Zhu Xingbei Archive: The Fate of a Genius Physicist

Author: Liu Haijun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: "The Bao Xingbei Archive" gives us reason to believe that what we hastily stepped past may be just the tip of the iceberg. A "great book of history" that we thought we had turned over countless times has yet to truly open up Bao Xingbei—an internationally renowned scientific master known as "China's Einstein" by industry insiders; a brilliant physicist who once nurtured and inspired famous scientists like Li Zhengdao and Wu Jianxiong, yet has never been mentioned for years. In 1972, Nobel Prize winner Li Zhengdao returned to China, and leaders of the Communist Party and the state met him at the Great Hall of the People. When Premier Zhou Enlai expressed hope that Li Zhengdao could do some work to address China's "brain drain" issue and introduce talented overseas scholars to China for lectures, Li Zhengdao said: "China is not short of talent and teachers to solve the 'brain drain' problem; it's just that they haven't been utilized. Take my teacher, Bao Xingbei, for example." This is a piece of buried history, a tragic elegy, a record of the fate of a brilliant physicist, and a of the hardships and trials experienced by a generation of intellectuals in our country. Bao Xingbei, known as "China's Einstein," was not only Li Zhengdao's mentor but also a world-class scientific master. However, due to historical reasons, this scientific master remains largely unknown to most Chinese people. Guided by the author's stern, objective, and nearly judgment-free writing, the "Bao Xingbei Archive" is turned page by page before our eyes, with a powerful impact.