Deng Jiaxian's grandfather was a famous calligrapher and seal engraver in Qing Dynasty, and his father was a famous aesthete and art historian. After the July 7th Incident, the whole family stayed in Beijing, and 16-year-old Deng Jiaxian went to Jiangjin, Sichuan with her sister to finish high school. From 1941 to 1945, he studied in the Physics Department of The National SouthWest Associated University, and was taught by famous professors such as Wang Zhuxi and Zheng Huachi. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Deng Jiaxian taught in the Physics Department of Peking University.
in October p>1948, Deng Jiaxian went to the physics department of purdue university, Indiana, USA to study as a graduate student, and received his Ph.D. in physics in 195. On the 9th day after he got his degree, he boarded the ship returning home. After returning to China, Deng Jiaxian worked as an assistant researcher in the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, engaged in nuclear theory research. In August 1958, he was transferred to the newly-established Nuclear Weapons Research Institute as the director of the theoretical department, responsible for leading the theoretical design of nuclear weapons, and then served as the deputy director and director of the Institute, the vice president and dean of the Ninth Research and Design Institute of the Ministry of Nuclear Industry, the deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Nuclear Industry, and the deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
Deng Jiaxian is the main organizer and leader of China's nuclear weapons research and development, and is known as the "father of two bombs". In the research of atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb, Deng Jiaxian led the basic theoretical research on detonation physics, fluid mechanics, equation of state, neutron transport and so on, completed the theoretical scheme of atomic bomb, and participated in guiding the detonation simulation test of nuclear test. After the success of the atomic bomb test, Deng Jiaxian organized forces to explore the design principle of hydrogen bombs and selected technical approaches. He led and personally participated in the development and experiment of China's first hydrogen bomb in 1967.
The Summary of Theoretical Research on China's First Atomic Bomb, written by Deng Jiaxian and Zhou Guangzhao, is a groundbreaking basic masterpiece on the theoretical design of nuclear weapons, which summarizes the research achievements of hundreds of scientists. This work not only plays a guiding role in the future theoretical design, but also serves as an introductory textbook for training researchers. Deng Jiaxian also made an important contribution to the study of the equation of state at high temperature and high pressure. In order to train young researchers, he also wrote many lectures on electrodynamics, plasma physics, spherical concentric detonation wave theory, etc. Even after assuming the heavy responsibility of dean, he began to write "quantum field theory" and "group theory" after work.
Deng Jiaxian is an outstanding representative of China intellectuals. For the prosperity of the motherland and the development of national defense scientific research, he was willing to be an unsung hero and struggled in obscurity for decades. He often appears in the most dangerous positions at critical moments, regardless of personal safety, which fully embodies his lofty and selfless dedication. He made outstanding contributions to the development of China's nuclear weapons, but little was known. Only after his death did people know his deeds.
He is mainly engaged in nuclear physics, theoretical physics, neutron physics, plasma physics, statistical physics and fluid mechanics and has made outstanding achievements. Since 1958, he has organized and led the basic theoretical research on detonation physics, fluid mechanics, equation of state, neutron transport, etc., and made a large number of simulation calculations and analysis on the physical process of atomic bombs, thus taking the first step of China's independent research and design of nuclear weapons, leading the completion of the theoretical scheme of China's first atomic bomb, and participating in guiding the detonation simulation test before the nuclear test. Immediately after the success of the atomic bomb test, he organized forces to explore the design principle of the hydrogen bomb, selected technical approaches, organized and led and personally participated in the development and test of the first hydrogen bomb in China in 1967. In 1979, Deng Jiaxian became the president of the Institute of Nuclear Weapons. In 1984, deep in the desert, he successfully conducted the second generation of new nuclear weapons tests in China. The following year, his cancer spread could not be saved, and his request on National Day was to visit Tiananmen Square. On July 16th, 1986, Li Peng, then Vice Premier of the State Council, went to the hospital and awarded him the National May 1st Labor Medal. On July 29th, 1986, Deng Jiaxian died of systemic hemorrhage. In 1999, he was posthumously awarded the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" Meritorious Medal.