Qian Xuesen's nephew Qian Yongjian
Edited by Wu Tong
Photo and text l Wutong History Museum
As a benchmark patriotic scientist, Qian Xuesen has made many achievements for us. But his younger brother Qian Yongjian was the opposite of him.
Qian Yongjian is the only descendant of qian in the family to win the Nobel Prize, but he once said in an interview: "I was born and raised in the United States, I don't know how to say Chinese, I am an American scientist, this is very certain, I am not a Chinese scientist." ”
As two brothers, why is the difference between them so great?
Qian Yongjian won the award
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Qian Yongjian
As early as 1997, Qian Yongyou was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
A year later, his younger brother Qian Yongjian was elected not only a member of the National Academy of Sciences, but also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 2004, Qian Yongjian won the Wolf Prize for his research on green fluorescent protein, which was also awarded by Yuan Longping, the father of our Chinese hybrid rice.
Qian Yongjian
Remember that the prize is awarded annually to outstanding scientists and artists from all over the world who contribute to the interests of mankind and the friendly relations between peoples.
Do you think this is the end? Not really. In 2008, Qian Yongjian was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Japanese scholar Osamu Shimomura and American scientist Martin Charfi for his outstanding achievements in the study of green fluorescent protein.
The news is heartening! This is the only descendant of the Qian Xuesen family to win the Nobel Prize, and for this family, this is the highest honor.
Qian Yongjian won the award
Not only that, but he is also the pride of the entire Chinese. It has been a full eight years since the last time the Chinese won the Nobel Prize. A year later, he was invited to the University of Chinese in Hong Kong to award him an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Qian Yongjian.
At the scene, some media interviewed Qian Yongjian and asked him: "As a Chinese Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, everyone has expectations for your Chinese identity, what do you think?" ”
But his answer shocked everyone present. What did he say?
He said: "I was born and raised in the United States, I don't know how to say Chinese, I am an American scientist, that's for sure, I'm not a Chinese scientist."
Pedigree does not determine a person's identity, a successful scientist must come from an open society, and a free environment is the key to cultivating scientists. ”
From his words, we can feel that he is not willing to have anything to do with China, and as Qian Xuesen's nephew, it is really an uproar to say so.
So why would he say such a thing?
Qian Yongjian's life experience
Qian Yongjian's father, Qian Xueyu
We first need to get to know him as a person! To understand him as a person, let's first understand his father, Qian Xueyu.
As Qian Xuesen's cousin, Qian Xueyu is also very good, he is an excellent aerodynamic expert and holds many aviation technology patents.
At that time, Qian Xueyu's family fell in the middle of the road, Qian Xuesen's father Qian Junfu single-handedly covered the tuition fees of Qian Xueyu's sisters and brothers, and Qian Junfu was also very concerned about Qian Xueyu in his daily life, and he would encourage him at a critical moment.
Qian Xuesen's father, Qian Junfu
In 1934, Qian Xueyu graduated from Jiaotong University with the first place in the average score of the whole university, and then worked as a teaching assistant at Tsinghua University.
Previously, Qian Xuesen was admitted to Jiaotong University 2 years earlier than Qian Xueyu. But then Qian Xuesen took a year off due to illness, so the graduation year of the two was also separated by one year.
After graduation, Qian Xuesen was admitted to Tsinghua University to study in the United States, and in 1935, he went to the United States to enroll in the Aeronautical Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Family photo
At this time, Qian Junfu encouraged him: "Of course, it is good that you are teaching at Tsinghua, but if you study in the United States after your brother has studied in the United States, you should also study abroad if you want to make great contributions to the country."
After listening to these words, he was deeply encouraged, and finally successfully admitted to tsinghua university aviation major in the United States, and successfully entered the department of aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The two brothers were from the same school, which was a beautiful conversation at the time. When Qian Junfu learned of this news, he felt very relieved.
Qian Xueyu
Later, in 1939, after Qian Xueyu received a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he did not hesitate to choose to return to China to develop.
