Peng Huanwu: No Reason to Return to China

Peng Huanwu (1915.10.06-2007.2.28), a famous theoretical physicist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in 1940 and a doctorate in science from the University of Edinburgh in 1945. He returned to China in 1947 and was elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy of Sciences in 1948. Peng Huanwu's research involves neutron physics, radiation fluid mechanics, condensed matter physics, detonation physics and other fields, and has made great theoretical achievements in these fields, which are of great significance for guiding practice. Peng Huanwu also taught at Yunnan University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and University of Science and Technology of China. He participated in the establishment of the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and trained a large number of scientific and technological talents for my country's nuclear industry. He has successively won the first prize of the National Natural Science Award, the special prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the Science and Technology Achievement Award of the He Liang He Li Foundation. In 1999, he was awarded the "Two Bombs and One Star" Meritorious Medal.
In 1938, when the iron hoof of the Japanese invaders trampled on the land of China, a 23-year-old young man was embarking on a passenger ship to Edinburgh, England, to leave his country and travel across the ocean to study. The young man's name is Peng Huanwu, Huan is taken from Zhang Fei's posthumous title "Huan Hou" and Wu is taken from Yue Fei's posthumous title "Wu Mu". This name may have been doomed to Peng Huanwu's loyalty to the country in the beginning.
With Yang Zhenning and others and called "Tsinghua four outstanding"
Peng Huanwu was born in Changchun, Jilin Province in 1915. His father Peng Shutang graduated from Waseda University in Japan in his early years. After the revolution of 1911, he became the county magistrate of Changchun County, known as "Changchun Peng". Influenced by family studies, Peng Huanwu was frail and sickly since he was a child, but he loved reading, especially arithmetic, and showed great interest and talent since he was a child. Before going to school at the age of 4, Peng Huanwu had mastered the complex four operations.
In 1930, Peng Huanwu went to Beijing to study with his father and brother. With his talent and hard work, Peng Huanwu was admitted to Tsinghua University in 1931. Here, he began his indissoluble bond with physics. He was 16 years old this year. In 1935, after graduating from Peng Huanwu University, he continued to study as a graduate student in Tsinghua University, studying physics under Zhou Peiyuan, and was called the "Four Outstanding Students of Tsinghua University" with Wang Zhuxi, Lin Jiaqiao, and Yang Zhenning ". For Peng Huanwu, the study of Tsinghua Park is not only an exploration of natural science knowledge, but also the school motto of "continuous self-improvement" always inspires him to work hard and take on the important task of saving the nation from peril. In such an environment, Peng Huanwu has developed the qualities of learning and thinking, pursuing truth, pioneering and innovating, and not afraid of hardship. This has laid a solid foundation for him to lead the scientific research team to overcome problems and serve the country with natural science in the future.
In 1937, the Japanese invasion of China became increasingly severe. Peng Huanwu set foot on the road of fleeing south. In addition to the necessary luggage, he also carried a bag of arsenic that was enough to poison him three times. If he was caught by the Japanese, he would never make a plan to obey the people. In troubled times, human life is like grass and mustard. Peng Huanwu chooses to bend rather than bend. His integrity of "it is better to be broken than to be complete" is admirable. Later, he wrote a poem saying, "The chaos of the world drives people to be full of integrity, and Tian Yin told me to be sane". This is not only the strength and integrity of intellectuals in troubled times, but also the unbending backbone of the Chinese nation.
In 1938, Peng Huanwu, under the recommend of his teacher Zhou Peiyuan, was admitted to the Chinese and English students and went to the University of Edinburgh in the UK to follow Max Born in theoretical research on solid state physics and quantum field theory, waiting for his return to serve the motherland.
You don't need a reason to return home, you don't need a reason to return home.
Max Born is one of the founders of the theoretical study of quantum mechanics. He is a good teacher and a good friend. In a good academic atmosphere, Peng Huanwu, with his proud talent and diligent spirit, constantly made new progress and obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1940. For academics, Peng Huanwu has always been in the spirit of excellence, so as to strictly demand himself. He is not satisfied with his doctoral thesis and thinks that he has only done half of it. His mentor Born said, "If you do everything, you can't give you a doctor of philosophy, but a doctor of science!"
In 1941, Peng Huanwu, who planned to return to China after studying, was forced to shelve his return trip because he was unwilling to sign an insulting clause. This hold is six years. In August 1941, Peng Huanwu was engaged in postdoctoral research at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. During this period, Peng Huanwu's research achieved a series of results. In 1941-1943, he published the HHP theory in collaboration with other scientists. He received a Doctor of Science degree in 1945 and the McDougal-Bretzban Prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. From 1945 to 1947, Peng Huanwu was an assistant professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Dublin.
During the 9 years of living in a foreign land, Peng Huanwu's academic ability and theoretical accomplishment have been greatly improved. Won the mentor Born, Schrodinger's many admiration. Born said, "He is smarter and more capable than other students, as if he knows everything and knows everything". Schrodinger praised: "I can't believe that this young man has learned so much, knows so much, and understands so quickly."
