Born to do science? A case study of family factors in the academic lives of the Chinese scientific elite

Institute of Contemporary China Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China

Abstract Primarily based on data collected by the Project for Collecting Historic Data of Scientists’ Academic Life, this paper sets out to analyse the cultural and social role of family factors in the academic lives of three prominent scientists:He Zehui, Wang Shouwu and Wang Shoujue.It was found that, while providing economic support, in the cultural dimension, their family conveyed the idea of saving the nation through science and industry, offered guidance on research career planning and cultivated the concept of feminism; in the social dimension, the three scientists clearly benefited from the academic power and social networks of their family members.This case study of a Chinese scientific family reveals an integration between Western scientific culture and Chinese family culture, and extracts some family factors that have great influence on the academic lives of the scientific elite.

Keywords He Zehui, Wang Shouwu, Wang Shoujue, family factors, Chinese scientific elite

In the study of the scientific community, sociologists of science have paid attention to the influence of the family in the academic lives of the scientific elite.With regard to financial conditions, researchers have pointed out that in the United States, as well as in China before the war against Japan, a good family income provided a relatively good start for children to engage in scientific research, but that such influence weakened in China once the war began (Andreas, 2009: 22;Bai, 2007: 13-25; Cao, 2004: 77-83; Zukerman,1977: 63-68).Bourdieu (1986) divided a family’s education capital into economic, cultural and social capital.It is the task of historians of science to show how the cultural and social capital of families affects the academic lives of outstanding scientists.In answering that question, one dilemma lies in the fact that it is often difficult to clearly distinguish the influence of family factors from the influence of other factors when tracing the academic life of an individual scientist.As a result, the role of the family may be easily exaggerated or ignored.To address this deficiency, one possible approach is to explore what elite scientists from the same family, namely the scientific family, have in common in their access to family cultural and social capital.

During the development of modern science in China, several scientific families that reconciled the characteristics of the traditional Chinese family under the imperial civil examination system and the Western scientific family emerged.In this paper, I have selected the Wang-He family (Figures 1 and 2), the largest scientific family in China, for a case study.The core members of the family were in the lineage of Wang Jitong, son of Wang Songwei, and the lineage of Wang Jishan, daughter of Wang Songwei.Among Wang Jitong’s children,Wang Shouwu, Wang Shoujue and Wang Shouli’s husband Lu Xueshan were all members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); among Wang Jishan’s children, He Zehui and her husband Qian Sanqiang and He Yizhen’s husband Ge Tingsui were CAS members.Based on oral history,letters, manuscripts and other forms of data on He Zehui1, Wang Shouwu2and Wang Shoujue3from the Project for Collecting Historic Data of Scientists’ Academic Life (PCDS), this research analyses family influences on these three scientists and sheds light on the cultural and social role of the family in the lives the scientific elite.

1.Cultivation of the idea of saving the country through science

After inductive science was introduced into China in the 19th century, local actors in China’s scientific development often took a strong patriotic and collectivist stance (Wang, 2019a).In the specific case of He Zehui, before she and her husband returned to China to devote themselves to science and technology for national defence, she had shown her determination to fight against Japanese aggression using her knowledge of ballistics.4Naturally, this could be attributed to the wider idea of ‘scientific nationalism’ (Wang, 2002),especially the idea of ‘studying hard to save the country’, which she accepted at Tsinghua University (Peng et al., 1994).However, we should not ignore that she had already displayed a rational tendency to patriotism before entering university.When the Japanese marine corps landed in neighbouring Shanghai in 1931, there were some pessimistic voices in Suzhou.But Zehui wrote that such pessimism was useless and that people should instead ‘think of ways to save our country and compatriots’ (He, 1931).

Figure 2.A group photo of the Wang-He family in 1931, showing Wangxie Changda (in the middle); Wang Shouwu (second from left), Wang Shoujue (third from left) and Wang Shourong (third from right) in the front row; and He Zehui (first from left), He Yizhen (third from left), Guan Shangxiao (fourth from left), Wang Shouli (fifth from left), He Cheng (second from right),Wang Jitong (third from right), Wang Shoujing (fifth from right), Wang Jishan (sixth from right) and Wang Jiyu(seventh from right) in the back row (Source: PCDS).

