He Zehui － China’s Marie Curie 何澤慧－“中國的居里夫人”

朱廣春

她，是中國第一位物理學女博士，是中國科學院第一位女院士，是中國原子能科學的創(chuàng)始人。她被國際科學界譽為“中國的居里夫人”，但她卻低調了一生。她，就是何澤慧。

In March 1914，He Zehui was borni n a 1 ）prominentfamily in Suzhou， Jiangsu. In 1932， she became the student tobe admitted to the Department of Physics at Tsinghua Universitywith the highest score.

In 1936， He Zehui went to Germany to study experimentalballistics for a doctorate at Technical University of Berlin. At thattime， the subject did not admit female students， so He Zehuiwrote a 2）sincere letter to the school， “My country is sufferingfrom Japanese aggression， and I am studying this specialty tofight against the Japanese aggressors.” Her sincerity moved theschool， and she became the first foreign female student to studyballistics there.

In 1940， He Zehui received her doctorate in engineering. InApril 1946， she married QianSanqiang， who was studyingat the Curies 3）laboratoryof University of Paris inFrance. Qian Sanqiang was?her classmate atTsinghua Universityand later becameknown as “father ofChinas atomic bomb”.

At the Curies laboratory， on December 20， 1946， HeZehui discovered a new way of uranium fission， which causeda sensation in the scientific community and was regarded asthe most significant discovery in physics after World War II. Asa result， she became the object of competition among variouscountries. Despite that， she said， “Science has no borders， butscientists have their own country.” In the summer of 1948， sheresolutely chose to return to her homeland with her husband.

After returning to China， going through 3 years and morethan 420 failed attempts， she led and successfully developedChinas own nuclear emulsion.

In the 1950s， He Zehui also presided over the constructionof Chinas first nuclear reactor and cyclotron， and served asthe director of the Neutron Physics Research Laboratory.

In the 1970s， He Zehui worked as the vice director of?Institute of High EnergyPhysics， Chinese AcademySciences. She advocatedfor interdisciplinary research and actively promoted researchin 4）cosmic ray ultra-high-energy physics and high-energyastrophysics. Under her leadership， Institute of High EnergyPhysics built the worlds highest alpine nuclear emulsion roomin Tibet， making China one of the few countries that couldproduce nuclear emulsion during those years.

In her later years， she continued to work tirelessly forChinas scientific cause. At the age of 90， she insisted ongoing to work and taking long-distance sleeper trains to attendacademic conferences.

On June 20， 2011， He Zehui， who had dedicated halfa century to Chinas nuclear industry and made greatcontributions to the development of the countrys atomic andhydrogen bombs， passed away at the age of 97.

In 2017， to commemorate this high-energy astrophysicist，China named its first space X-ray astronomical satellite — HardX-ray Modulation Telescope “Insight” （Huiyan in Chinese）.

1） prominent adj. 重要的；著名的

2） sincere adj. 衷心的；誠摯的

3） laboratory n. 實驗室；實驗大樓

4） cosmic adj. 宇宙的

1914 年3 月，何澤慧出生于江蘇蘇州的一個名門望族。

1932 年，她以最高分考入清華大學物理系。

1936 年，何澤慧前往德國柏林工業(yè)大學攻讀實驗彈道學專業(yè)。由于當時這個學科不招收女學生，何澤慧就特別誠懇地向學校寫了一封信：“我的祖國正在遭受日本侵略，我學習這個專業(yè)是為了抗擊日本侵略者?！彼恼嬲\打動了學校，她也成為該校第一位學習彈道學的外國女學生。

1940 年，何澤慧獲得工程博士學位。1946 年4 月，她與在法國巴黎大學居里實驗室學習的錢三強結婚。錢三強曾是她在清華大學的同班同學，后來成為“中國原子彈之父”。

1946 年12 月20 日，在居里實驗室里，何澤慧發(fā)現鈾核裂變的新方式，轟動了科學界，被稱為二戰(zhàn)之后物理學上最有意義的一次發(fā)現。于是，她成為各國爭搶的對象。但她說：“科學沒有國界，科學家卻有祖國?！?948 年夏，她毅然選擇與丈夫一起回到了祖國。

回國后，三年時間里經歷420 多次試驗的失敗后，她領導并成功研制出中國自己的原子核乳膠。

20 世紀50 年代，何澤慧還主持建成了我國第一臺核反應堆與回旋加速器，并擔任中子物理研究室主任。

20 世紀70 年代，何澤慧擔任中國科學院高能物理研究所副所長，她主張開展交叉學科的研究，積極推動宇宙線超高能物理及高能天體物理研究。在她的主持下，高能物理研究所在西藏建成世界上最高的高山乳膠室，使中國成為當時少數幾個能生產核乳膠的國家之一。

晚年時期，她還在為我國科學事業(yè)奔走。90 歲高齡的她堅持去上班，坐長途臥鋪參加學術會議。

2011 年6 月20 日，為中國核事業(yè)奮斗半個世紀、為“兩彈”立下汗馬功勞的何澤慧逝世，享年97 歲。

2017 年，為了紀念這位高能天體物理學家，中國發(fā)射的首顆空間X 射線天文衛(wèi)星——硬X 射線調制望遠鏡被命名為“慧眼”。