Qian Father of China's Rocket Development
Qian Xuesen, father of China's rocket and satellite development, was declared "State Scientist of Outstanding Contributions" by the State Council this month.
Qian was born on December 11, 1911 in Shanghai. He graduated from the Shanghai Communications University in 1934 and a year later went to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was awarded a Master's degree.
Then he shifted to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)，where he studied under the Hungarian-born Theodore von Kármán, one of the founders of the aerospace industry in the US.
Standing before Kármán when they met was a short and serious Chinese with an impressively sharp mind. Teacher and student later became close friends and colleagues.
When talking about Qian, Kármán once said that his Chinese assistant had a rich imagination and a gift for mathematics.
After his graduation in 1938, Qian, now with a Doctorate, was employed as an assistant researcher at Caltech, where he was an important member of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory headed by Kármán. His theories helped the development of surface-to-surface missiles and space rockets in the US, and he made outstanding contributions in aerodynamics and guidance-systems for missiles and spacecraft.
He and Kármán established a theory to help overcome the heat problem associated with breaking the sound barrier in airplanes. The Kármán-Tsien (Qian) Formula published in 1941, has been widely applied in aero-science.
Between 1947 and 1955, Qian was appointed professor both at MIT and Caltech. And it was also in 1947 that 36-year-old Qian married Jiang Ying, a soprano.
Soon after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Qian made up his mind to return to his motherland, but it wasn't until 1955, and with the help of late Premier Zhou Enlai, that he finally set foot again on Chinese soil.
Soon after his return, Qian presented a report to the government urging the establishment of a national defence industry. He also outlined a programme to develop rockets and missiles.
Adopting his proposal，the government assigned him to the task. On May 10, 1956, the Fifth Institute under the National Defence Ministry, which was China's first missile research centre, was established. On that day, Qian gave his first missiles lecture to 156 college graduates of the New China, most of whom were later to become the backbone of China's missile and satellite industry.
Qian was appointed chairman of the institute in 1957，after which he stayed on to be the country's top missile and space leader.
In 1960, China successfully launched its first home-made short range missile, and in 1964, it fired its first medium-range missile.
Two years later, a nuclear-war-headed missile was successfully launched at Jiuquan, in Gansu Province, taking China into the ranks of nations with their own nuclear missiles.
As early as 1953, Qian started studying the possibility of space flight. In 1965, he suggested to the government that China should start building satellites as early as possible, which until then was still the monopoly of the Soviet Union and the United States.
This was on the eve of the chaotic "cultural revolution" (1966?1976), during which almost all research was disturbed by the radical leftists. However, as a leader, Qian, backed by late Premier Zhou, tried his best to keep the cause going. At the same time, he personally settled several key technical problems in the course of research and experiment.
He set up China's Academy of Space Technology (CAST) in 1986，and was the first president. The academy is in charge of developing satellite technology and space research.
China's first satellite "Dongfanghong" weighing 173 kilograms，was blasted into space on April 24, 1970, on board a Chinese-made rocket in which Qian's technical talent had played a prominent role.
Since then, China has made significant advances in both space science and missile development. To date, it has launched more than 30 satellites.
Qian has written seven academic books and more than 300 scientific papers, which have been published at home and abroad. Among them, the most renowned is Engineering Cybernetics which, first published in the US in 1954 and followed by Russian, German and Chinese versions, greatly promoted the development of computert space and nuclear sciences.
His greatest academic contribution, according to this week's People's Daily, is his theory on space systems engineering which guided China's development of rocket and satellite. He also applied this theory to the overall design for national economic construction in the early 1980s.
Although he was invited several times to accept awards, Qian hasn't been back to America since his return to China in 1955---and he says he never will.
"The highest reward for me is the satisfaction of the people in my work," said the scientist after he was granted the title of "State Scientist of Outstanding Contributions" this month, adding that the honour belonged to all who support his cause.
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