59 Facts About Qian Xuesen

Qian Xuesen was a Chinese aerospace engineer and cyberneticist who made significant contributions to the field of aerodynamics and established engineering cybernetics.

Qian Xuesen achieved recognition as one of America's leading experts in rockets and high-speed flight theory prior to his returning to China in 1955.

Qian Xuesen traveled to the United States in 1935 and attained a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936.

Qian Xuesen was recruited by the United States Department of Defense and the Department of War to serve in various positions, including as an expert consultant with a rank of colonel in 1945.

Qian Xuesen was given a deferred deportation order by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and for the following five years, he and his family were subjected to partial house arrest and government surveillance in an effort to gradually make his technical knowledge obsolete.

Qian Xuesen left the United States in September 1955 on the American President Lines passenger liner SS President Cleveland, arriving in mainland China via Hong Kong.

Qian Xuesen played a significant part in the construction and development of China's defense industry, higher education and research system, rocket force, and a key technology university.

Qian Xuesen is recognized as one of the founding fathers of Two Bombs, One Satellite.

In 1957, Qian Xuesen was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Qian Xuesen served as a Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1987 to 1998.

Qian Xuesen was the cousin of engineer Hsue-Chu Tsien, who was involved in the aerospace industries of both China and the United States.

Qian Xuesen was born in the Shanghai International Settlement, with ancestral roots in Lin'an, Hangzhou, in 1911.

Qian Xuesen graduated from the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, and attended Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Qian Xuesen left China in August 1935, and went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a master's program in mechanical engineering.

Qian Xuesen received a Master of Science in aeronautical engineering from MIT on December 18,1936.

Qian Xuesen's experiments included plotting of pitot pressures using mercury-filled manometers.

Shortly after arriving at the California Institute of Technology in 1936, Qian Xuesen became fascinated with the rocketry ideas of Frank Malina, other students of von Karman, and their associates, including Jack Parsons.

Qian Xuesen received a Doctor of Philosophy in aeronautics and mathematics from Caltech on June 9,1939.

In 1945, as an Army colonel with a security clearance, Qian Xuesen was sent to Germany to investigate laboratories and question German scientists, including Wernher von Braun, and "to recruit German scientists for the American missile program".

Qian Xuesen married Jiang Ying, a famed opera singer and the daughter of Jiang Baili and his wife, Japanese nurse Sato Yato.

Shortly after his wedding, Qian Xuesen returned to America to take up a teaching position at MIT.

In 1949, with the recommendation of von Karman, Qian became a Robert H Goddard Professor of Jet Propulsion at Caltech.

Qian Xuesen was appointed the first director of the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Center at Caltech.

In 1947, Qian Xuesen was granted a permanent resident permit, and in 1949, he applied for naturalization, although he could not obtain citizenship.

Years later, his wife Jiang Ying said in an interview with Phoenix Television that Qian Xuesen did not apply for naturalization at all.

Two weeks later, Qian Xuesen announced that he would resign from Caltech.

Qian Xuesen was taken into custody on September 6,1950, for questioning and for two weeks was detained at Terminal Island, a low-security United States federal prison near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Qian Xuesen intended to return to China to resolve family issues and later come back to the United States, but Kimball preferred that Qian Xuesen remain in the USA.

Qian Xuesen stated that all classified documents were locked in a cabinet in his office, and he gave the keys to a colleague, Clark Blanchard Millikan.

Various agencies, such as The United States Atomic Energy Commission, noted that the information held by Qian Xuesen was unclassified information and did not pose a threat to national security.

Qian Xuesen became the subject of five years of secret diplomacy and negotiation between the US and China.

Qian Xuesen received support from his colleagues at Caltech during his incarceration, including president Lee DuBridge, who flew to Washington to argue Qian Xuesen's case.

The travel ban on Qian Xuesen was lifted on August 4,1955, and he resigned from Caltech shortly thereafter.

Qian Xuesen was no more a communist than I was, and we forced him to go.

In October 1956, Qian Xuesen became the director of the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defense, tasked with ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development.

Qian Xuesen eventually rose through Party ranks to become a Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party member.

In 1955, Qian Xuesen returned to China as part of an agreement for the release of American prisoners in China, and he was welcomed as a hero.

Qian Xuesen soon took charge of the country's missile and satellite programs.

Qian Xuesen survived both the Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957 and the Cultural Revolution by adapting to the shifting political climate in China.

For example, in 1958, Qian Xuesen wrote an article with "scientific" support of the Great Leap Forward.

Qian Xuesen was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1957, a lifelong honor granted to Chinese scientists who have made significant advancements in their field.

Qian Xuesen organized scientific seminars and dedicated some of his time to training successors for his positions.

Qian Xuesen was heavily involved in the establishment of the University of Science and Technology of China in 1958 and served as the Chairman of the Department of Modern Mechanics of the university for a number of years.

In 1969, Qian Xuesen was one of a group of scientists who spoke with Australian journalist Francis James, describing China's first seven nuclear tests and details of a gaseous diffusion plant near Lanzhou.

Outside of rocketry, Qian Xuesen had a presence in numerous areas of study.

Qian Xuesen was among the creators of systematics, and made contributions to science and technology systems, somatic science, engineering science, military science, social science, the natural sciences, geography, philosophy, literature and art, and education.

Qian Xuesen particularly encouraged scientists to accumulate observational data on qigong so that "future scientific theories could be established".

Qian Xuesen retired in 1991 and lived quietly in Beijing, refusing to speak to Westerners.

In 1979, Qian Xuesen was awarded Caltech's Distinguished Alumni Award for his achievements.

Qian Xuesen eventually received his award from Caltech, and with the help of his friend Frank Marble, brought it to his home in a widely covered ceremony.

Qian Xuesen was invited to visit the US by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics after the normalization of relations between the two countries, but he refused the invitation, having wanted a formal apology for his detention.

Qian Xuesen's research was used as the basis for the Long March rocket, which successfully launched the Shenzhou 5 mission in October 2003.

The elderly Qian Xuesen was able to watch China's first manned space mission on television from his hospital bed.

On October 31,2009, Qian Xuesen died at the age of 97 in Beijing from lung illness.

In 1989, public movement "learn from Qian Xuesen" was officially launched by the Commission of Science for National Defence, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Association of Science and Technology.

Qian Xuesen himself tried to avoid publicity, and did not allow writing his biography until he got the title of "State Scientist".

In MIT and Caltech, Qian Xuesen was brighter than his classmates and surprised professors with the intelligence of Chinese youth.

Qian Xuesen was particularly good at playing darts in childhood, which presaged his talent in rocketry.

Biopic Qian Xuesen, directed by Zhang Jianya with Chen Kun, Zhang Yuqi and Zhang Tielin in the main roles, was released in 2021.