Life and Study in the United States

1 Application for MIT

The applications of passport and student visa in Republic of China were handled in Shanghai Public Security Bureau and the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai for students from southern universities, and Tianjin Public Security Bureau and the U.S. Consulate in Tianjin for students from the northern universities. In July of 1935, on his way to Tsinghua University, Qian Xuesen went to Tianjin to apply for an overseas passport and student visa. Afterwards, he went back to Hangzhou to pack up and wait for the journey.

Admission to MIT

The decision to go to MIT was proposed by Qian Changzuo and Wang Yupeng, both of whom were graduates of MIT, and finally approved by Mei Yiqi, then president of Tsinghua University. On November 2, 1934, Qian Changzuo wrote a letter to Mei Yiqi, suggesting that Qian should go to MIT as “there were a number of professors in aeronautics program in MIT, and the facilities and courses were also perfect.” Wang Yupeng wrote a letter to Professor Jerome Hunsaker, then director of the Department of Aeronautics at MIT, inquiring whether Qian would be accepted. Hunsaker replied to Wang Zhu, saying that he agreed and hoped Qian would come to the United States in June. Qian Xuesen then wrote to the president’s office of Tsinghua University on April 21, 1935, proposing that he would go to the United States in May:

Mr. Wang Zhu inquired about my application for MIT with Professor Jerome Hunsaker, director of the Department of Aeronautics at MIT. Professor Hunsaker proposed that I would arrive in June so that I could catch up the summer courses, such as An Introduction to Aeromechanics, An Introduction to Airport Design and so on. Then, I would take the fourth year undergraduate course at the beginning of the autumn. In the following year, I could be enrolled in graduate school. Gu Guangfu, a former Boxer Scholar, suggested that we could visit the factories and institutes in the next summer. Therefore, I would like to propose to go to MIT as soon as possible.

Mei Yiqi approved Qian Xuesen’s proposal to go to the United States in mid-May. Meanwhile, Tsinghua University sent an official letter to MIT to confirm on his admission. On April 30, James L. Tryon, secretary of the Graduate School of MIT, wrote a letter to Mei Yiqi about Qian Xuesen’s admission to the graduate program:

I had submitted Qian Xuesen’s application documents to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. I was glad to inform you that Qian Xuesen was accepted as a graduate student to our university. Professor C. E. fuller would be his advisor and Qian could consult him about course arrangement.

As it turned out, Qian Xuesen stuck to the original plan of internship and went to MIT in July as it took several months to go through the passport and visa application procedures (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

MIT Graduate School Secretary James Tyrone replied to Mei Yiqi, agreeing to accept Qian Xuesen into the school in April 30, 1935 (the original letter is kept in the Tsinghua University Archives)

Applying for passport

According to the Procedural Instructions of Studying Abroad sent by Tsinghua University, Qian Xuesen were to prepare a bunch of documents: two score sheets of English course, four four-inch ID photos, an agreement letter with his personal signature and letter of guarantee signed by the guarantor. In February of 1935, Qian submitted the above documents to Tsinghua University for application of the Stated-funded Student Certificate issued by the Ministry of Education. Qian received his certificate No. 537 in April, signed by Wang Shijie, Minister of Education. After he received a blank medical examination form issued by the U.S. consulate, he went to the hospital for physical examination to prove that he had no infectious disease.

In July of 1935, Qian Xuesen went to Beijing and met with Mei Yiqi. Meanwhile, he received a punch list for passport application and a letter of introduction from Tsinghua University. He also took an ID photo at Dalu Photo Studio located in Xuanwumen Gate. On July 15, Qian went to Tianjin Public Security Bureau to apply for a passport and paid one yuan stamp duty. The cover of the passport was made of black Kraft paper, printed with the national emblem of the Republic of China and “Passport of the Republic of China.” The passport had sixteen pages in total, and on each page there was a watermark of “passport of the Republic of China” with the size of 16 × 11 cm.

Interestingly, Qian made a mistake in transferring his birth date in the lunar calendar to Gregorian calendar and his birth date written on passport was September 2, 1909, which was two years older than his age. After he returned to China in 1955, he resumed his real birth date.

Applying for a “separate visa”

According to the “An Act to Execute Certain Treaty Stipulations Relating to Chinese” passed in 1882 (also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882), Chinese workers were prohibited from traveling to the United States. However, Article 4, Sect. 5 of the Johnson-Reid Act passed in 1924 provided that those who were fifteen years of age or older and “qualified for insertion into a school of repute in the United States of North America and licensed by the Ministry of Industry to admit Asian students” could obtain a student visa to study in the United States. Therefore, when the Tianjin Public Security Bureau issued the passport, it also issued a document in English and Chinese as usual to prove that Qian Xuesen went to the U.S. on a student visa and not as a Chinese worker (Figs. 2, 3 and 4).

Fig. 2

Qian Xuesen’s passport of the Republic of China

Fig. 3

Chinese and English documents issued by the Tianjin Public Security Bureau

Fig. 4

“Separate visa” issued by the U.S. Consulate in Tianjin

On July 30, Qian went to the U.S. Consulate in Tianjin with his passport, supporting documents and medical examination form to apply for a student visa. The consulate issued a so-called “separate visa” valid for 34 months. The term “separate visa” refers to a separate piece of paper that is not placed inside the passport. The original is sent to the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the U.S. Department of Justice for record, and the copy is returned to the passport holder. At this point, Qian had gone through all the formalities before leaving the country. Subsequently, he returned to his hometown, said goodbye to friends and relatives, and was ready to depart for the United States.

2 From MIT to Caltech

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) are two top institutions of learning in the United States, enjoying high academic standing in the world of science, engineering and education research. Qian Xuesen studied at MIT for his master’s degree, then at Caltech for his doctoral degree, and had since taught at both institutions. Qian Xuesen’s experience in these two institutions was a valuable asset in his life. When he boarded the steamship President Jackson at Wusongkou Port, Huangpu River in Shanghai, he would never imagine that he was about to embark on a twenty-year-long period of overseas study.

Departure from Shanghai Bund Pier to the United States

Qian Xuesen returned to Hangzhou and prepared his luggage for his trip abroad, meanwhile saying goodbye to his family and friends in Hangzhou. Soon after, he took a train to Shanghai with his father to wait for his steamship. He also visited several college friends in Shanghai. Xu Zhangben, a student junior to Qian at Jiaotong Univeristy, sent parting words to him on August 12:

Xuesen, you have great strength in taking in new things that I have not encountered in other people. This strength is one of the two major elements of successful learning. However, most of what we have seen and heard over the years has been “Americanized”, and I personally feel that one of the problems with “Americanization” is that it leaves out the “philosophical origin of science.” I am sure you will not be misguided. This is what I want to say before your trip to America.