At that time, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he took up the position of chief engineer in the aircraft engine factory run by the Aviation Committee of the Mainland Government, specializing in the manufacture of aircraft for China.
At that time, the aircraft engine factory belonged to the Kuomintang army, and he was awarded the rank of colonel.
Qian Xueyu
But unfortunately, he was born in a chaotic world, and he had a heart that wanted to repay the country, but he could not withstand the cruelty of reality, and at that time, the money for building airplanes was actually embezzled by officials, so he returned to China discouraged.
In fact, in 1949, Qian Xuesen had also advised him to return to China, but because he was worried that he had served in the Kuomintang army, he gave up because he was worried that he would encounter some unfair treatment.
After Qian Xuesen returned to China, the brothers gradually stopped contacting each other, and in the words of Qian Yonggang, the son of Qian Xuesen, that is, "from now on, the two will be separated from each other and each of them will be their masters."
Qian Xueyu research
As early as 1939, when Qian Xueyu was the chief engineer of the aircraft engine factory in Guizhou, their eldest son Qian Yongyou was born there. Later, in 1944, he returned to New York with his father and eventually became a famous neurobiologist.
In the 8th year of Qian Xueyu's return to the United States, Qian Yongjian was born in New York, but his ancestral home is still Zhejiang, China. He grew up with an astonishing talent for science, perhaps influenced by his father and uncle, who were professors at MIT.
When he was a child, Qian Yongjian was very curious, but because he had asthma, he needed to avoid some strenuous outdoor exercise as much as possible.
Qian Yongjian was a child
So he often spends a lot of time in the underground laboratory doing chemical experiments, and he is very interested in all kinds of bright colors after the experiments have been reacted.
He also did something that forced his lab to move. What did he do?
He and his eldest brother did some research on their own because they were curious about how gunpowder was produced, but in the end they failed, and they even started a fire.
Qian Yongjian with his mother
After disposing of the fire scene, his family immediately moved his laboratory outside. By the time he was 16 years old, he won the first prize in the Westinghouse Science Talent Selection Competition, which became known as the Junior Nobel Prize.
In the same year, he received the American Merit Student Scholarship and entered Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard at the age of 20 with a double bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics.
He then went on to study for a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and their supervisor was Richard Adrian. During this time, he became interested in the brain's neural signal network and began to observe.
Qian Yongjian
Later, after some time, he invented an organic dye that tracks intracellular calcium levels, which changes fluorescence when combined with calcium.
For a long time, biologists ignored the chemical problems of calcium ions, they did not understand the biological significance of calcium ion signals, and Qian Yongjian, who had a chemical and biological background, gained something after many failures.
So this just shows the importance of Qian Yongjian's invention. After graduating from Cambridge in the United Kingdom five years later, he began to engage in postdoctoral research in physiology.
Qian Yongjian
In 1981, Qian Yongjian joined the University of California, Berkeley for eight years, where he held positions as professor of pharmacology and professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
There he also harvested his lover, The American girl Wendy Glauber, and the two had known each other for only 1 year before marrying.
Later, in 1989, he moved his lab to the University of California, San Diego, where he remained in the same positions as before him—professor of pharmacology and professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
Qian Yongjian and his wife
In 1998, Qian Yongjian was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and in the same year he was re-elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Then in 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Martin Sharfi and Osamu Shimomura for his successful research and modification of green fluorescent protein.
So what exactly is green fluorescent protein? Green fluorescent protein is referred to as GFP.
Green fluorescent protein
He first studied green fluorescent protein in 1994, which is essentially a protein of about 238 amino acids, from blue light to ultraviolet light, which can excite green fluorescence.
This protein was first discovered in 1962 by Osamu Shimomura et al. in a Victoria multitubulescent luminescent jellyfish. In the traditional sense, it is first and foremost a protein isolated from a Victorian multi-tube luminescent jellyfish,
But its luminescence process also requires the help of the cold light protein jellyfish, and this cold light protein interacts with calcium ions.
