Mao Yisheng

Mao Yisheng

Mao Yisheng (from January 9, 1896 to November 12, 1989) was born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. He is a member of the Communist Party of China, a member of the Jiusan Society, honorary chairman of the Central Committee of the Jiusan Society, President of the Chinese Academy of Railway Sciences, honorary chairman of the Chinese Association for science and technology, civil engineer, bridge expert, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academician of the American Academy of engineering, and academician of the Central Research Institute.

Mao Yisheng graduated from Southwest Jiaotong University (then known as Tangshan Polytechnic School of the Ministry of Communications) in 1916. He received a master's degree from Cornell University in 1917 and a doctor's degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1919. After returning to China, he successively served as professor of Tangshan Institute of technology of Jiaotong University, professor and engineering director of National Southeast University (renamed National Central University in 1928) , President of national Hehai University of technology, President of Tangshan University (now Southwest Jiaotong University), President of Beiyang Institute of technology, director of Jiangsu Provincial Department of water resources, director of Qiantang River Bridge Engineering Department, acting president and President of Tangshan Institute of technology of Jiaotong University, general manager of China Bridge Corporation, president of Beiyang University, President of China / North Jiaotong University (including now Southwest Jiaotong University and now Beijing Jiaotong University) University President, President of the Railway Research Institute, etc. In 1955, he was selected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Mao Yisheng presided over the work of China Academy of Railway Sciences for more than 30 years and made outstanding contributions to the progress of Railway Science and technology. Actively advocate the pioneer of the application of soil mechanics in engineering. Mao Yisheng once presided over the construction of Qiantang River Bridge, the first modern large-scale bridge designed and built by Chinese people, which became a milestone in the history of Chinese railway bridges. After the founding of new China, he also participated in the design of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. In his later years, he wrote history of Chinese bridges, ancient bridges and new bridges in China, etc. He died in Beijing on November 12, 1989 at the age of 93.

On September 25, 2019, Mao Yisheng was selected as "the most beautiful fighter".

Life of the characters

Mao Yisheng's grandfather Mao Qian was a famous person in Zhenjiang city. He once founded Nanyang official newspaper. Soon after Mao Yisheng was born, his family moved to Nanjing. Mao Yisheng was eager to learn from childhood and was good at independent thinking.

At the age of 6, he studied in a private school. At the age of 7, he studied in Siyi school, the first new primary school in China founded in Nanjing in 1903. He entered Jiangnan business school in 1905.

When Mao Yisheng was 10 years old, during the Dragon Boat Festival, his hometown held a dragon boat race. All the people watching the race were standing on the Wende bridge, but he didn't go because of his stomachache. Because of too many people on the bridge, the bridge collapsed, killing and drowning many people. This unfortunate event has been weighing heavily on Mao Yisheng's mind. He made up his mind to build the strongest bridge when he grew up. From then on, as long as Mao Yisheng saw the bridge, whether it was a stone bridge or a wooden bridge, he always looked from the bridge deck to the bridge column. After he went to school, Mao Yisheng saw articles and paragraphs about bridges in his books, so he copied them in his book. When he met pictures about bridges, he cut and pasted them. After a long time, he had accumulated several thick books

In 1916, he graduated from Tangshan Technical School of the Ministry of Communications (Tangshan Jiaotong University, now Southwest Jiaotong University). He took the Tsinghua postgraduate examination for official fees in the United States and was admitted to study abroad as the first.

In 1917, he received a master's degree (bridge major) from Cornell University.

In 1919, he received a doctor's degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), and was the first engineering doctor of Carnegie Mellon University.

After graduating from Tangshan Industrial School of the Ministry of communications in 1916, he was recommended by Tsinghua School to study in the United States. In 1917, he received a master's degree in civil engineering from Cornell University, USA, and was awarded the gold medal of "fitis" for outstanding Postgraduates of Cornell University. Due to Mao Yisheng's excellent performance, Cornell University has since accepted graduates from Tangshan Jiaotong University * (now Southwest Jiaotong University) free of examination, winning honors for Chinese universities, especially their alma mater. In 1921, he received a doctorate in engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. His doctoral dissertation "secondary stress of bridge truss" is known as "Mao's law", and won the gold medal of "fitis" of Cornell University.

From 1920 to 1930, he served as professor and deputy director of Tangshan School of Jiaotong University (now Southwest Jiaotong University), professor and engineering director of National Southeast University, President of Nanjing Hehai University of technology, President of Tangshan University (now Southwest Jiaotong University), President of Beiyang Institute of technology and President of Beiyang University.