On August 20, Qian Xuesen boarded the steamship President Jackson at Wusongkou Port to depart for the United States. His father, Qian Junfun watched his son departing from the pier. Qian was accompanied by twenty students and teaching assistants at Tsinghua University, including eight Boxer Scholarship recipients at that year, namely, Zeng Bingjun, Yang Shaozhen, Shi Jun, Zhao Pu, Dai Shiguang, Huang Kailu, Song Zuonan and Sun Lingxian. Tsinghua University commissioned China Travel Service to book first class cabin for them.

On August 24, the steamship passed through Japan, and they disembarked together to visit Nagoya and Tokyo for two days. Japan was already an industrialized and modernized country at that time, and the neat and clean streets left a deep impression on them. When President Jackson was sailing in the Pacific Ocean, they took a group photo standing by the railing on the deck of the steamship and on the escalator, on which a triangular flag written with TSING HUA was hung.

In fact, not all the overseas students in this group photo were students from Qinghua University. According to Chen Hanli, son of Chen Yexun, a friend of Qian Xuesen at university, the person standing on the right side of Qian Xuesen in a light-colored suit in the group photo was I.M. Pei (Yuming Pei), who later became a world-famous architect. I.M. Pei went to the U.S. to study at his own expense. As he was a self-financed student, he said goodbye to the group of students from Tsinghua University after disembarkation.

Qian Xuesen went to the United States and studied at the Department of Aeronautics at MIT for one year and received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. I.M. Pei went to the United States and studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania before transferring to MIT. Both Qian Xuesen and I.M. Pei had studied at MIT. More than thirty Chinese students in the school organized a “MIT branch of the All-American Chinese Association”. Whether Qian Xuesen and I.M. Pei joined the association and whether they had any contact or interaction remained unknown. However, there was also another theory that I.M. Pei went to the United States on steamship President Coolidge which set sail on August 13.

On the steamship President Jackson, in addition to the students from Tsinghua University, there was a group of graduates from Jiaotong University. Since Qian had the dual alumni status of Tsinghua University and Jiaotong University, he had to “rush” to take a group photo on both sides (Figs. 5 and 6).

Fig. 5

Group photo of students from Tsinghua University studying in the U.S. on the steamship (from top to bottom, second row from left is Qian Xuesen)

On September 3, the steamship President Jackson arrived in Seattle, a city on the west coast of the United States, and Qian Xuesen disembarked with his passport, “separate visa” and a medical examination form for entry procedures. In those days, the U.S. immigration officials would inspect travellers with Chinese passports in particular, but the students from Tsinghua University were given special care and quickly released.

The first-class ticket of the President Jackson cost $331, and the train fare was about $200 after arriving in the United States [1]. The cost was basically provided by Tsinghua University. The students received $520 before they leave the country, which covered the ferry ticket, cost of dressing, train fare and pocket money for the trip. However, they had to pay a $150 deposit upon entry “to ensure that they maintain their student status in the U.S. and leaving the U.S. upon graduation”, a cost that would be borne by the students.

Qian Xuesen spent a few days in Seattle, sightseeing the city. He then took a train via Chicago to the MIT in Boston, where he began his 20 year-long study in the United States. Decades later, Qian Xuesen’s mother-in-law Jiang Zuomei said to her grandson Qian Yonggang, “I went to see your father off when he went abroad. Your father was not tall and not conspicuous at all. I could not imagine that he would become a great scientist in a few decades.”

At MIT

In September 1935, Qian Xuesen became a graduate of Aeronautical Engineering at MIT (Fig. 7). MIT was located in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts and had a comparatively small campus. When people in China talked about MIT, they would say: “MIT’s school buildings were not as large as those in Tsinghua. The school had one main building, an Aeronautical Building, an Alker Memorial Hall, two undergraduate dormitories, a graduate dormitory, and two Gyms.” During his one-year study at MIT, Qian Xuesen lived in a single room in graduate dormitory, much more spacious than his two-room dormitory in Jiaotong University.

Fig. 6

Self-portrait of Qian Xuesen in the first class cabin of the President Jackson

Fig. 7

Qian Xuesen’s MIT registration form. Note The original is in the MIT registrar’s office, and the author is grateful to Ms. Qian Yongzhen for her assistance during his visit to the United States in July 2018

A saying went in America educational circle at that time: “MIT was hell” and the students were “as busy as a sea otter.” However, for Qian Xuesen, after experiencing a college life of fighting for good grades in China, the MIT curriculum did not seem too stressful for him. He quickly adapted to the MIT learning atmosphere, and the major courses were not a burden at all. In his later years, Qian Xuesen said:

I had studied in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at MIT since the autumn of 1935. It turned out that Jiaotong University had moved MIT to China. That was why the undergraduate instruction at Jiaotong University was the world’s advanced level and Jiaotong University was praised as “MIT of the East.” The teaching quality at Jiaotong University was recognized by its peers home and abroad and the students’ grades and credits were recognized by famous universities overseas. In particular, the curriculum at Jiaotong University referred to that of MIT, and many teachers were graduates from MIT, who used the original MIT textbooks or reprinted lecture notes.

Qian Xuesen felt easy studying for his master’s degree at MIT. He recalled later: “While studying at MIT, my “superstition” in foreigners began to break down because my grades were not only better than those of American students, but also better than those of other foreign students in the same class. Students showed no special admiration for the professors at MIT either, and the professors were not as so special as I had thought.” Clearly, Qian Xuesen’s scientific confidence was inspired during his master’s studies (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8

Self-portrait of Qian Xuesen at MIT

In general, as a graduate student, Qian Xuesen’s study and life could be described as “learning while playing” from enrollment to graduation. He said: “MIT was well-known at that time, but I thought it was not so special. I got my master’s degree in one year, and my grades were outstanding. Actually, I didn’t learn anything innovative in that year.” Comparing Qian Xuesen’s sixteen courses at MIT (Table 1) with those at Shanghai Jiaotong University, we could see that he had already learned many of the courses. He passed all his graduate courses in one year and successfully completed his master’s thesis on the turbulent boundary layer. Strictly speaking, this master’s thesis was not a theoretical study, but rather “an experimental study of the turbulent boundary layer (Figs. 9 and 10).”

Table 1 Qian Xuesen’s Graduate Course Schedule at MIT

Fig. 9

Qian Xuesen's MIT master’s degree certificate in aeronautical engineering

Fig. 10

Qian Xuesen's master’s thesis title page

Since Qian Xuesen’s research interest had turned to theoretical research before he arrived in the United States, he found his studies in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at MIT not so satisfying. The light academic load left him much spare time to spend on his hobby in music. He would spend dozens of cents to go to the Boston Symphony Orchestra every weekend. Also, he often listened to music on the radio.