At that time, there were many FPs in the world that were mostly variants of his inventions, and its patents were used by many people and sold by companies.
Qian Yongjian
His work has been remarkable since its debut in the 1980s, and Qian Yongjian is perhaps the scientist in the world who has been invited to give academic reports.
Because chemistry and biology have to listen to his reports, there are both technical applications and some interesting phenomena.
At that time, many people thought that he would definitely win the Nobel Prize, whether it was biological or chemical, it was a great possibility, and he did.
Qian Yongjian
Later, Qian Yongjian became the pride of the family with this research, so Qian Xuesen's son Qian Yonggang would be pulled out to compare with him.
Qian Yonggang, who is now the director of the Qian Xuesen Library at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, once missed the opportunity to go to college at the right age for some reasons when he was in school, and later when he was able to go to school again, he was already in his 30s.
A reporter once asked him:
"If your father Qian Xuesen didn't return to China that year, you and your sister Qian Yongzhen could grow up smoothly." Maybe they can be as accomplished as they are? ”
In response to a reporter's question, he replied:
Indeed, if I could, my life might have gone much better, at least I could have gone to school, and I wouldn't have graduated from college until I was 34 and got my master's degree at 40.
But there is no if in life, these feelings and complaints can only be verbal, or to see the current life, I am now living very well.
In 2009, Qian yongjian was awarded an honorary doctorate of science and an honorary doctor of science from the University of Chinese in Hong Kong.
Later, at the awards ceremony, his remarks made people feel helpless, but we can't evaluate his words because we haven't experienced what they have experienced.
But our current technology has been improving, and I believe it must be better and better than before, but no matter what, we must have a patriotic heart, which is the most important thing.
The reason for his death is lamentable
Qian Yongjian
In April 2013, Qian Yongjian suffered a sudden stroke in the laboratory, and the student saw the situation and rushed him to the hospital, and he survived.
Later, he realized that his body was no longer good and needed to go home to recuperate, so he and his wife Wendy moved to the stepson's house in Eugene, Oregon.
Since then, Qian Yongjian has lived a leisurely and comfortable retirement life, and he does not need to pay attention to academic affairs now, he only needs to look at today's news early every day, whether there are any interesting things happening, or go out for a walk.
But his body is not very healthy, and there will always be some small problems, which makes him very uncomfortable. On the morning of August 24, 2016, Qian Yongjian went out to exercise for a long time and did not return, until noon, but still disappeared, his wife realized that something was not right, so she quickly called the police.
Later, police found his body on a bike lane in Oregon, the specific cause of death is unknown, and some people speculate that it may be caused by a sudden brain hemorrhage.
In this way, a generation of scientific superstars fell, when he was only 46 years old.
Looking back on what was once beautiful
The president of the University of California, San Diego, once said of him:
Qian Yongjian is an extraordinary person: kind, generous, kind, he is a highly skilled scientist, constantly pushing the limits of his work and expanding the possibilities of science. He was a rare genius we could not replace.
Mark Allismen, who has been with him for a long time, has also said:
Qian Yongjian has the most beautiful brain in the world, not only because he can think deeply about how to fill the gaps in the known science field, but also because he knows how to discover new problems.
The achievements he has created are something that none of us can ignore, but if you think back to what he once said, you may feel that it is a pity that such a talent cannot be used by the motherland.
His denial of Chinese identity is indeed disappointing. But objectively speaking, he has lived abroad since he was a child and received a Western education, so he feels that he is an American from the bone. Many people may think that he should be as patriotic as Uncle Qian Xuesen, but everyone has their own aspirations, and we can't force a person to do something that he doesn't want to do.
No matter which country he is in, it has not had any impact on the other country, and since the deceased is dead, we do not have to be too demanding, Qian Yongjian is just a scientist doing academic research.