Before going to university in 1932, Zehui had studied in Zhenhua Girls’ School in Suzhou, which was founded by her maternal grandmother, Wangxie Changda and headed by her aunt, Wang Jiyu.As a result, her thoughts were deeply affected by family culture via both family and school education.Her maternal grandfather, Wang Songwei advocated fighting against foreign aggression in the late Qing Dynasty and died in sorrow after China’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War.5Her father, He Cheng,an early member of the Chinese Revolutionary League, once studied in Japan and had a strong sense of national salvation.Members of Zehui’s family generally had high levels of education.Meanwhile,her aunts - Wang Jizhao, Wang Jichai and Wang Jiyu- all went to study in the United States.Among them, Wang Jichai was the first Chinese female doctor in chemistry (Kang and Li, 2012).Before Zehui went to university, her eldest sister, He Yizhen, had already graduated from Ginling College in 1930 and went to study in the United States.Given that Zehui grew up in a family with both scientific and national salvation traditions, it comes as no surprise that she believed in saving the country through science.

Unlike He Zehui, Wang Shouwu and Wang Shoujue lived in Shanghai with their parents during their childhood.Their scientific enlightenment came mainly from their father, Wang Jitong, who was fond of mathematics when he was studying at the School of Combined Learning.Jitong visited the United Kingdom and later participated in the founding of the Academia Sinica.He was accomplished in mathematics and mechatronics and once bought an old hand-held calculator to teach his children mathematics (Wang, 2009).Influenced by the idea of national salvation through industry, the family attached importance to practical activities, and offered ‘all kinds of practical facilities to let children play by themselves’.For example, the Wang children used the chime clock at home to understand the operating principle of time telling and made toys and locks with tools and materials that their father brought home from his factory.6

One most typical example was light-bulb repair by Shouwu, who was in the fourth grade, and his elder brother Shourong.When they found that a bulb did not work because the filament was broken, they carefully broke the bulb glass and reconnected the filament.However, not only did the bulb fail to work, but all the lights in the house didn’t light up.Seeing what had happened, their father explained to them that the lights could not work because the fuse was broken and then told them about the principle of fuses.For Shouwu,this series of exercises and training improved his hands-on ability in scientific research: ‘The scientific atmosphere of my family contributed to my interest in natural science, and my knowledgeable father was the person who led me to the world of science’ (Figure 3).7

Figure 3.Wang Shouwu’s ‘I am a silly boy’ manuscript(Source: PCDS).

As a result, the idea of national salvation through industry was put into practice in the careers of the Wang children.For example, Wang Shoujing, the eldest son, obtained a PhD in physics from Columbia University.He served as Chairman of the Department of Physics of Peking University and participated in preparations to found the Chinese Physics Society.Later, his interest turned to ‘work that can make practical contributions to the country’ (Wu, 2005),and he also served as the director of the Central Machinery Factory of the Resources Committee of the National Government.Wang Shouwu participated in the preparation of the No.109 Factory of CAS in the 1950s and had been its director since 1980.Wang Shoujue also worked at the Shanghai Xincheng Electric Appliances Factory in the 1950s.

2.Motivation of feminist consciousness

Another influence of the family culture on He Zehui was the feminist idea of pursuing equality between males and females.It is true that science takes the principle of universalism as its value norm and rejects any restriction on science for any reason other than lack of competence (Merton, 1973: 272).However, obstacles generally exist for females entering, remaining in and advancing in science.Compared with the latter two aspects (the ‘pipeline’and ‘ceiling’ metaphors), the issue of entering science has received less attention but puzzled Zehui and her contemporary Chinese girls.