MIT was known for its engineering research, and there were many Chinese students in various departments. In fact, Qian Xuesen did not interact much with them while he was much close to a Soviet student and consulted him on how to work in the Soviet Union. The Soviet student replied that he could get in touch with a Soviet trading company in New York. Knowing this, Qian Xuesen wrote to his friend Luo Peilin in China to make an appointment to go to Moscow. Before he went to the U.S., Qian Xuesen had a tendency to believe in communism. He remained contact with some peripheral organizations of Communist Party and participated in their activities many times. After receiving his master’s degree in aeronautical engineering in September 1936, Qian chose to pursue his doctoral studies under Theodore von Kármán at Caltech.

At Caltech

It was said that Qian Xuesen took a train from Boston to Los Angeles and planned to return to China by steamship after graduating from MIT in September 1936. But when he arrived in Los Angeles, he changed his plan to return home and decided to continue his studies at the Caltech under the tutelage of Theodore von Kármán.

Such a story may add to the drama of Qian’s life in the United States, but it was not supported by historical evidence. In fact, the real reason why Qian chose to go to Caltech was his ambition to improve his theoretical research level in aeronantics. When he arrived at MIT, he gradually realized that the school, which was famous for training engineers, lacked innovation and was somewhat stereotypical. Qian wrote in February of 1989:

The engineering education at MIT in the 1930s was the model of the beginning of the century, which was effective for training engineers in mature engineering technology, but was not suitable for rapidly developing and advancing engineering technologies, like aeronautical engineering. Nevetheles, Caltech took the lead in reform by greatly increasing the weight of professional basic courses so that students could catch up with new developments in technology after graduation. This kind of eform was commonly adopted by American engineering colleges and universities in the 1950s. This was a major change in engineering education in the first half of 20th century [2].

Qian Xuesen decided to go to Caltech to pursue his studies in aeronautical theory, but his idea initially failed to gain the approval of his father Qian Junfu. Qian Junfu believed that one of the reasons for the country’s poverty and weakness was China’s underdevelopment in engineering, so he wanted his son to take the path of engineering to save the country, while the study of scientific theories was just like the traditional scriptures learning, which could not change China’s backward situation. He once said to Qian Xuesen in a letter:

The reason for China’s weakness was that it had paid more attention to theory than to practice, and to more talks than actions. Our country was at critical moment of survival. If you discontinued your research in aeronautical engineering, and attempted to take a theoretical path, you were too young to be insightful.

At that time, Jiang Baili visited Europe and America and stopped by to see Qian Xuesen. Qian Xuesen talked about his idea to Jiang Baili and gained his support. When he met Qian Junfu after returning to China, Jiang Baili explained: “Your son was right and your opinion was old-fashioned. The new trend in American and German aviation was the monolithic nature of engineering theory. Engineering follows theory.” Then he went on to explain, “The United States was rich country while China was a poor one. The United States could build an aircraft and immediately modify it if there was a new theoretical discovery, but this would not apply to China. That was why those Chinese students who studied aviation should work more on the theory.” Qian Junfu was convinced by Jiang Baili and changed his attitude. Interestingly, when Jiang Baili visited Qian Xuesen, he gave him a picture of his daughter, Jiang Ying, setting the stage for their future marriage.

In October 1936, after bidding farewell to several friends in Boston, Qian Xuesen went to Caltech to study for his doctoral degree under Theodore von Kármán. After he checked in, he stayed at the school’s Faculty Activity Center, and soon afterwards he approached Fan Xuji to share a room because the rent at the Center was too high. Fan Xuji had already rented an apartment at 290 South Michigan Street in Pasadena, with three bedrooms and a living room, a dining room, a breakfast room. He was joined by Yuan Shaowen and Wang Xiheng. When Qian Xuesen joined them, the four of them had shared the apartment and the rent until 1940. During this period, Chinese students often organized parties, and the apartment at 290 South Michigan Street was a venue due to its convenient location and spaciousness, and it was a place to receive domestic guests, such as Cai Tingkai and Yang Hucheng, famous anti-Japanese generals, who had visited the apartment.

Immediately upon his arrival at Caltech, Qian Xuesen felt its different learning atmosphere from that of MIT. The whole campus was filled with innovation and creative spirit. Unlike MIT, Qian Xuesen threw himself in tense study enthusiastically. In addition to the professional courses designated by his mentor, von Kármán, such as advanced aeronautical theory, aeronautical engineering seminar, aeronautical engineering research, statistics, tensor theory, and aeronautical applications of elastic mechanics, he also took advantage of Caltech’s academic resources to expand his knowledge by taking other courses in differential geometry, complex function theory, quantum mechanics, general relativity, statistical mechanics and structural chemistry to build a broad body of knowledge. For example, Qian Xuesen often attended the physics classes by the famous physicist Paul Sophus Epstein and discussed in depth with him on the frontiers of atomic nucleus theory and nuclear technology. Qian Xuesen later published an academic paper entitled “Atomic Energy” in 1945, discussing the use of atomic energy as an aerospace power plant. As we could see, elective courses were of equal value to the major courses, and the knowledge in the elective courses could be a positive inspiration to the major courses.

At the same time, Qian Xuesen also paid special attention to the training of scientific research norms and the cultivation of academic integrity. He actively integrated into the academic community of Journal of Aeronautical Sciences, thus maintaining equal dialogue with the community scientists. At the time of his doctoral studies, Qian Xuesen’s most prized mathematical talent was put to use, and von Kármán developed a rigorous scientific training and doctoral thesis program for him. “Qian Xuesen was a very diligent person who spent almost all his time in learning.” commented by his roommate Fan Xuji. From this perspective, Qian Xuesen’s growth from an ordinary foreign student to a world-class scientist was the result of his hard work.

3 Extended Scholarship from Tsinghua University

Before going to the United States, state-funded students must sign a pledge to abide by the “Regulations for State-funded Students of National Tsinghua University”, which stipulated their rights and obligations and specified the students’ performance evaluation and the number of years of financial support. The archival records at Tsinghua University showed that Qian Xuesen was granted two extensions of his scholarship. It was these two extensions that enabled Qian Xuesen to complete his doctoral studies and to work and live in the United States on legal status.

The first extension of scholarship

In 1932, Tsinghua University decided to abolish the U.S.-based office and entrusted the financial and academic affairs on the part of the students to the China Institute in America. Before Qian Xuesen went to MIT for registration, China Institute in America had already sent him tuition in advancement. After enrollment, Qian Xuesen received a monthly scholarship of $100 from the China Institute in America to cover his daily living expenses.

