Premier visits elderly scientists to convey National Day greetings
- Source: Xinhua
- [08:14 August 07 2009]
- Comments
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao(L) talks with Zhu Guangya, a renowned Chinese physicist during his visit to Zhu in Beijing, capital of China, on Aug. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday personally conveyed National Day greetings to elderly scientists who have made prominent contributions to atomic and medical research.
China's National Day this year will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of modern China.
Premier Wen first visited Zhu Guangya, a nuclear physicist and one of the key scientists engaged in producing the first of China's atomic and hydrogen bombs between the 1950s and 1960s.
"You have devoted your whole life to the development of the country and service to the people. We will remember you with concern forever," Wen told 85-year-old Zhu.
"Your loyalty and unselfish dedication to the country and people will encourage younger generations and their descendants forever," Wen told Zhu, a winner of the prestigious Achievement
Medal for his work on nuclear weaponry and also satellites.
Wen had worked closely with the scientist for five years when Zhu was president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and China Association for Science and Technology.
Zhu told Premier Wen that China should take the opportunity provided by the global economic downturn to bring the country on to a track of innovation-oriented development, and also that the government should establish firmer regulations to prevent academic cheating.
Upon arrival at He Zehui's home, Premier Wen was delighted to see the 95-year-old physicist had recovered from an illness.
It was the fifth consecutive visit by Wen to He in the past five years after her husband, physicist Qian Sanqiang, died in 1992.
Qian and He were described as China's Marie and Pierre Curie by Western media when the former couple jointly discovered a new method of nuclear fission in the 1940s.
Both Qian and He were engaged in groundbreaking research and development of nuclear energy for military and civic purposes. As a leading nuclear expert Qian also delivered a lecture to Mao Zedong and other senior political leaders.