Take Wang Mingzhen, Zehui’s cousin, as an example.Mingzhen’s father, Wang Jitong, became a talented scientist through self-study, so he took a position of neither supporting nor opposing his children going to university, while her stepmother refused to pay for her university tuition.When Mingzhen was preparing to cancel a marriage arranged by her stepmother in order to study abroad,her father threatened to break their father-daughter relationship until her elder sister, Wang Shuzhen,came forward to persuade their father.Mingzhen won the first place in the examination of the board of the British Boxer Indemnity Scholarship, but Wu Youxun, who was the director of the question-setting team, considered it a waste of money to send girls to study physics abroad.Consequently, he replaced the first-placed Mingzhen with the secondplaced male student.On learning of this, Mingzhen dared not protest, ‘because I know that they would not change the list of admitted students ...they have the power, and I have to accept it’ (Wang,2006).Fortunately, Mingzhen was awarded a Barbour Scholarship to study at the University of Michigan, and her joint paper (with her supervisor)on Brownian motion had a great impact.

By contrast, He Zehui had a keen awareness of gender discrimination at an early stage and resisted it through concrete actions.After Zehui was admitted to the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University,Ye Qisun, the departmental head, who was of the‘old feudal guard’ in the eyes of Zehui, at first refused to accept female students and only changed that position because of a hard struggle by Zehui and her classmates (Zhang, 2006).After that, Zehui proved herself through outstanding study and research performance.Recalling Zehui’s significant scientific discoveries, Qian Sanqiang repeatedly praised her ‘keen and meticulous observation ability,exploration spirit of not letting go of any abnormal signs in scientific experiments, and skills in making correct analyses of new phenomena’ (Qian, 1989:44, 58).In one message she wrote to teenagers in her later years, Zehui especially reminded them that female students ‘should not be afraid of the habitual forces in society’ (Figure 4).8

Figure 4.Manuscript of He Zehui’s message to teenagers (Source: PCDS).

There is no doubt that Zehui and Mingzhen both had outstanding research capabilities, but they still needed the support of their family to engage in scientific research.Today, when people talk about Zehui’s feminist stance, they often associate it with her maternal grandmother,Wangxie Changda, and her Suzhou Zhenhua Girls’School.After the death of her husband, Wangxie Changda moved the whole family to Suzhou,organized a free-the-feet association in Suzhou to lead female opposition to foot-binding, and opened Zhenhua Girls’ School to provide education opportunities for girls.However, Mingzhen also benefited from her grandmother Wangxie Changda and Zhenhua Girls’ School: when Wangxie Changda saw the 10-year-old Mingzhen dressing her younger brother at home, she asked Mingzhen’s stepmother, ‘Mingzhen should go to school at this age.How could you leave her at home as a maid?’ As a result of such interventions,Mingzhen entered Zhenhua Girls’ School (Wang,2006).From a comparison of the family education of Zehui and Mingzhen, we can conclude that, in addition to the influence of her maternal grandmother and Zhenhua Girls’ School, Zehui’s awareness of gender equality was inseparable from or,even more importantly, strongly influenced by the support of her parents and aunts.

3.Guidance on research career planning

One important aspect of the Whig history of science in research on elite scientists is the ‘deification’ of their personalities and the linearization of their academic growth, while ignoring their basic attributes as laymen in the early stages of their careers.In fact, they faced some common problems, such as difficult choices of universities and majors and confusion over the direction of their postgraduate careers.Whether or not their families could offer guidance made a big difference.In Wang Shouli’s view, one characteristic of the higher education of the Wang brothers and sisters was unity and mutual assistance: ‘the elderly ones help the younger’ (Wang, 2009).According to Wang Shoujue’s recollection, when he and Wang Shouwu chose their undergraduate university, they were influenced by Wang Shoujing, their eldest brother,who had returned home from a trip to Germany, so they both chose the German-influenced Tongji University.9

Figure 5.He Zehui’s letter to her eldest sister in 1934(Source: PCDS).