According to the “Regulations for State-funded Students of National Tsinghua University” (“Regulations”), the financial support for state-funded students lasted two years, but if it was necessary, the students could apply for an extension for half a year or one year after the approval of the council prior to the expiration of the period. This flexible financial aid policy helped nurture a large number of outstanding talents and Qian Xuesen was one of them.

The year of 1937 was the third year of Qian Xuesen’s third year in the United States. As early as October of 1936, when he arrived at Caltech for his doctoral studies, Qian Xuesen wrote to the president’ office of Tsinghua University to apply for an extension of scholarship. According to the archival records, on March 15, 1937, the 124th Council of Tsinghua University approved the extension of Qian Xuesen’s scholarship for one year and recommended that he continue to “focus on research related to aircraft frames”. In fact, more than half of the students who had earned their master’s degrees and wished to continue their doctoral studies had applied for extensions, including Gu Gongshu, Xiao Zhizhi, Wang Zhuxi, Zhao Jiuzhang, and Xia Nai. According to the “Regulations”, students were required to mail their academic research or internship achievements signed and certified by the head of the school or factory and sent to Tsinghua University for assessment, and “if the results were not good, their scholarship would be cancelled (Fig. 11).”

The second extension of scholarship

In 1938, Qian Xuesen was in his second year of doctoral studies at Caltech and had exceeded the maximum limit of three years of funding set by Tsinghua University. Since he was still working on his doctoral dissertation, he decided to write a letter to the president’s office of Tsinghua University on June 7, applying for another extention of scholarship. He wrote in the letter:

In the 24th year of the Republic of China (1935), I went to the United States to study aeronautical engineering, at MIT for the first year and at Caltech at for the second and third year. I had worded hard and now I felt quite sure about independent research. In February of this year, I presented a paper entitled “Boundary Layer in Compressible Fluids” (published in the Journal of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), jointly with Professor von Kármán at the annual conference of the American Aeronautical Society. Another paper entitled “Supersonic Flow over an Inclined Body of Revolution” was forthcoming. I believed that my academic ability could be further cultivated if I could learn under the guidance of Professor von Kármán for one more year and could serve my country better in the future. Professor von Kármán also suggested that this would be the best choice under the present circumstances. As such, I would kindly request another year’s extension of the scholarship, which would last until July of the 38th year of the Republic of China (1939).

Fig. 11

Qian Xuesen’s report card in the Tsinghua University Archives

Von Kármán also wrote to Mei Yiqi on June 8, speaking highly of Qian Xuesen’s research ability, and he especially stressed that Qian’s research results had been used in the military field, hoping that Mei Yiqi would agree to Qian Xuesen’s application for extending his scholarship. Since there was no precedent for two extensions of scholarships at Tsinghua University, Mei Yiqi immediately asked Provost Pan Guangdan for his opinion. Pan Guangdan then consulted Feng Guilian, head of the Department of Aviation. Feng believed that the extension of scholarship for one more year would not only benefit Qian individually, but also the country in the future. Finally, with the consent of Mei Yiqi, the funding period of scholarship for Qian Xuesen was extended again. The decision was proved right that in 1939, Qian Xuesen completed his paper “Two-dimensional subsonic flow of compressible fluids” under the guidance of von Kármán. This paper, known worldwide as “the Kármán–Tsien formula”, was almost universally applied in the field of aerospace science until the modern computers made inroads. Therefore, it was worth considering whether Qian Xuesen would have made this outstanding achievement if Tsinghua University had not agreed to his application and he had returned to China before completing his Ph.D. Thus, one had to admire the foresight of Tsinghua University, especially of the president Mei Yiqi.

There were three kinds of passports in the Republic of China: diplomatic, official and ordinary. Qian Xuesen’s passport was an ordinary passport, valid for three years (from July 15, 1935 to July 14, 1938). If the period was exceeded, he must apply to the consular office of the Republic of China in the United States for an extension, and each time it was valid for one year. Qian Xuesen's passport had 11 applications for extension at the Consulate General of the Republic of China in Los Angeles and the Consulate in Boston, and he had to pay a registration fee ranging from one to five dollars each time. Undoubtedly, Qian Xuesen’s status during his stay in the United States was a citizen of the Republic of China.

On the one hand, Qian’s choice at a crucial moment enabled him to maintain legal status in the United States to pursue his studies. On the other hand, his mentor, von Kármán’s assistance showed the value of Qian Xuesen as his research partner. That was why von Kármán devoted a chapter in his autobiography to the memory of “Dr. Qian of Red China”.

4 Life-Long Beneficial Academic Training

Under the strict training of his mentor Theodore Von Kármán, Qian Xuesen mastered a set of effective scientific research methods in the process of research, which he summarized as “To be erudite, then to be concise; from specialized to professional, from professional to mastery.”

To be erudite, then to be concise: strengthening the ability to carry out literature review

In the process of rapid development of modern science, there has been a trend of “overlapping” in the development of science and technology. Therefore, it is not only necessary but essential to review previous researches before starting a new research topic. It is not only a prerequisite for research, but also a “tribute” to our predecessors in the academic field.

During his doctoral study, Qian Xuesen emphasized on training his ability to carry out literature review. After he joined the rocket research group organized by Frank Malina in 1937, in order to improve the small liquid propellant test rocket, he comprehensively and systematically reviewed the existing researches and wrote a 114-page literature review. His references include: 12 earlier papers from 1827 to 1931, 37 professional books from 1913 to 1933, and 19 professional research papers from 1927 to 1935. In addition, he consulted articles published in four professional journals in recent ten years on combustion chamber temperature, ideal rocket efficiency, gas expansion generated by combustion, combustion nozzle design, engine thrust calculation and so on.

Literature review should enumerate, describe, summarize, evaluate and clarify the previous research objectively. It provides a theoretical base for the research and help one determine the nature of his or her research. Qian Xuesen put:

Doing research was to expand the existing areas of knowledge and know the academic frontier. Therefore, we must know the latest development of science as well as the latest academic achievements. When I had spare time, I would go to read the latest papers on the open display rack of periodicals in the college library and got some inspiration [3].

Comprehensive and systematic literature review could help avoid repetitive research and find new research directions. In his long research process, Qian Xuesen valued two important methods, reading and analyzing. By reading the introduction and conclusion of a research paper, one can judge the paper’s academic level as the author would usually raise a research question and put forward the solution at the introductory part and summarize the results in conclusion [4]. Later, when Qian Xuesen was a doctoral supervisor, he also taught this method to his postgraduates.

