove out of the city, risking being robbed by the Japanese army and the Goryeo ronin, avoiding waves of sentry posts, speeding all the way, and quietly infiltrating Tsinghua Garden.
Zhao Zhongyao took out the lead cylinder containing radium from a specially camouflaged corner in the scattered laboratory that had already undergone a round of looting. After getting the things, he hurriedly said goodbye to Liang Sicheng and left alone.
In order to ensure that the 50 milligrams of radium could travel south safely, Zhao Zhongyao blended into the most unobtrusive refugee team. He took off his crisp suit and changed into a ragged ragged suit with the refugees. Thinking that the lead cylinder was too eye-catching to hold in his hand, he exchanged it for a pickle jar that the refugees often carried with him, and loaded the 50 mg of radium into it.
Along the way, in order to arrive in Changsha as soon as possible, Zhao Zhongyao threw away all his luggage, but held this pickle jar tightly in his arms. When he slept, he took the lead cylinder out of the jar and pressed it under him. Because of the need to be vigilant at all times, he rarely really closes his eyes.
Because he was worried about colliding head-on with the Japanese army, Zhao Zhongyao only hurried at night and found a place to hide during the day. He did not dare to take the big road, only walked off the beaten track of wilderness paths, walked around, and the soles of his shoes were worn out.
Of course, one in ten times he would inevitably encounter a Japanese interrogation, and every now and then, he described himself as a fleeing refugee.
Due to the fear on the road and the overnight stay in Xiaoxing, he couldn't eat or sleep well for a long time, and the wind and dust along the way had already made Zhao Zhongyao skinny and vicissitudes. Outwardly, he has long been indistinguishable from a refugee and a beggar, and no one can associate him with a personable professor.
In this way, Zhao Zhongyao went all the way south, but did not arouse the suspicion of the Japanese army. After walking for more than a month, Zhao Zhongyao finally walked from Beiping to Changsha. Because he had been holding the pickle jar for a long time, two bright red blood marks were ground out on his chest.
Later, it turned out that Zhao Zhongyao did not bring back the 50 mg of radium in vain.
At the beginning of 1942, the teachers and students of the physics department of Southwest Associated University in the north of Kunming used the 50 milligrams of radium to do some neutron radioactive element experiments under extremely simple conditions. But because it was impossible to build a decent electrostatic accelerator, the experiment failed. However, this spirit of "knowing what you can't do" has inspired generations of Chinese nuclear physicists.
During this period, Zhao Zhongyao, together with his teacher Ye Qisun, cultivated a group of talents who later made outstanding contributions to China's atomic energy industry, including Deng Jiaxian, Qian Sanqiang, Zhu Guangya, Li Zhengdao, Wang Ganchang, Peng Huanwu, etc., who are familiar to us.
On June 30, 1946, the United States tested an atomic bomb on a small island of bikini in the Pacific Ocean, following the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. Zhao Zhongyao, as a representative of the allies, was invited to watch the "war" and became the first person in China to witness the atomic bomb.
When the representatives of other countries couldn't help but exclaim for the power of nuclear **, Zhao Zhongyao silently watched the rising mushroom cloud, and couldn't help but sigh, when will China release such a huge energy?
As an expert in nuclear physics, Zhao Zhongyao knows that the key technology of nuclear science is the accelerator, and with the accelerator, it is equivalent to finding the key to uncover the mystery of the atomic bomb. However, at that time, China's weak scientific research conditions could not build an accelerator of its own.
For this reason, Zhao Zhongyao chose to "stay" in the United States, and his purpose was also very clear - to try to buy accelerators. At that time, the national ** also remitted 50,000 US dollars to him as funding, but an accelerator cost at least 400,000 US dollars, which is not enough money at all. Moreover, the United States at that time strictly prohibited the export of such cutting-edge technology equipment, and Zhao Zhongyao could not get an export license even if he could not buy the equipment.
So Zhao Zhongyao thought about secretly customizing the most sophisticated core components in the United States, and then trying to find ways to ship them back, and then memorize the technical parameters of other components by himself, and then return to China to make his own, 50,000 US dollars may be enough!
With the belief that he must install an accelerator for poor and backward China, Zhao Zhongyao returned to his alma mater at Caltech. Using all the equipment, he conducted a series of studies on the design and manufacture of accelerators. He forgot to sleep and eat every day, leaving more than 16 hours of time to the laboratory.
After that, Zhao Zhongyao successively volunteered at several accelerators and cosmic ray laboratories in the United States, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Base Institute for Magnetism, just to exchange for some parts. In life, Zhao Zhongyao was even more reluctant to eat and wear, and spent his limited scientific research funds and living subsidies all on finding factories to customize accelerator parts.
The arduous scientific research struggle continued until the end of 1948, when Zhao Zhongyao completed the order for the core components of the electrostatic accelerator.
In the autumn of 1949, Zhao Zhongyao saw the hope of the rise of the motherland. He knew that the accelerator was the core equipment for the manufacture of the atomic bomb, so he began to prepare intensively for the development of the atomic bomb.
In order to avoid the close inspection of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and customs, Zhao Zhongyao packed the accelerator parts he had collected over the years into more than 30 boxes, mixed them with the teaching equipment he had purchased, and shipped them back to the mainland in batches. However, due to changes in the international situation, China and the United States were no longer open to air at this time, and Zhao Zhongyao's return to China was obstructed many times.
It wasn't until 1950 that he was lucky enough to get a visa to transit through Hong Kong. On August 29 of the same year, Zhao Zhongyao, Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian and other more than 100 overseas scholars boarded the "Welsh **" to return to China.
On November 28, 1950, Zhao Zhongyao finally returned from the catastrophe and set foot on the land of the motherland. After returning to China, he handed over all the core components of the accelerator that were related to the fate of China's nuclear industry to the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition, Qian Xuesen, who was considered "worthy of five divisions" at that time, also returned to China, and China's "two bombs and one satellite" cause was officially launched.
Later, under the auspices of Zhao Zhongyao, China's first 700,000 electron volt proton electrostatic accelerator was launched, which made an important contribution to the establishment of a nuclear physics experimental base in China.
In 1959, Zhao Zhongyao personally participated in the development of China's first epoch-making particle accelerator and achieved success.
Then Professor Zhao Zhongyao lived until he was 96 years old, witnessed the launch of China's first atomic bomb and the first hydrogen bomb, saw China's first nuclear submarine launched, and saw China's first high-energy positron collider and the groundbreaking ...... the first nuclear power plantBehind these successes, nearly half of the technical strength comes from Zhao Zhongyao and his students.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Zhao Zhongyao is a pioneer in China's nuclear physics research.
As giants in this field, Zhao Zhongyao's students have always followed the spirit and belief of their teachers, and they have always kept in mind the four-character motto of Southwest Associated University throughout their lives: perseverance and perseverance, just as Zhao Zhongyao fought to the death to keep the courage of 50 mg of radium!