He Zehui also received guidance from her family.She asked her eldest sister, He Yizhen, who was 4 years older than her, many times for advice on choosing and changing her major subjects.Although we do not know what advice Zehui got from Yizhen,it is not difficult to understand the importance that Zehui attached to Yizhen’s views, given that they both graduated from Zhenhua Girls’ School and thus had a similar educational background.For example,Zehui wrote in 1934 (Figure 5):

My father, fourth eldest brother and eldest niece were of the view that I should change to study medicine, but I think it’s too late to do so.What do you think if I change now? ...If I choose to study medicine, I have to spend at least two more years in university and then take the exam for Peking Union Medical College or other.What do you think of this? I really don’t know what to do now.Be quick to give me an instruction!Be quick to make a decision for me! Anyway, I have wasted this year.If I decide to study medicine, I should work hard on biology and chemistry right away, right?!Now I think that I really should learn medicine.Why haven’t I woken up earlier?! Why do I only think of it now?! I’ve deselected advanced calculus and other courses today and attended the biology course.Don’t you think it is not worth it for me? I have wasted two whole years! Please be honest and tell me the truth, be quick, be quick.10

Of course, Zehui, who came from a highly educated family, also occasionally received advice from family elders with different opinions.In another letter to Yizhen in 1934, she mentioned that her eldest and third eldest aunts both believed that, if she would change her major, that should be done after graduation so as not to affect her subsequent study for a master’s degree and PhD.However, Zehui considered that to be an ‘absolutely wrong’ view, not only because a ‘paper diploma’ was nothing beneficial to the country, but also because it got the purpose of education ‘totally wrong’ by seeing getting a degree as the only aim.In her view, the purpose of higher education was not merely to obtain a diploma, but first and foremost to achieve personal development and meet the needs of the country (Wang, 2019b).

We can see that Zehui had begun to accept the opinions of her elders in a rational and critical way.In fact, her aunts, whom she questioned, were already innovators of their times.However, as young people received further modern education,especially scientific education, they challenged the ideas of older generations.In one sense, this also reflected the free and democratic style of Zehui’s family education, which left space for revolutionary ideas.

4.Support of academic power and social resources

From her years at Tsinghua onwards, in addition to receiving guidance and advice from her family,Zehui began to benefit from her family’s social network.At the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University, Professor Zhou Peiyuan, who had a good personal relationship with Zehui’s cousin, Wang Shoujing, treated Zehui ‘as his younger sister’ and chatted in Suzhou dialect when they met (Peng et al.,1994).When Zehui was preparing to study abroad,her father, He Cheng, counted on his personal friendship with Shanxi governor Yan Xishan to secure a scholarship for her as a female student of Shanxi origin, probably at double the usual value (Liu, 2013:65).When Yizhen went to visit Zehui in Germany in 1937, she called upon Professor Friedrich Paschen,the teacher of her supervisor (Yin and Li, 2016).Professor Paschen not only invited Zehui to live in his house but also, based on a comprehensive consideration of the war situation in Berlin and the prospect of nuclear physics, introduced her to Professor Walther Bothe of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in Heidelberg (Liu, 2013: 69-83).At that time,Professor Bothe had established the Institute of Physics under the Medical Research Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and served as its director.He also built the first particle accelerator in Germany together with Wolfgang Gentner.11It was at that time that Zehui began her research in nuclear physics.

Zehui’s subsequent academic life was connected with her husband Qian Sanqiang’s academic network.After establishing their relationship through letters, Zehui, who was then in Germany, shared with Sanqiang her research on the elastic positronelectron collision phenomenon.In 1945, Sanqiang used the opportunity of resumed scientific exchanges between Britain and France after World War II to introduce Zehui’s discovery, which was then billed as ‘scientific treasure’ byNature, at the British-French Conference on Cosmic Rays.The following year, Zehui’s research was read out by Sanqiang at the Royal Society’s conference to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Isaac Newton’s birth.

Figure 6.He Zehui and Qian Sanqiang doing experiments at Collège de France (Source: PCDS).

