"I am willing to dedicate my life to the country!" He has been working incognito for 17 years for the nuclear industry of his motherland, and now he is still young after returning from his 70s

May 28

He is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Winner of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal of Merit"

Wang Ganchang

115th birthday

May 28, 1907

Wang Ganchang was born in

An ordinary family in Fengtangwan, Changshu, Jiangsu

In 1907, when he was born

China is surrounded by

Amid internal and external difficulties

But 57 years later

Wang Ganchang used his lifelong learning

Brought a dazzling light to China

Before engaging in the “Two Bombs and One Satellite” project

Young Wang Ganchang has already shown his talent

Admitted to Tsinghua University at the age of 18

After graduation, he stayed in school to teach

Soon after, he successfully passed the Jiangsu Province government-funded study abroad exam

Study for a master's degree at the University of Berlin in Germany

Studied under the famous female nuclear physicist Meitner

But in Germany

Wang Ganchang left a small regret

The international nuclear physics community at that time

Surrounding

The neutron, which had not yet been discovered, was discovered

In 1930, when Wang Ganchang came to Berlin

German physicist Walter Both

Conducted an experiment

He bombarded beryllium nuclei with alpha particles

A type of

Highly penetrating radiation

And thought that this radiation might be gamma rays

This discovery quickly attracted widespread attention in the physics community.

Many scientists, including Marie Curie

Research has been conducted on this

Wang Ganchang, who had just arrived in Berlin

Also interested in this

But he thinks

Gamma rays cannot have such high energies

There may be a mystery behind it

Wang Ganchang in his youth

He applied to his mentor

I hope to replicate this experiment using a cloud chamber detector.

Maybe there will be new gains

But Meitner heard

But looking at Wang Ganchang

Smiled disapprovingly

"Hasn't Curie and the others already said that?

This is the 50MeV gamma ray.

Don’t do it anymore.”

Wang Ganchang was unwilling to give in and repeatedly requested

The instructor still rejected him.

Wang Ganchang, who had just arrived in Germany

I am just a graduate student with little influence.

He dared not disobey his mentor's advice.

I had to give up this idea.

But two years later in 1932

James Chadwick

Based on previous research

The existence of neutrons was confirmed by a series of experiments.

The method he used

This is exactly the cloud chamber experiment method that Wang Ganchang wanted to try.

1935

Chadwick won the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery

Wang Ganchang also regarded this incident as a lifelong regret.

But it also made him understand

There is only truth in scientific research, no absolute authority

Although Wang Ganchang missed the Nobel Prize

But after he returned to China in 1934

Formerly taught at Zhejiang University

Produced another Nobel Prize winner

——

Tsung-Dao Lee

Soon after joining Zhejiang University

The Anti-Japanese War broke out

Wang Ganchang followed Zhejiang University to move west to Guizhou

Traveling around and living a hard life

Because of the devastation caused by war

Wang Ganchang's heart

The seeds of serving the country through science and technology were sown early on

Wang Ganchang at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Soviet Union (third from right in the first row)

1956

With outstanding research achievements in the field of neutrinos

Wang Ganchang represented China

Joined the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Soviet Union

An international race to find microscopic particles begins

Three years later, Wang Ganchang lived up to expectations

First to discover anti-sigma negative hyperon

Filling the gap in the antimatter particle family

Shocked the world

Soon after the discovery

A telegram was sent from Beijing to Moscow

The level is top secret

Request Wang Ganchang to return to China immediately

Wang Ganchang's 17-year disappearance

What happened later

Today we are already familiar with

China's first atomic bomb exploded in 1964

China's first hydrogen bomb exploded in 1967

But few people know that

Behind these achievements

The 17 years when Wang Ganchang “disappeared”

Since 1961, the mission

Wang Ganchang changed his name to Wang Jing

Say goodbye to family and past reputation

Diving into atomic bomb research

A leading scholar

Disappeared from the international physics community

After the successful explosion of atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs

Wang Ganchang continued to conduct underground nuclear test research

Until 1978

Wang Ganchang, who is over 70 years old

He is now using his real name publicly again.

Everyone suddenly realized

It turns out that the old man Wang Jing who was researching the atomic bomb

It is the "disappeared" Wang Ganchang

"Wang Ganchang Star" naming certificate

1998

Wang Ganchang, 91, dies in Beijing

2003

National Astronomical Observatory

Name an asteroid "Wang Ganchang Star"

On the 115th anniversary of his birth

This "star" is still shining

Source: Science and Technology Daily

The pictures in this article are provided by China National Nuclear Corporation