From 1930 to 1931, he was the director of Jiangsu Water Conservancy Bureau, and from 1934 to 1937, he was the director of Zhejiang Qiantang River Bridge Engineering Department (from 1934 to 1949). He took charge of the design and construction of a 1453 meter long double deck Road Railway Qiantang River Bridge on the Qiantang River with complex natural conditions. The bridge was completed and opened to traffic on September 26, 1937. It is the first modern steel bridge designed and constructed by Chinese people. It is an immortal monument in the history of Chinese Bridge Engineering. On December 23, 1937, in order to prevent the Japanese from attacking Hangzhou, Mao Yisheng personally took part in the bombing of the bridge. After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, Mao Yisheng was ordered to repair the bridge. In March 1948, the bridge was repaired and opened to traffic.

From 1937 to 1942, he served as acting president and Dean of Tangshan Institute of Engineering (now Southwest Jiaotong University) of national Jiaotong University.

From 1942 to 1943, he was the director of the bridge design and Engineering Department of the Ministry of communications.

He was the general manager of China Bridge Corporation from 1943 to 1949.

In 1943, he was elected a professor of the Ministry of education of the Republic of China.

He was elected academician of Academia Sinica in 1948.

From 1949 to 1952, he was the president of China Jiaotong University (renamed as North Jiaotong University in 1950), which was established by his alma mater Tangshan Institute of Technology (now Southwest Jiaotong University) and Beiping Institute of railway management (now Beijing Jiaotong University).

From 1951 to 1981, he was the director of the Institute of railway technology and the president of the Academy of Railway Sciences.

In 1955, he was selected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1959, he served as the leader of the structural review group of the Great Hall of the people in the construction of the top ten buildings in Beijing, and was appointed as the signature person in charge of the final examination and approval of the design scheme for Premier Zhou Enlai.

From 1955 to 1957, he presided over the design of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. From 1955 to 1957, Mao Yisheng served as chairman of the technical advisory committee of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. He also accepted the task of building the first bridge across the Yangtze River in China, Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge.

In 1977, he presided over the design of Shibanpo Yangtze River Bridge in Chongqing. In 1982, he was elected a foreign academician of the National Academy of engineering.

In 1984, he was elected honorary chairman of China Association for science and technology.

He died in Beijing on November 12, 1989 at the age of 93.

Main achievements

Presided over the construction of Qiantang River Bridge

In 1937, he was the director of the Construction Department of the Qiantang River Bridge. He used "water jetting method", "caisson method" and "floating method" to solve the technical problems in bridge construction. Since then, Mao Yisheng's footprints have spread all over the country, and his name and the newly-built bridge have remained in all parts of the country. After five years of hard work, Mao Yisheng finally built the modern Qiantang River Bridge. September 26 marks the 74th anniversary of the completion and opening of the Qiantang River Bridge.

The Qiantang River Bridge was started in 1934. At that time, Zhejiang Jiangxi railway was under construction. To connect with Shanghai Hangzhou railway, it was necessary to build a bridge on Qiantang River. Qiantang River is a famous dangerous river with complex hydrogeological conditions. The water potential is not only affected by the flash flood in the upper reaches, but also constrained by the fluctuation of the sea tide in the lower reaches. The quicksand at the bottom of Qiantang River is 41 meters thick and unpredictable. It is known as "Qiantang River has no bottom". Therefore, there is a folk saying that "it is impossible to build a bridge on the Qiantang River", and the engineering and technical circles also think that it is very difficult to build a bridge on the Qiantang River. As a young man, Mao Yisheng aspired to bridge career, and later came to the United States. He majored in Bridge Specialty at Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University School of technology, and obtained a doctor's degree. When he saw that all the steel bridges on the rivers of his motherland had been built by foreigners, he was very sad. He was determined to build his own bridge for the Chinese people. He was appointed director of the bridge engineering department. He invited Luo Ying, a classmate at Cornell University, to be chief engineer. He was determined to succeed.

The first difficulty in building the bridge is piling. In order to make the bridge foundation stable, it is necessary to drive 1440 wooden piles through the 41 meter thick sediment at 9 pier positions, and the wooden piles stand on the stone layer. The sand layer is thick and hard, so it can't go down when it's light, and it can't go down when it's heavy. Mao Yisheng was inspired by the water from the watering pot to wash the soil out of the small hole. He adopted the "water jetting method" of pumping water from the river to wash the deep hole on the thick and hard sand and then pile. The original one pile can be driven day and night, which can be increased to 30 piles, greatly speeding up the progress of the project. The second difficulty encountered in the construction of the bridge is the rapid flow of water, which makes it difficult to construct. Mao Yisheng invented the "caisson method", in which the box made of reinforced concrete was sunk downward into the water to cover the bottom of the river, and then high pressure air was used to squeeze the water out of the box. Workers dug sand in the box to gradually integrate the caisson with the wooden pile. The caisson was then built with piers. It's not easy to place caissons. At the beginning, a caisson was washed downstream by the river and upstream by the tide. Later, the 3-ton anchor was replaced

Chinese PinYin : Mao Yi Sheng