In 1946, Zehui married Sanqiang and joined her husband’s research group at Collège de France(Figure 6).At the time, Sanqiang was conducting research under the guidance of Irène Joliot-Curie(daughter of Madame Curie) and her husband Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie.The joint discovery of the quaternary fission of the uranium nucleus by Zehui and Sanqiang was reported by Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie at a meeting of the college (Qian, 1989: 41-45).Before Zehui and her husband returned to China in 1948, Sanqiang attracted the interest of Peking University, Tsinghua University, the National Academy of Peiping and other institutions.After consultation between the President of Tsinghua University, Mei Yiqi, and the Vice President of the National Academy of Peiping, Li Shuhua, Sanqiang joined Tsinghua while concurrently serving as director of the newly established Institute of Atomics of the National Academy of Peiping, and Zehui went to the institute as a researcher.12

Figure 7.Wang Shouwu (right) and Wang Shoujue together at work (Source: PCDS).

In their academic lives, the Wang brothers also received support from their family members.When the Wang family moved back to Suzhou from Shanghai, it was Wang Jishan, who was then headmaster of Zhenhua Girls’ School, who introduced Wang Shouwu to study at Suzhou Middle School.After graduating from Tongji University, Shouwu worked in the Kunming-based Central Machinery Factory where his eldest brother, Shoujing, was director and his second eldest brother, Shourong, was the sub-factory director.After receiving his PhD in the United States, Shouwu failed to get a university position in China and then joined the Institute of Applied Physics of CAS, where his brother-in-law, Lu Xueshan, was deputy director.13Also thanks to Xueshan, the younger brother, Shoujue,was able to work under the guidance of Xueshan in the Crystallography Research Division of the Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Peiping before graduating.14

As the Institute of Physics of the Academia Sinica and the Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Peiping were merged into the Institute of Applied Physics of CAS, the Crystallography Research Division moved to Beijing, but Shoujue resigned and stayed in Shanghai.In 1956, Shoujue was transferred back to the Institute of Applied Physics, and then remained in a subordinate relationship with Shouwu: when Shouwu was head of the Semiconductor Research Division, Shoujue was the leader of the semiconductor device group; after the Institute of Semiconductors was established,Shouwu was deputy director for research and Shoujue was head of the Device Research Division(Figure 7).15

5.Conclusion

There is undoubtedly randomness in the emergence of scientific families, but their histories nevertheless provide a starting point for observing the influence of the family on scientists.We can see that the elite scientists of the Wang-He family might not have been ‘born to do science’, but they definitely benefited from family support, including but not limited to the economic support, on their way to major scientific achievements (Figure 8).At the cultural level, He Zehui was influenced by the idea of saving the country by science and the idea of feminism, while the Wang brothers cultivated their father’s idea of saving the country through industry and attention to practice.In their educational and research experiences, all three scientists received advice from their family.At the social level, family members fully mobilized their contact networks inside and outside the scientific community when educational and scientific research resources were extremely limited and provided powerful support for them at many key points.These findings have become potential indicators for analysing the family factors of Chinese scientific elites.

The Wang-He family epitomized the naturalization of Western science and culture and the modernization of Chinese family culture.While depending on the family’s atmosphere and social thoughts, the elite scientists could be more independent in their thinking.They would not blindly follow the opinions of their elders, but maintain a sceptically critical attitude towards them.At the same time, females began to pursue the right to equal access to education and research, which could be regarded as a transformation of Chinese family culture under the influence of Western science and culture.In return,given its Chinese context, the social network of family members played a powerful role in the process of individuals’ development, thus naturalizing Western science and culture.

Figure 8.Scientific capital that He Zehui, Wang Shouwu and Wang Shoujue received from their family.—— Family network - - - - Social network → Scientific capital.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Professor Zhang Li for her enlightening advice and data support from the PCDS, as well as the teams that collected data on He Zehui, Wang Shouwu,Wang Shoujue and Qian Sanqiang.My gratitude also goes to the referees for their helpful comments.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by PCDS and Junior Fellowships for Advanced Innovation Think-tank Programme, China Association for Science and Technology(No.DXB-ZKQN-2017-014).