From specialized to professional: writing high-quality academic papers

Academic papers are important manifestations of one’s scientific research ability. During his doctoral studies, Qian Xuesen published a number of high-quality academic papers in international professional journals. At the aerodynamics session of the sixth annual conference of the American Academy of Aeronautical Sciences on January 26, 1938, Qian delivered a report titled “Boundary Layer in Compressible Fluids”, which was completed by himself under the guidance of von Kármán. This academic report was part of Qian Xuesen’s doctoral thesis, and his “debut” in the field of Aeronautics in the United States. After the conference, Qian revised and submitted the report to Journal of Aeronautical Sciences, which was published in volume 5 in 1938. This was Qian’s first officially published academic paper. Although Qian Xuesen was the second author, the publication stimulated his strong desire to write high-quality academic papers. Since then, Qian had successively completed many academic papers by himself or jointly with other scholars and most of which had been published in international academic journals.

Qian Xuesen was a diligent writer and a good thinker, and achieved the goal of specialization through writing and publishing high-quality academic papers. Under the guidance of his supervisor von Kármán, he divided his doctoral dissertation entitled “Flow of Compressible Fluids and Reaction Propulsion” into four parts. The first part was “Boundary Layers of Compressible Fluids”, which was based on the academic report he completed in collaboration with his supervisor. The second part was “Supersonic Winding Flow of Rotating Bodies with Angle of Attack”, which he completed independently under the guidance of his supervisor. The third part, “Application of Tschapligin Transformation to Two-Dimensional Subsonic Flow”, was later published as “Two-Dimensional Subsonic Flow of Compressible Fluids” (the Kármán–Tsien formula”). The fourth part, “Analysis of the flight of sounding rockets propelled by continuous pulses”, was a collaborative effort with Frank Malina. The first three parts were theoretical research, while the fourth part was applied research, that was, to solve practical problems. Qian Xuesen vividly compared the writing of his graduation thesis to “military training”, the step prior to scientific research. When he returned to teach at the University of Science and Technology of China, he said:

What meant by writing a thesis? It was the first practice for students to do research work. Students attended classes for the first few years, and the way of learning was mainly listening to lectures, reviewing, doing exercises and taking exams. There was no experience in how to do research work. Doing thesis was like military training, a transition from the knowledge learning to doing research and preparing for the future job. Only by training the army well could we make better contributions to the country in the future [5].

Qian Xuesen also put that since doing thesis was like “military training” for the future scientific research, we should be strict with it and regard it as a real battle. Because of this, he always thought holistically during the process of designing his doctoral thesis. He always emphasized later:

There was an old Chinese saying, “Learning makes one wise.” It meant to understand the laws of nature. Mastering the laws of nature was the foundation of our future work. How could this knowledge be truly mastered? It was to master the contents in an outline, and use several lines to string them together. We needed to understand what could work and what would not work in nature.

Therefore, in the process of writing his doctoral dissertation, Qian Xuesen worked “one part by one part”, but he always had a general outline and “was able to string them together with several lines”, and finally completed his thesis as scheduled. One of the research papers that made him famous in the community of Journal of Aeronautical Sciences was “Two-dimensional subsonic flow of compressible fluids” (the “Kármán–Tsien formula”). As a witness to the creation of this paper, William Rees Sears, Qian’s colleague, later recalled it in a fascinating way. Sears once went to von Kármá’s house and heard the discussion between von Kármán and Qian about their mathematical manuscripts. It turned out that von Kármán and Qian Xuesen had performed their calculations on the same problem in different ways and obtained the same results [6]. In other words, Qian Xuesen found a new method of calculation, so when this paper was published later, von Kármán insisted that Qian Xuesen would be the sole author. When Qian Xuesen published this paper, he specifically stated in acknowledgement: “The author expresses his gratitude to Dr. Th. von Kármán for suggesting the subject and for his kindly criticism during the course of the work (Fig. 12).”

Fig. 12

Qian Xuesen's doctoral dissertation title page and certificate of Doctor of Philosophy from Caltech

Qian Xuesen defended his doctoral dissertation in May 1939 and received his doctorate from Caltech. It can be said that the efforts behind this certificate laid the foundation for Qian Xuesen’s subsequent development in the field of aerospace science research, and gradually made him emerge as a young Chinese scholar in the world scientific community. When Qian Xuesen received his doctorate, he put on his doctoral uniform, posed well, and asked his friend Fan Xuji to take a full-body photo on this day of great commemorative significance (Fig. 13).

Fig. 13

A photo of Qian Xuesen in Caltech doctoral uniform (Photo by Fan Xuji)

From professional to mastery: building a broad system of scientific knowledge

In Song Dynasty, a scholar named Lu Dian once said, “There must be a teacher for learning and there must be a friend for teaching”. That is, one must discuss with teachers and friends for learning. Because individual insight is always limited, it is impossible to for individuals to learn everything. Qian Xuesen paid special attention to academic communication during his study, and was deeply influenced by his mentor, von Kármán. In the mid to late 1930s, there were many Chinese students studying at Caltech, such as Yuan Jialiu, Tan Jiazhen, Gu Gongxu, Yin Hongzhang, Zhu Zhengyuan, Huang Xiaqian, Guo Yicheng, Yuan Shaowen and so on. Qian Xuesen later recalled:

I was transferred from MIT to Caltech in the fall of 1936 to pursue my Ph.D. When I arrived at Caltech, I met Guo Yicheng, who was in the Department of Physics and we met every day and got along very well. At that time, there were Tan Jiazhen and Yin Hongzhang in the Department of Biology, as well as some Chinese students from other departments. The Chinese students advocated mutual learning to expand our knowledge, so we gathered in a classroom for academic discussions at about 10:00 a.m every Sunday morning [7].

Such salon-style academic discussions helped them understand the frontiers of their disciplines and develop a broad academic perspective in the process of communicating with each other. On January 23, 1993, when Qian Xuesen wrote to Zeng Chengkui, an academician of the Academy of Sciences, he recalled, “I had listened to your lecture on the importance of reproducing kelp at the Sunday morning academic discussions at Caltech in the 1930s, and that was 60 years ago!” Evidently, Qian Xuesen was very impressed by this kind of academic activity. Later, when he was the director of the Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Center at Caltech, discussion classes were integrated into the curriculum, and his class became “one of the most active discussion classes on the Caltech campus, with almost all professors talking regardless of who was presenting, and the atmosphere was so lively.” Zheng Zhemin, one of Qian’s doctoral students, had attended the class and recalled:

In a jet propulsion discussion class, Mr. Qian gave a wonderful speech on how to conduct theoretical research and the relationship between practice or experiment and theory, which left a deep impression on me. He drew a diagram on the blackboard with a curve to represent the progress of theoretical research and two straight lines forming a trumpet-like line on both sides of the curve to represent practice or experiment. He said that when the curve collided with the straight line, a change in the direction or path of theoretical research should be considered, and that only under the condition that theory and practice constantly interacted with each other could theoretical research make substantial progress. Now although decades had passed, Mr. Qian’s diagram was still clearly imprinted in my mind [8].

