Today is Martyrs' Day, and his name deserves to be remembered forever.

In the "Backbone of the Republic" exhibition at the National Museum of Chinese Scientists, the display case contains the gloves and vernier calipers used by Guo Yonghuai, recipient of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" Meritorious Service Medal and revolutionary martyr, at the 221 Base.

The rust-covered measuring tools and worn gloves are the simplest relics he left behind in this world, and also a testament to the years he spent anonymously on the plateau.

The year he rushed to the plateau

He was already 54 years old

In 1960, the Soviet Union withdrew all its experts in China, and China's nuclear weapons research was forced to shift to self-reliance.

On Qian Xuesen's recommendation, Guo Yonghuai took on the mission at a critical moment and served as vice president of the Ninth Academy of the Second Ministry of Machine Building. Together with Wang Ganchang and Peng Huanwu, he formed the initial three pillars of our country's nuclear weapons research. Wang Ganchang was responsible for physics experiments, Peng Huanwu for theoretical design, and Guo Yonghuai for technical leadership in mechanics, including the structural design, strength calculation, and environmental testing of nuclear weapons.

The vernier calipers in the display case were precisely the most ordinary tool in this work of his.

Zhu Guangya later commented: When developing the first atomic bomb, Guo Yonghuai proposed taking the "implosion method" as the main direction of attack and led the establishment of calculation models and calculation methods for the detonation process, devoting a great deal of effort to the breakthrough in atomic bomb development.

In 1963, the nuclear weapons research base was relocated to the 221 Base in Qinghai. This place is more than 3,000 meters above sea level, with a minimum temperature of minus 40 degrees Celsius, and the living environment is extremely harsh.

Guo Yonghuai, already over fifty, endured the hardships of wind and dew with young people and ate and lived together with them. In his tent, there was only a writing desk, a steel wire bed, and a coal stove for boiling water. In order to race against time, he removed the mattress from the bed and slept directly on the steel wire bed, so that any turn would wake him from the discomfort.

It was during the three years of difficulty, food was scarce, and when researchers could not bear the hunger, they would make a cup of soy sauce soup and continue working. Guo Yonghuai encouraged everyone: "For the sake of the country's great cause, we keep our names hidden, but we are educated people with backbone, Chinese people who cannot be crushed!"

The owner of the gloves

Once bent over at the blasting test site

At the blasting physics test site, the thin and frail Guo Yonghuai crawled into the tent and mixed explosives. A young colleague wanted to take over the tools and let him direct from the side. He waved his hand: "I explain while operating; this is more solid than if you learned theory only from books."

At 15:00 on October 16, 1964, a mushroom cloud rose over Lop Nur, and China's first atomic bomb was successfully detonated. Amid the cheers of the people, Guo Yonghuai, who had not slept for days and nights, slowly slumped into a chair.

Afterward, from the nuclear aerial bomb test and the "two bombs" combination test to the successful hydrogen bomb airburst on June 17, 1967, every step bore his painstaking efforts.

In the final moment of his life

He protected a set of key data

In December 1968, while preparing for the first thermonuclear weapon test at Base 221, Guo Yonghuai discovered a set of important data and urgently needed to return to Beijing to organize research. In the early hours of December 5, the plane crashed near the capital airport.

People found in the wreckage that Guo Yonghuai and his guard were tightly embracing each other, and the briefcase protected against their chests contained the thermonuclear missile test data, completely intact.

Twenty-two days after Guo Yonghuai's sacrifice, China's first thermonuclear weapon test succeeded.

In December 1968, Guo Yonghuai was posthumously recognized as a revolutionary martyr. In 1999, he was posthumously awarded the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" Meritorious Service Medal. Among the 23 recipients of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" Meritorious Service Medal, he was the only martyr. In 2018, the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center permanently named asteroid No. 212796 "Guo Yonghuai Star."

Remember, pay tribute!

Revolutionary martyr Guo Yonghuai!