In 1947, Peng Huanwu returned to his haunting motherland. On behalf of Yunnan University, he went to Belgium to attend the "University Professor Conference" and then met Qian Sanqiang in France. The two were tacitly determined to return to the motherland and make a big fight. This night, there was no song of "folded willows", but their thoughts on the motherland were aroused, but their ambition to serve the country was aroused. In 1949, Peng Huanwu returned to his alma mater Tsinghua University via Hong Kong.
A long time later, someone asked Peng Huanwu why he returned to China after he had made some achievements abroad and gained popularity. He replied, "You don't need a reason to return home. You don't need a reason to return home."
Without the joint efforts of workers, peasants and soldiers, how can we succeed in mathematics, physics and chemistry?
The newly established the People's Republic of China is in dire need of a large number of talented people. After returning to China, Peng Huanwu successively taught in Yunnan University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, University of Science and Technology of China and other universities, and participated in the establishment of the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He rewarded the backward and promoted the younger generation, and trained a large number of outstanding scientific research talents for the new China. In getting along with his students, he was approachable, a teacher and a friend, and did not have the air of returning from abroad. "The teacher is like' clock'. The more you ring the bell, the deeper the teacher will give you the answer!" He used such examples to encourage students to ask questions and promote academic exchanges and collisions. He also summed up his learning experience, that is, "active learning, mutual assistance from friends, encouragement from good teachers, and environmental health. In his years of education, he not only taught students scientific knowledge and scientific research methods, but also passed on the scientific spirit of rigorous scholarship and truth-seeking.
In 1960, the international situation changed and the Soviet Union withdrew all its experts. New China faces many difficulties. In 1961, Peng Huanwu was transferred to the Nuclear Weapons Research Institute to replace Soviet experts in atomic bomb theory research. In the face of external international blockades, the older generation of scientists, represented by Peng Huanwu, braved hardships and dangers, gritted their teeth and overcome difficulties. In every brightly lit night, in every debate at every academic conference, and under every overthrow calculation, they bravely climbed one scientific peak after another. In 1964, China's first atomic bomb exploded in Lop Nur. At the banquet in Lop Nur, Peng Huanwu wrote an impromptu poem: "The pavilion, the iron tower, the autumn sky, the 0.6 billion people's wishes are the same. How can we succeed in mathematics, physics and chemistry without the cooperation of workers, peasants and soldiers." He never takes credit and gives credit to the collective. Qian Sanqiang lamented many times: Peng Huanwu has done a lot of important work silently, but few people know it.
In the early years, Academician Chen Nengkuan and Peng Huanwu exchanged poems and texts. Chen Nengkuan's first couplet was: "Looking back on the past 30 years, with a flick of his finger: 30 fame and dust, 8,000 miles of clouds and months." Peng Huanwu's next couplet is: "Overlooking the inside and outside Dongting Lake, the universe floats day and night: Dongting waves and snow, and Changdao people sing poems." From the time he stepped into Tsinghua Park at the age of 16 to the successful explosion of China's first atomic bomb in 1964, there was an interval of more than 30 years. From his hometown Changchun, to Beijing, to Kunming, to Britain, to Ireland, and then to Qinghai, he traveled more than 8000 miles. Time and road are witnesses, witnessing Peng Huanwu's struggle from an unknown young man to a pillar of the country, and also witnessing the difficult years of the Chinese nation from being bullied to standing up. Time and road are also measures. Thirty achievements and 8,000 miles cannot measure Peng Huanwu's patriotism and ambition to become a powerful country.
Collective Collective Collective Collective, New Day, New Day, New Day
In 1984, 10 scientists won the first prize of "Mathematical Physics Problems in Atomic Bomb and Hydrogen Bomb Research" in Natural Science. Among this important award, Peng Huanwu ranked first. According to the relevant rules, the medal should have been kept by him, but he said that the honor should belong to everyone. He said: "I have accepted the medal. Now this medal belongs to me. I have the right to deal with it. Please take it back and put it in the research institute to all those who have contributed to our cause." And he also wrote the words "collective, collective, collective, new, new, new.
In his later years, Peng Huanwu resigned from various positions and lived a simple life. He did not have a special car to pick up and drop off, nor did he have the style of an expert. In 1995, Peng Huanwu won the "He Liang He Li Foundation Science and Technology Achievement Award". In his thank-you speech, he stated that he was "not hard enough". Subsequently, he set up the "Peng Huanwu Memorial Grant" and donated all the 1 million Hong Kong dollars in prize money to help those comrades whose health was damaged in the early research of the nuclear industry. From 1996 to 2004, a total of 35 people were benefited.
All his life, he was indifferent to fame and gain, and he was modest and self-grazing. As his father wrote in his poem on snow, "Originally, the bright moon was the predecessor, but the jade bone and ice muscle are different." Peng Huanwu pursued the truth with a pure heart and served the motherland. He does not care about fame and gain, regardless of gain and loss, selfless dedication, such as a bright moon reflecting the world, like a wisp of breeze to wash away the hearts of the people.
On February 28, 2007, Peng Huanwu finished his brilliant and dusty life. Some are dead, he is still alive. The planet named "Peng Huanwu" in space will always remember him. He is more dazzling and twinkling than the stars. The "two bombs and one star" spirit of "loving the motherland, selfless dedication, self-reliance, hard work, vigorous coordination, and the courage to climb" embodied in him will always illuminate our way forward.

Source: Learning Times