Wu Youxun

Wu Youxun

Wu Youxun (April 26, 1897 - November 30, 1977), born in Gao'an, Jiangxi Province, is a physicist and educator. He is one of the pioneers and founders of modern Chinese physics research, and is known as the "founder" of Chinese physics research.

In June 1920, Wu Youxun graduated from the Department of mathematics, physics and chemistry of Nanjing Normal University; in 1925, he received a doctor's degree from the University of Chicago; later, he served as assistant and lecturer in the Physics Research Office of the University, under the guidance of Professor Compton; in October 1945, he served as president of Central University; in 1948, he was elected as academician of Academia Sinica; in December 1950, he served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; in 1955, he was selected as the Ministry of Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Member (academician).

Wu Youxun's contribution is mainly reflected in his research on X-ray, especially on scatter and absorption. In the 1920s, he made contributions to the establishment and recognition of Compton effect by systematic, exquisite experiments and brilliant theoretical analysis in the research of X-ray scattering; after returning to China, he initiated experimental and theoretical research in X-ray scattering spectroscopy and creatively developed the general theory of X-ray scattering by polyatomic gases. Qian Sanqiang, Qian Weichang, Yang Zhenning, Deng Jiaxian, Li Zhengdao and other scholars were his students.

Life of the characters

On April 26, 1897, Wu Youxun was born in shixiwu village, Heling Township, Gao'an City, Jiangxi Province. When Wu Youxun was 7 years old, he went to a family school to study the old school. in the first year of the Republic of China (1912), he entered Ruizhou middle school in Gao'an County, and later merged with the school into Nanchang No.2 Middle School in Jiangxi Province. Wu gangxun, who graduated from Jiangxi Normal University in July 1916, studied at the same time. in 1921, Wu Youxun went to the United States to study at the official expense of Jiangxi Province. In January 1922, he entered the Department of physics, University of Chicago. in 1923, physicist A.H. Compton came to the University of Chicago to teach. Wu Youxun became his graduate student and worked with Professor Compton on X-ray scattering spectroscopy. in 1925, under the guidance of Compton, Wu Youxun wrote his doctoral dissertation on the topic of "Compton effect". He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and stayed as a teaching assistant. In the autumn of 1926, he returned to China and taught in Jiangxi University and National Central University (now Nanjing University). In August 1927, he was an associate professor and head of the Department of physics, School of science, national fourth Sun Yat sen University (renamed Nanjing University in 1949). In August 1928, he was a professor, head of Department of physics and Dean of School of science of Tsinghua University (including eight years in southwest United University after 1938). in 1929, Wu Youxun established China's first modern physics laboratory at Tsinghua University to study X-ray problems in China. In April 1936, he was elected as an academician of Halle Institute of natural sciences in Germany and became the first Chinese to be awarded the title of academician by western countries. In October 1945, he was president of Central University (now Nanjing University). In 1948, he made short-term visits to Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of technology. At the end of the same year, he was a professor at Jiaotong University. In early June 1949, the Shanghai Federation of science and technology organizations elected Wu Youxun as its chairman; in mid June, the Shanghai military Regulatory Commission appointed him director of the Council of national Jiaotong University (equivalent to the president) to preside over the teaching restoration work of national Jiaotong University; in July, Wu Youxun, as a representative of Shanghai's science and technology circles, went to Beijing to attend the first National Congress of natural science workers Preparatory meeting. The meeting elected 15 representatives from the scientific and technological circles to attend the National Political Consultative Conference, of which Wu Youxun was one. In September, he went to Beijing to attend the first plenary session of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference, during which he was received by Mao Zedong. In January 1950, he attended the Symposium on modern physics held by the research and Planning Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discussed and participated in the adjustment and establishment of relevant institutions of physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; in March, he was nominated as the director of the Institute of modern physics; in May, he was formally appointed by the Central People's government.. In 1951, Wu Youxun led a delegation to the Northeast; in October, he organized the establishment of the Preparatory Office of the Northeast Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and put forward a preliminary plan for the establishment of the Northeast Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1956, he presided over the formulation of the "12-year scientific long-term plan" for basic disciplines such as mathematics and chemistry, which was completed ahead of schedule. In August 1958, he participated in the first scientific workers' conference of Jiangxi Province. From February 14 to May 11, 1959, a delegation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences headed by Wu Youxun, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, visited the research organizations of the seven eastern European academies of Sciences and some universities and industrial departments. In July 1960, Wu Youxun, as the head of the delegation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited to attend the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society of Britain and paid a visit to Britain. In 1963, he also participated in the formulation of the 10-year plan for science and technology. In 1977, Wu Youxun put forward many suggestions for preparing for the National Science Conference and reviewed China's natural science development plan. On November 30 of the same year, he died at his home in the East Street of Di'anmen, Beijing, at the age of 80. On the afternoon of December 7, hundreds of Party and state leaders and friends from the scientific community held a grand memorial meeting for Wu Youxun at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing.

Main achievements

Achievements in scientific research

Verification of Compton effect

Wu Youxun's important contribution to modern physics is to comprehensively verify the Compton effect. Compton's original paper only deals with one kind of scattering material (graphite). Although clear data have been obtained, it is limited to a special condition. In order to prove the universality of this effect, Wu Youxun, under the guidance of Compton, made the X-ray scattering curves of seven kinds of materials, and proved that as long as the scattering angle is the same, the scattering effect of different materials is the same, and the deviation of variable line and invariant line has nothing to do with the material composition. In 1924, they jointly published an article entitled "the wavelength of molybdenum k-rays scattered by light elements", which was published in the 10th volume of the proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences. "These experiments undoubtedly prove the truth of the spectral shift predicted by the scattering quantum theory," the paper wrote In October 1930, Wu Youxun published his first theoretical article after China in the famous American journal Nature: on the intensity of total scattering X-ray of monatomic gas, and began the theoretical study of scattering intensity of monatomic gas, diatomic gas and crystal scattering. In 1932, Wu Youxun published an article entitled "X-ray scattering of diatomic gases" in the American Review of physics. He believed that the scattering intensity formula of Professor Jiang Sai, who was then a physics professor at the University of Washington, lacked a correction factor, and convincingly clarified the correctness of his analysis. 1 wooyh (Wu Youxun). Noteonabsorption measurements of the X-rays re-rlectedfromalcitalcitrystal.proc.nat.acad.sci.1924, 10:145-148. 2 a.h.compton, wooyh.thewave-length of Molybdeum Ka rays when caught by lightelements.proc.nat.acad.sci.1924, 10:271-273. 3 a.h.compton, j.a.bearden, woo 　Y　H．Tests　of　the　effect　of　anenclosingboxonthespectrumofscatteredx－rays．Phys．Rev．1925，25：236． 4　WooYH．TheComptoneffectandthetertiaryradiation．Proc．Nat．Acad．Sci．1925，11：123－125． 5　WooYH．Theintensityofthescatteringofx－raysbyrecoilingelec－trons．Phys．Rev．1925，25：444—451． 6　Wo oYH．TheComptoneffect．ChicagoDissertation，1925． 7　WooYH．Thedistributionofenergybetweenthemodifiedandtheun－modi

Chinese PinYin : Wu You Xun