"Father of the rocket" Qian Xuesen 钱学森 and cofounder of JPL has died on October 31st aged 97.

I didn't know anything about him until now. Maybe because some of his history puts the US in a less than glorious light.

He was one of the co-founders of the JPL and did not only ground-breaking work on jet propulsion and high speed aerodynamics but was also involved in the Manhattan project.

After world war II, with anti-communist paranoia rising he was put under house-arrest and in 1955 released in exchange for American pilots captured during the Korean War. He immediately returned to China where he became the founder of the Chinese rocket and nuclear programs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...uesen-obituary

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Wouldn't be the only time U.S. expelled people that previously played important roles for the country. Some German rocket scientists engineers were AFAIK deported due to alleged WWII crimes after they played a key role in the Apollo project, specifically in developing the Saturn V.

If it's the same man, I read about him several years ago in a book titled Thread of the Silkworm. Interesting man. The book said his name was Tsien Hsue-shen but that could be an artifact of phonetically spelling his chinese name in English.

ugordan,
I take a very keen interest in the space program. But I'm far from proficient when it comes to history. So I was maybe a bit fast to be surprised to not know anything about Qian.

Larry,
yes that's the same man. I just copy pasted the wikipedia spelling.

__________________
Life is unfair. But that's ok.. as long as you make sure it's unfair in your favour. -Me

You don't plan sincerity. You have to make it up on the spot. -Denny Crane

I never make predictions, and I never will. -some footballer

Sad how the man was treated.

The title really should be "the father of modern Chinese rocketry", the Chinese have had rockets for hundreds of years.

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True.
I heard in China he was just called "father of the rocket", that's why I used that title.. just slightly modified.. so people wouldn't confuse him with von Braun

__________________
Life is unfair. But that's ok.. as long as you make sure it's unfair in your favour. -Me

You don't plan sincerity. You have to make it up on the spot. -Denny Crane

I never make predictions, and I never will. -some footballer

Very sad news.

Sci-Fi fans will know him best as the man who the spaceship Tsien in the novel of 2010 was named after.

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