These kind of academic discussions are effective in expanding one’s academic vision and building a broad knowledge system by “crossing over” from specialized courses to other research fields. Qian Xuesen later concluded: “The more extensive one’s knowledge scope was, the deeper one could master; the more experiences one had, the more one could take “shortcuts” in the process of figuring out the mechanism and building models. This could reflect a scholar’s research level.” This is because for a scientist with a strategic vision, he or she not only had a professional foundation, but also a broad academic vision.

Because of the high student to faculty ratio at Caltech, discussion classes were common, where students and faculty were free to discuss and even “go head-to-head” with each other’s ideas. However, these academic “rivals” often became friends. For example, Qian Xuesen often went to the chemistry department to listen to the head of the chemistry department, L. Pauling’ lectures on structural chemistry. Although they were more than ten years apart, they became good friends in the process of discussion and exchange. Later, Pauling’s idea of taking large doses of vitamins was generally opposed by the biomedical community, but Qian Xuesen supported Pauling by taking vitamins himself. In this democratic academic culture at Caltech, there was no distinction between faculty and students, and full discussion was possible no matter how young or how old one was (Figs. 14, 15 and 16).

Fig. 14

Weekend academic discussion for Chinese Students at Caltech (Photo by Qian Xuesen)

Fig. 15

Group photo of Chinese students at Caltech after the weekend academic discussion (third from right is Qian Xuesen)

Fig. 16

Qian Xuesen and other Chinese students at a dam project site

This democratic academic culture at Caltech deeply influenced Qian Xuesen and became the gene of his academic life. In his scientific career, Qian Xuesen’s new ideas were rooted in his courage to express his opinions in front of academic authorities. Qian Xuesen’s doctoral research turned to aerodynamic theory, which was considered as “abandoning engineering for science.” However, he knew that “solving engineering problems with mathematical theory” must not ignore engineering, so he often sought out engineers to exchange ideas while studying for his doctorate, and he often went to engineering sites, as he believed that “seeing was believing.” Through three years of academic training, he formed the scientific research method of “To be erudite, then to be concise; from specialized to professional, from professional to mastery.” Qian Xuesen had a deeper understanding of the value of “combining theory and practice.” The connotation of technical scientific thought and its methodology gradually became clear.

5 Professional Music Critic

Being a member of the school orchestra at Jiaotong University, Qian Xuesen played euphonium quite well and he also read music theory books intensively. Little known was that he had three music reviews published in his early years. Two reviews were published on the eve of traveling to the United States, and the third one was published when he studied in the United States. It was justifiable to say that Qian Xuesen was a professional music critic as well as a musician “obscured” by his scientific research.

The first review: “Music and the Content of Music”

The first review entitled “Music and the Content of Music” was published in Zhejiang Youth (Vol. 1, Issue. 4, 1935), a magazine edited and printed by the Department of Education of Zhejiang Province. When he read a news report on some concerts held in a primary and secondary school in Hangzhou at the end of December 1934, he noticed that “harmonica solo”, “jing hu solo” and “er’hu solo” were in the concert’s program list. He then realized that the students seemed to “fail to understand music in a correct way”, and decided to write a review to “explain to the youth of Zhejiang Province so that they could know how to appreciate music.” In this review, starting from his own musical experiences, Qian Xuesen focused on three aspects from the perspective of his peers.

Firstly, how could one understand music properties? Qian Xuesen found that most young people’s understanding of music was still at the superficial level and neglected its content. Although many young people considered music as art, they did not see it as the same as literature, painting and other forms of arts. For them, music was a means of communication and was given a utilitarian purpose. For example, at a school concert, a girlfriend of his classmate played the piano, his classmate asked others to applaud and shout “Encore”! It was very wrong to go to a concert with such a mood. Then, how should young people understand music? Qian Xuesen explained by analogy.

After reading a novel, one would feel a kind of pleasure and comfort, not because of the whiteness of the paper or the exquisite printing, but because of the moving content. When one looked at a landscape painting, one would feel a kind of pleasure and comfort, not because of the vividness of the colors or the majestic tone of the brush, but because it led him or her into the world in the painting and merge with the content of the painting. When one looked at a plaster statue, one would feel a kind of pleasure and comfort, because he or she was moved by the change and harmony of all the curves of the statue. After reading a poem, one would feel a sense of comfort and a sense of consolation, not because of the arrangement of the syllables or words of the poem, but because of the beauty of the content it contained. This was true of novels, landscapes, statues and poems, and it was also true of music. The appreciation of music must focus on the content and on the flow of the emotions. Thus the best music must contain the most moving content, and the best music performance must be the most understandable and moving. In other words, the quality of music was completely based on its content.

It is clear that Qian Xuesen believed that good music was an interaction between the performer and the listener in terms of “content.” “In the case of the listener, of course, the ability to listen and appreciate was essential, but in the case of the performer, he must also be able to express the content of the piece completely”, he added. How to fully express the content of a musical piece? Qian put, “Firstly, the musical instrument used must suffice to express itself, and secondly, the performer must have the adequate technique to express the content. The perfect music must have all three aspects.” Qian then gave an example: “Three years ago, when I was listening to music at the Hangzhou Youth Association, a lady played Beethoven’s dance music, and many people applauded afterwards. But I didn’t want to applaud. I thought that she played just like an automatic steel piano. Technique was only the means of music performance, not the life of music performance; the life of music performance was the expression of content!”.

Secondly, how could one improve the ability to appreciate music? There is a dialectical relationship between music theory and appreciation practice. Knowing theory helps guide practice, and through practice one can understand the mystery of theory more deeply. Qian Xuesen believed that the only way to improve music appreciation ability was to listen to famous music, by “starting from simple ballads, gradually to short fiddle pieces, piano pieces, then trios, quartets, and finally to the largest, most informative symphony”. He then pointed out that for beginners, it would be best that some professionals could provide with them some guidance, to “explain the content of each piece”. He further explained:

It was true that the interpretation of the content of a piece of music did not have to be the same for everyone, and each person could have his or her own interpretations according to his or her own free imagination. But for the beginners, it would be better to tell them how to understand the content of the piece.

