Chapter 24 23. Deng Jiaxian——The hero of the two bombs, serve the country with knowledge

Deng Jiaxian (1924-1986), male, Han nationality, was born in Huaining County, Anhui Province, a member of the Communist Party of China and a member of Jiusan Society.During his lifetime, he was the deputy director of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.Famous nuclear physicist. Deng Jiaxian was born on June 25, 1924 in a scholarly family in Huaining County, Anhui Province. He entered elementary school at the age of 5 and laid a good foundation of Chinese and Western culture under the guidance of his father. In 1935, he was admitted to Chongde Middle School and became best friends with Yang Zhenning, who was two classes higher than him.He graduated from Southwest Associated University in Kunming in 1945, and went to Purdue University to study theoretical physics from 1948 to 1950.

Since he was a teenager, he has had the long-cherished wish to strengthen the country through science and technology, closely linking his personal career with the rise and fall of the nation. Deng Jiaxian was deeply influenced by the patriotic national salvation movement on campus. After the July 7th Incident, his family was stranded in Beijing, and he secretly participated in the anti-Japanese gathering.Under the arrangement of his father, 16-year-old Deng Jiaxian went to the rear with his elder sister, finished high school in Jiangjin, Sichuan, and was admitted to the Physics Department of Southwest Associated University in 1941, where he studied under famous professors such as Wang Zhuxi and Zheng Huachi.

With the ambition of learning more skills to build a new China, he passed the postgraduate examination in the United States in 1947 and entered the graduate school of Purdue University in Indiana, USA in the autumn of the following year.Due to his outstanding academic performance, he took full credits in less than two years and passed the defense of his doctoral thesis.He was only 26 years old at this time, known as "Dr. Doll".This "doll doctor" who had just obtained his degree for just 9 days resolutely gave up the superior living and working conditions in the United States, and returned to his impoverished motherland in August 1950.

In the autumn of 1958, Qian Sanqiang, vice minister of the Second Ministry of Machinery, approached Deng Jiaxian and said, "The country is going to launch a 'big gun battle'" and asked whether he would like to participate in this work that must be kept strictly confidential.Deng Jiaxian agreed without hesitation, and when he returned home, he only told his wife that he "wanted to transfer work", that he could no longer take care of the family and children, and communication was difficult.The wife, who has been influenced by patriotism since childhood, understands that her husband must be engaged in work that is of great significance to the country, and expresses her firm support.Since then, Deng Jiaxian's name has disappeared from publications and external communications, and he only appears in the strictly guarded deep courtyard and the Gobi desert.

After Deng Jiaxian took office as the director of the Theory Department of the Ninth Research Institute of the Second Ministry of Machinery, he not only worked hard in the secret research institute, but also often went to the Gobi test site where the sand and rocks were flying.He braved the severe heat and cold, spent a full 8 years of bachelor life at the test site, and led nuclear tests at the site 15 times, thus mastering a lot of first-hand materials. In October 1964, China successfully exploded the first atomic bomb, and it was he who finally signed and confirmed the design plan.He also led the researchers to quickly enter the explosion site to take samples after the test to confirm the effect.Together with Yu Min and others, he devoted himself to the research of hydrogen bombs.According to the "Deng-Yu Plan", a hydrogen bomb was finally produced, and it was successfully tested two years and eight months after the atomic bomb exploded.Compared with France's 8 years, the United States' 7 years, and the Soviet Union's 10 years, it has created the fastest speed in the world.

In 1972, Deng Jiaxian served as the vice president of the Institute of Nuclear Weapons, and in 1979 he became the president. In 1984, he directed the successful test of China's second-generation new nuclear weapon in the depths of the desert.In the following year, his cancer cells spread beyond cure, and his request on National Day was to visit Tiananmen Square. On July 16, 1986, the State Council awarded him the National "May 1st" Labor Medal.On July 29 of the same year, Deng Jiaxian passed away.The words left by him before his death are still how to work hard on cutting-edge weapons, and he exhorted: "Don't let others leave us too far..."

Deng Jiaxian is the main organizer and leader of China's nuclear weapon research and development, and is known as the "father of the two bombs".In the research of atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb, Deng Jiaxian led the basic theoretical research of detonation physics, fluid mechanics, state equation, neutron transport, etc., completed the theoretical scheme of atomic bomb, and participated in guiding the detonation simulation test of nuclear test.After the successful atomic bomb test, Deng Jiaxian organized forces to explore the design principles of hydrogen bombs and selected technical approaches.He led and personally participated in the development and experimentation of China's first hydrogen bomb in 1967.

"Summary of Theoretical Research on my country's First Atomic Bomb" co-written by Deng Jiaxian and Zhou Guangzhao is a groundbreaking and fundamental masterpiece of theoretical design of nuclear weapons. It summarizes the research results of hundreds of scientists. It serves as a guide, and it is also a textbook for training scientific researchers to get started.Deng Jiaxian also made important contributions to the study of the high temperature and high pressure equation of state.In order to train young scientific researchers, he also wrote many lectures on electrodynamics, plasma physics, and spherical detonation wave theory. and "group theory".

Deng Jiaxian is an outstanding representative of Chinese intellectuals. For the prosperity of the motherland and the development of national defense scientific research, he was willing to be an unsung hero and fought in obscurity for decades.He often appears in the most dangerous positions at critical moments, regardless of personal safety, which fully embodies his lofty and selfless dedication.He made outstanding contributions to the development of China's nuclear weapons, but little is known about him. People did not know his great deeds until after his death.