CCTV News Client published an article to mourn Zhou Guangzhao: A great man of his time, a man of integrity
2024-08-20
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A reporter from The Paper learned from relevant departments that Academician Zhou Guangzhao, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, former president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and winner of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal of Merit", died in Beijing on August 17, 2024 at the age of 95 due to illness.
On the afternoon of the 18th, CCTV News Client published an article to mourn: "Two bombs and one satellite" has become a monument on the road of the construction of the Republic. On this monument, Zhou Guangzhao's name shines brightly. For decades, he has expressed his silent love for the motherland with his actual actions. Together with tens of thousands of outstanding Chinese sons and daughters, he has built a solid foundation for the national defense cause of New China. In the magnificent historical process of the Republic, he has left a strong and colorful mark. A generation of patriots, pure love, the best commemoration is inheritance, the best consolation is to forge ahead, farewell to Mr. Zhou!
The article focused on Zhou Guangzhao's contributions before the atomic bomb test.
The article introduces that in early 1961, Zhou Guangzhao boarded a train heading south and returned to China to work in the Theoretical Department of the Nuclear Weapons Research Institute. Zhou Guangzhao's arrival quickly cleared the obstacles on the road to atomic bomb development, and the research work began to accelerate. In just over a year, by September 1962, the theoretical design of the atomic bomb was successfully completed. Zhou Guangzhao assisted Deng Jiaxian in handing over the theoretical design plan for China's first atomic bomb.
Manufacturing work was immediately launched, and after two years of hard work, China's first atomic bomb arrived at the Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Site. On the night of October 14, 1964, with only one day left before the test date, a top-secret telegram from the Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Site was delivered to Premier Zhou Enlai's desk. The telegram mentioned a problem called "premature ignition", which made Premier Zhou Enlai, who was always calm and composed, worried. This would affect the normal detonation of the atomic bomb and even lead to the failure of the entire test.
To ensure that everything went smoothly, Zhou Guangzhao enlisted the help of physicist Huang Zuqia and mathematician Qin Yuanxun, and immediately began calculations and checks. In this race against time, Zhou Guangzhao unravelled the massive amount of data and accurately selected useful parameters for the problem of premature ignition. After a whole day of non-stop calculations, he finally handed over the conclusion that the failure rate was less than one thousandth to Premier Zhou Enlai.
After hearing the final result given by Zhou Guangzhao, Premier Zhou finally put his mind at ease. At 3 pm on October 16, 1964, as a blazing mushroom cloud rose in the depths of the desert, a huge roar quickly came from the sky above Lop Nur, shocking the world.
At this historic moment, people may not know that in the journey of theoretical research on China's first atomic bomb, at the critical moment before the test explosion, Zhou Guangzhao, who was only in his 30s, and many scientists made immortal contributions to the successful development of China's nuclear weapons.
On September 18, 1999, Zhou Guangzhao, then 70 years old, was awarded the "Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal" by the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission for his outstanding contributions to nuclear weapons research.
The Paper reporter Yue Huairang
(This article is from The Paper. For more original information, please download the "The Paper" APP)