Qian Xuesen explained his idea through a song, the “Old Black Joe” written by the American folk songwriter Stephen C. Foster’s (see The One Hundred and One Best Songs XLVI). The first half of the lyrical lines expressed the desolation of loneliness, and the middle two lines, “I’m coming”, were either heavy or light, like echoes of an empty valley, which made Old Black Joe’s loneliness more outstanding. The last two lines led to the apex of the whole song and made one so moved.

Thirdly, how could one appreciate world-class masterpieces? One needs to improve his or her appreciation of music by listening to the works of famous artists. How exactly could one achieve this? When Qian Xuesen studied at Jiaotong Univeristy, there was a large orchestra in Shanghai that gave orchestral music recitals every Sunday from October to May. In addition, many of the world’s most famous performers would come to Shanghai to give concerts, such as violinist Efrem Zimbalist and pianist Leonid Kreutzer and so on. However, these elegant concerts were expensive and thus unrealistic for most young people. Even if the next best thing was to listen to famous songs over and over again on the phonograph, the prices of musical records were far beyond the average student’s ability to pay, at about 6.60 yuan each. Qian Xuesen proposed a “crowd funding” approach as he explained:

Students could organize a group with members of 40 people. If each member would pay 40 cents a month, there would be 16 yuan in all. They could negotiate with the record company for a discount. Three gramophone records could be purchased in a month. One could listen to the record twice, three times, four times... This was most suitable for beginners. As for the record player, one could buy a second-hand one at 20 or 30 yuan. The school could also sponsor the students to buy a recorder player. For such an organization, it was important to have a professional instructor who would help select and purchase the musical records and provide guidance in music appreciation.

Second review: “Mechanical Music”

The second review entitled “Mechanical Music” was published in Music Education (Vol. 3, Issue. 8, 1935), edited and distributed by Jiangxi Provincial Committee for the Promotion of Music Education. This review well disclosed Qian Xuesen’s identity as an engineering student, as he focused on the combination of “machinery” and “music” from the perspective of science and technology. Three aspects were discussed in this review.

Firstly, what wass “mechanical music”? The concept of “mechanical music” was in comparison to “living music”. With the emergence of machinery, various human activities were “replaced” by machinery, and there was mechanization in the form of artistic expression. For example, the phonograph has become an indispensable medium for the preservation of modern music. However, Qian Xuesen argued that “mechanical music” was not simply a substitute for “living music”, but “could become an independent category in modern art”, based on the differences between “mechanical music” and “living music.”

According to Qian Xuesen, the elements of a good performance were threefold: the score, the technique, and the instrument. The differences between “mechanical music” and “living music” lies in technique and instrument, because the technique of “a living performer’ (e.g., pianist, violinist) was limited by his physiological maximums, such as arm strength, lung capacity, physique, articulation strengthand so on. In addition, each instrument had its own timbre at the time of production, i.e., the timbre of each instrument was also “limited” and could not be changed at will. However, “mechanical music” was able to break through the limitations of “physiology” and “technology” and could accomplish what “living music” could not do. He concluded:

What “mechanical music” could do was what “living music” could not do. “Mechanical music” was to open and remove these two limitations: the physical limitations of the performer and the limitations of the musical instruments. This liberation was what the mechanical industry was to the handicraft industry - the mechanical industry rescued industry from the limitations of manpower and tools. The “mechanical music” liberated music from the limitations of performance technology as Paul Stefan called it, “machinery was the way to greater freedom, the way to greater possibilities.”

Secondly, what was the unique value of “mechanical music” as an independent art discipline? Qian Xuesen believed that the value of “mechanical music” should be considered from two aspects: whether “mechanical music” could evoke listerners’ thoughts and emotion; and whether the image (in this case sound) could conform unhindered and correctly to such evoked feelings and thoughts. To the first question, his answer was affirmative:

No matter how ordinary music was, the composer recorded his thoughts and feelings in the music score. In the performance, the performer reinterpreted the score and his or her performance displayed his own thoughts and feelings. This process was no different in “mechanical music.” Although in some “mechanical music”, the thoughts and feelings of the composer were recorded directly and later transformed into sound without fail, this was still entirely under the control of the composer.

In fact, in the whole process of music creation, the only difference between “mechanical music” and “living music” was the distance from the player’s emotional thought to the expression of the sound, and “living music” was more direct than “mechanical music.” When a flute was played, once the air came out of the mouth and the finger pressed a button, the sound came out. But what about music played through the radio? The sound must pass through the many direct air tubes of the radio station, complex circuitry, and then run thousands of miles though the radio wave, and then by the radio antenna to another set of direct air tubes and circuitry. Finally it had to pass through the amplification tube to reach the ears of the audience. Because of this long distance, people felt that the role of the composer and performer was small and invisible. It seemed that it was machinery that controlled everything. But if you gave a thought about it, you would know that it was wrong.

His answer to the second question was that “mechanical music” was better than “living music.” He said:

“Mechanical music” would outperform live music. Why? “Mechanical music” had a broader and freer expressivity than that of musical instruments; therefore it was inevitable that “mechanical music” was more capable of expressing the thoughts and feelings of the composer and performer correctly and without hindrance.

Qian Xuesen also thought that the artistic value of a new thing like “mechanical music” was no less than “living music”. Therefore, “mechanical music” could become an independent artistic discipline. However, he also raised the question of whether it was possible to produce music specifically for “mechanical music”, so that the technical strengths of machinery could be fully exploited.

Thirdly, what was the sounding principle of “mechanical music”? After discussing the concept and value of “mechanical music”, Qian Xuesen introduced the sounding principle of “mechanical music.” He summarized four kinds of “mechanical music”: Mechanical Tone-Production, Mechanical–Electrical Tone-Production, Electrical Tone-Production, and Photo-Electrical Tone-Production. Qian Xuesen’s explanation of the four “mechanical music” sounding principles revealed his expertise in understanding music. He also summarized the relationship between “mechanical music” and “living music” in a dialectical perspective. He said:

In terms of articulatory structure, we shall include the phonograph, radio and sound film in the category of “mechanical music.” However, since these devices were not to create new technical possibilities and they were not independent of general music, they were different from the mechanical instruments mentioned above. In this sense, they were not kinds of musical instruments, but communication tools. The merits of the phonograph, the radio and the sound film were to increase and intensify the inherent role of music in society.

However, it was also not quite true to say that they were completely unable to create new technical possibilities at all. In the process of filming audio movies, the elements such as dialogue, music and singing were processed separately. The final film with soundtrack was produced by synchronizing those elements. Recently, it was reported that some American had acquired method of filling phonograph records separately. For example, we could fill the violin part, and then fill the piano accompaniment part in the same piece to make a violin sole. Leaving aside whether this method had artistic value or not, it was beyond doubt that it had opened up a new path.

