Niels Bohr in China

Abstract

Niels Bohr, the master of modern theoretical physics, actively supported the strengthening of international scientific communication and cooperation. Early in 1937, at the invitation of the academic communities in the U.S. and Japan, he began a six-month lecture tour. During his visit to Japan, from mid-April to mid-May, the Academia Sinica, the Beiping Academy of Sciences, Central University, Peking University, Qinghua University, Zhejiang University, Peking Normal University, Beiping University, the China Science Society, the Foundation for Chinese Education and Culture, and other institutions jointly invited him to China. Ren Hongjun, the responsible person in the Foundation, collected 10,000 yuan (silver) to cover the cost. Bohr had a deep affection for this beautiful ancient land with its long civilization and high expectations of the science and education which had developed in the first three decades of this century. He enthusiastically accepted, writing to Wu Youxun, then Dean of the College of Science of Qinghua University, that he would visit China following his lectures in Japan.

Journal of Dialectics of Nature III(4) (1981) 77-79.