“It was the stupidest thing this country ever did. He was no more a communist than I was, and we forced him to go.” These words, spoken by former U.S. Secretary of the Navy Dan Kimball, underscore a pivotal mistake. Qian Xuesen—a genius who graduated from MIT, earned a doctorate at Caltech, and joined the Manhattan Project—was expelled from the U.S. and welcomed with open arms by China. History would never be the same.
Forging a genius. Born in 1911 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Qian grew up in an educated and progressive family. His father, a government official, helped establish China’s national education system. From an early age, Qian displayed academic brilliance, leading him to study engineering at Shanghai Jiaotong University, where he graduated with the highest honors.
In 1935, at age 24, Qian experienced the first of two key moments in his life: He won a scholarship to study at MIT. After excelling there, he transferred to Caltech, where he worked under legendary aerospace engineer Theodore von Kármán, who described Qian as an “undisputed genius.”
The rise of a scientific star. At Caltech, Qian joined a group of innovators called the “Suicide Squad,” named for the risks they took experimenting with rocket propulsion. At a time when experts dismissed rocket science as fantasy, Qian and his colleagues began developing technologies that would transform aviation and weaponry.
During World War II, Qian’s work on jet propulsion attracted the U.S. military’s attention. This led to the creation of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1943, where Qian was a key figure.
Qian Xuesen.
A nuclear expert. Qian also contributed to the Manhattan Project and the development of the first atomic bomb. His expertise became so vital that the U.S. sent him to Germany after the war to interrogate Nazi scientists, including aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun.
By this point, Qian was considered one of the world’s leading experts in rocket propulsion and a crucial asset to the U.S. military.
Suspicion and expulsion. Qian’s career in the U.S. ended abruptly with the onset of the Cold War’s. In the paranoid climate following the creation of the People’s Republic of China’s in 1949, suspicion fell on Chinese scientists. The director of JPL accused Qian and others of espionage, even as Qian was being considered for the lab’s directorship.
An FBI investigation revealed Qian had attended Communist Party-related meetings in the 1930s, but there was no evidence of espionage. Still, Qian was stripped of his security clearance and placed under house arrest for five years. Efforts by von Kármán and others to clear his name were unsuccessful.
Deportation hearing of Qian Xuesen.
Hello China. Denied U.S. citizenship and security clearance, Qian eventually sought to leave the U.S. Initially detained on grounds that he knew too much about U.S. weapons systems, he was deported in 1955. President Dwight D. Eisenhower called the decision a “necessary risk.”
Upon his return to China, Qian declared, “I do not plan to come back. I plan to do my best to help the Chinese people build a nation where they can live with dignity and happiness.” He never returned.
On the left, the Fanhui Shi Weixing, China's first recoverable satellite created by Qian. On the right, the DF-1 missile, another historic innovation.
Transforming a nation. Qian’s return to China was both a monumental gain for the nation and a historic misstep for the U.S. Revered as a hero, he helped establish the Mechanics Institute in Beijing and joined the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Initially, his past ties to the U.S. and his marriage to a Nationalist leader’s daughter delayed his admission to the Communist Party. Despite this, by 1958, Qian was deeply involved in critical strategic projects that would shape China’s future.
Qian spearheaded the development of the Dongfeng missile and played a pivotal role in the creation of China’s first atomic bomb, successfully tested in 1964. These milestones secured China’s place in the “global nuclear club” just 15 years after the founding of the People’s Republic. Qian’s work also laid the foundation for China’s burgeoning space program, which achieved a major milestone with the launch of its first satellite in 1970. Decades later, his groundbreaking research contributed to the development of the Shenzhou rockets and other significant advancements in space exploration.
Geopolitical repercussions. Qian’s expulsion had ironic consequences. China used Silkworm missiles, derived from his work, against U.S. interests during the Gulf War and in Yemen in 2016. By rejecting Qian, the U.S. inadvertently accelerated China’s technological rise.
A legacy for the history books. After retiring in 1991, Qian maintained a low profile. While China honored him as a national hero, his contributions to American science were largely overlooked, unlike von Braun, whose Nazi affiliations didn’t prevent U.S. recognition.
In a symbolic gesture, China named a probe landing site in the Von Kármán crater, honoring Qian’s mentor and reflecting how U.S. policies during the Cold War shaped China’s rise in space exploration.
Qian died in 2009 at age 98. Journalist Iris Chang, who wrote about him, concluded the U.S. had no concrete evidence linking Qian to communism. His life remains a testament to the perils of excluding talent due to politics or ideology.
Images | ran liwen (Unsplash) | Public domain | Martin Trolle | Los Angeles Times
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