This review was ostensibly a discussion of music, but behind it was a discussion of the social impact of scientific and technological developments. Qian Xuesen was keenly aware of how new technology could give rise to such new things as “mechanical music”. Through this review, it was clear that the young Qian Xuesen was curious and longing for the world of the future as he enjoyed beautiful music. As he said, the development of science and technology would bring all kinds of new possibilities, and although many of these developments were only first steps, “inevitably, we had already begun a new era.”

The third review: “An American Correspondence”

On September 3, 1935, Qian Xuesen arrived in Seattle on the west coast of the United States after a ten-day voyage on steamship President Jackson. He stayed in Seattle for a few days and did not forget to ask the local youth association if there was a concert hall in Seattle and when there was a concert. Afterwards, Qian Xuesen took a train to the MIT in Boston on the East Coast to go through the admission procedures and start his study life.

In early 1936, Qian Xuesen’s cousin Li Yuanqing, who was the editor of Music Education magazine in the Committee for the Promotion of Music Education in Jiangxi Province, sent him a letter, hoping that he would write an introduction on the music scene in the United States for the magazine. Qian Xuesen then wrote a reply letter with more than 2,500 words, which was published in Music Education (Vol. 4, No. 4, 1936), entitled “An American Correspondence”, dated March 31, 1936. Qian wrote at the beginning of the letter:

The situation in North China had grown tense since last year and I had thought magazines such as Music Education might cease publishing. During the winter holidays, I could have written something for you but I thought maybe you did not need it. Since I was quite busy, what I wrote might not be fit for your magazine.

Qian Xuesen’s letter touched upon three aspects: his views on Music Education; the situation of the American music scene; and the situation of opera in the United States.

Qian Xuesen was a devoted reader of Music Education before he left for the United States. His second music review was published in Music Education. He not only enjoyed listening to music, but also had high musical accomplishment as he read widely and intensively on music. He wrote in his letter:

I was afraid that the style of Music Education was a bit dull as it focused more on music theories. I certainly liked the theoretical work that you and Mr. Miao have done, but I was afraid that it might not be suitable for the general readership. And misconceptions about music were still not corrected. I would propose to include in the magazine, as far as possible, accounts and reviews of current music events in China. And in this way could we naturally correct current misconceptions. The magazine might also include small addenda, in order to point out the misconceptions of the newspapers and magazines about music in a sarcastic tone. For example, I once saw a novel written by KuroSakura in Modern Times the year before last, which wrote that Beethoven’s Symphony No. 18 was played in a dance hall! That was the right material. I thought there must be inexhaustible examples of such nasty instances in China.

“Were Americans really interested in music?” Qian asked before introducing the American music scene. He then answered this quesiton based on his own experiences. When he arrived in the United States and lived in the MIT dormitory, he went to Boston Symphony Hall to enjoy a concert every week by bus. In his letter, Qian described what he saw and heard during his trips to the concerts as follows:

There were about 400 students boarding on campus. However, only two or three, sometimes none, would go to Boston Symphony Hall together with me every week. Although this might not be a reliable way to calculate the number of students attending the concert, it was certain that this was similar to the situation in Chinese universities. In terms of audiences’ age range, seven out of ten were in their forties and fifties, with the least number of middle-aged people, and most of the teenagers were girls from secondary schools. Moreveerm, most of the senior audiences were wealthy people. Listening to concerts was a necessity of the upper class for socializing. Therefore, I would resonably doubt that those teenage girls were recommended by their music teacher to the concert. From this point of view, Americans were not necessarily much more interested in music than the Chinese were. As for those who went to concerts, whether they had the ability of music appreciation was also doubtful. I once heard my seatmate say to his companion in Stravinsky’s Le Sacre Du Printemps: “Oh, it was funny!” But such a person was very energetic when he was applauding. In the case of Boston Symphony Orchestra, which I often went to, it was common that the conductor, Serze Koussavisky, had to get up three times for each piece. Among over a dozen audiences next to me, I only saw one person, also a frequenter, did not do this. He shook his head and did not applaud when the conductor did not well.

Probably, this was just one side of music scene in the States as what I talked about was symphony concert. Many people could not afford the concert as it usually would cost $0.85 for back seat ticket in concert hall while it cost only around $0.3 for a matinee and $0.5 for night movie. Symphonies were also played on the radio four or five times a week during the music season, though “hot music” were played for the most of time.

Qian Xuesen introduced the situation of radio music, in terms of time, repertoire and conductor and so on. He specifically mentioned the use of radio music for advertising by Ford Motor Company and General Motors as they were competitors. He approved of this method, as he sometimes heard good music and music critics through this channel.

Qian Xuesen then introduced the situation of opera in the United States. At that time, the best opera house in the United States was the Metropolitan Opera in New York. At the time of Qian Xuesen’s letter, this opera house had just performed in Boston for a week. But from the letter, we could see that Qian did not like opera, and even found it “hateful.” Why was that? From the letter, we can see the reason as he said:

I regarded music as the most abstract and sublimated art, while drama was real and material. Because of this fundamental differences, it was impossible to fuse them into a new art, i.e. Wagner's Music drama. Only dancing, or the art of dancing, was worthy to be integrated with music, because dancing was a sublimation of human expression, abstracted. The great dancer Duncan was right when she said: “Wagner had great achievements, but the master also made a big mistake” (see Isadora Duncan's autobiography My Life), and Wagner’s beautiful music in Goetter Daemmerung and Parsifald could be said to have been spoiled. As for the applause of the opera audience at the end of each section, it was particularly annoying that the final musical flavor was ruined.

This comment shows how Qian Xuesen lived in his early days in the United States, especially when he first arrived and needed to adapt to new life. He might feel longly as a foreign student, but he could go to a concert in Boston every week to satisfy his hobby. What would Qian think about when he sat in the bus on the way back to school after the concert? Maybe he was missing his father in Shanghai, or his late mother, or his future life. When he wrote this letter, he was twenty-five years old, in the prime of his youth.

Qian Xuesen maintained a keen interest in music while attending Caltech for his doctorate. Every summer he went to open-air concerts in Hollywood, and in winter he attended chamber concerts near the school. In addition, he mobilized his fellow students William Rees Sears and Frank Marble to form a “Harp Trio.” Sears played the soprano harp, Qian played the alto harp, and Marble played the tenor harp. The three of them often played together, and the pleasant sound of the flute echoed in the quiet campus. The “Harp Trio” did not disband until 1941, when Sears left Caltech.

Interestingly, Qian Xuesen also made the comment in this review that “I personally had no interest in opera,” but he later disproved his judgment by proposing to Jiang Ying. Today, the love story of scientist Qian Xuesen and soprano Jiang Ying was widely known.