《卫报》为中国航天之父钱学森所撰写的讣告

Qian Xuesen, who has died aged 98, was one of the greatest Chinese scientists of the modern era, and a man widely regarded as the father of China's missile and space programme. His life spanned nearly a century, from the final few days of the Qing Dynasty, through the Republican period, from 1912 to 1949, and on to the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It also embodied the conflicts between the US and China, the two countries where he was to be based most of his life, and between which he was forced, finally, to choose.

钱学森，享年98岁，中国现代最伟大的科学家之一，被一致认为是中国导弹及空间技术之父。他 生于清朝末年，经历国民时期，后又伴随新中国共同走过60年风雨，其一生横跨近一个世纪。他也见 证了中美两国之间的冲突。而他却不得不在这两个于他最为重要的两个国家中作出抉择。

Qian was the son of a government official, born in the city of Hangzhou in the coastal province of Zhejiang. He was educated at Shanghai Jiaotong University, and, in 1935, with the help of a scholarship, went first to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, and then, a year later, to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he was to be awarded his doctorate, and be based for the next two decades.

钱学森原籍浙江杭州，生于官宦之家。他早年就读于上海交通大学，而后在1935年，获得奖学金 ，前往美国麻省理工学院深造。年后，在加州理工学院授获博士学位，并根植于是二十年。

It was while in California, during the second world war, that his research concentrated on jet propulsion. With a number of other key US scientists, responding to the German V1 and V2 rockets, he devised a range of highly effective missiles, which proved crucial in the final stages of the war effort. Qian also participated in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. As a result of this, he was made the first director of the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Centre at Caltech in 1949.

钱学森在加州期间恰逢二次大战，其研究项目为喷气推进。当时德国已研发出V1、V2火箭，在同 其他美国尖端科学家共事下，他研发出一种高效导弹，在战争后期发挥了巨大作用。钱学森还参与曼 哈顿计划，研发了第一颗原子弹。基于以上成就，他于1949年担任加工理工学院丹尼尔和佛罗伦斯· 古根海姆喷气推进中心首任主任。

In the same year, however, the communists won their final push to become rulers of the PRC, exiling the Nationalist leadership under Chiang Kai-shek, whom the US had largely supported, to the island of Taiwan. Qian was immediately suspected of being a communist sympathiser, with claims being made that his name had appeared on Communist party documents as early as the late 1930s. His application for US citizenship was subsequently denied, and he was detained after applying to leave America. One US official at the time called this the "stupidest thing this country ever did". In 1955, Qian was allowed to return to China.

然而是年，中国共产党大获全胜，成立中华人民共和国。其对手—美国曾大力支持的—蒋介石国 民党政府被迫退居台湾。钱学森即被怀疑同情共产党人，并有人宣称，其名曾在30年代末中国共产党 早期文件中出现。其美国公民申请被拒，而后申请离美时被拘。当时一名美国官员称此举“立国以来 ，蠢无前例”。 1955年，钱学森终被允许返回中国。

The US's loss (one of Qian's colleagues in the 1930s had called Qian a scientist of genius) was China's gain, at a critical period in its development. Qian was immediately allowed to establish an Institute of Mechanics in Beijing, and to work within the state -established Chinese Academy of Science. His skills and knowledge were absolutely critical at a time when many of China's most talented scientists had refused to return home because of the political changes that had taken place there. A symbol of the respect and trust Qian enjoyed was his admission to the Communist party in 1958. He started work on what was to become the Dongfeng missile.

20世纪30年代钱学森的同事称其是天才科学家，他的出走是美国的损失，中国的收获。钱回国后 随即在北京建立力学院，并创建中国科学院。他的知识和技能在当时绝对起着关键性作用，因为当时 很多极具天赋的中国科学家由于政治原因拒绝回国。钱学森在1958年加入中国共产党，是其受中共重 视并信任的标志。随后他被派研发“东风”导弹。