Notes

1.He Zehui (1914-2011), a nuclear physicist, was elected as a CAS member in 1980.Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province (native place: Lingshi, Shanxi Province),she studied ballistics at Technische Hochschule Berlin(now Technische Universität Berlin) after graduating from the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University in China in 1936.After receiving a PhD in engineering in 1940, she discovered and studied the elastic electron-positron collision phenomenon at the Medical Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society,Germany.At Collège de France, she and her husband, Qian Sanqiang, jointly discovered and studied the phenomena of ternary and quaternary fission of the uranium nucleus.In 1948, she returned to China and participated in the establishment of the Institute of Atomics of the National Academy of Peiping.In the 1950s, she successfully developed a nuclear emulsion that reached the international advanced level.She served as deputy director of the Institute of High Energy Physics of CAS.Her husband, Qian Sanqiang (1913-1992), who was also a nuclear physicist, was elected as a CAS member in 1955.He was Vice Minister of the Second Ministry of Mechanical Industry, Vice President of CAS and a recipient of the Two Bombs and One Satellite Meritorious Service Medal.He Zehui’s brother-in-law, Ge Tingsui (1913-2000), was a metal physicist who was also elected as a CAS member in 1955.He served as deputy director of the Institute of Metal Research and the Institute of Solid State Physics of CAS.

2.Wang Shouwu (1919-2014), a semiconductor device physicist, was elected as a CAS member in 1980.Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, he graduated from Tongji University in 1941 and received his master’s and PhD degrees from Purdue University in 1946 and 1949, respectively.After returning to China in 1950,he served as director of the Semiconductor Division of the Institute of Applied Physics and deputy director for Research of the Institute of Semiconductors of CAS.He was involved in preparations for building China’s first transistor factory and led research on the dynamics of high field domains in gallium arsenide and the transient and photoelectric properties of PNPN negative resistance lasers to improve the yield of large-scale integrated circuit chips.Lu Xueshan(1905-1981), brother-in-law of both Wang Shouwu and Wang Shoujue, was a crystallographer who was elected as a CAS member in 1955 and served as acting director of the Institute of Applied Physics of CAS.

3.Wang Shoujue (1925-2016), a semiconductor electronics scientist, was elected as a CAS member in 1980.Born in Shanghai, he graduated from Tongji University in 1949 and worked at the Institute of Radium of the National Academy of Peiping, the Institute of Applied Physics and the Institute of Semiconductors of CAS.In 1957, he was sent to the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences for further study.He successfully developed China’s first germanium alloy diffusion high-frequency transistor, which was used on transistorized high-speed computers.He also developed silicon plane technology and devices, which served China’s‘two bombs and one satellite’ project.Wang Shoujue was the first to publish a paper on the multi-logic circuit, which is a kind of circuit integrated with highspeed fuzzy logic.

4.According to He Zehui, ‘Studying ballistics, I may be asked to return to China to work for the Military Industry Department.Armed with my calculation,Chinese soldiers must shoot accurately.Had they asked me earlier, Japanese soldiers would have already retreated’ (Wang and Zhang, 2017: 33).

5.From an interview with Wang Shoujue by Li Yanping,Liu Xiao and Zhang Chenghua on 31 March 2011 in Suzhou, collected by PCDS.

6.From an interview with Wang Shoujue by Yin Xiaodong on 21 September 2011 in Beijing, collected by PCDS.

7.From Wang Shouwu’s manuscript titled ‘I am a silly boy’, collected by PCDS.

8.From He Zehui’s manuscript in 1984, collected by PCDS.

9.From an interview with Wang Shoujue by Yin Xiaodong on 21 September 2011 in Beijing, collected by PCDS.

10.From He Zehui’s letter to He Yizhen in 1934, collected by PCDS.Words in bold were stressed by Zehui in her letter.

11.From the website of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik; see Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik,Von Kernphysik und Kosmochemie zu Quantendynamik und Astroteilchenphysik [From nuclear physics and cosmochemistry to quantum dynamics and astroparticle physics], https://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/mpi/fileadmin/files-mpi/Broschueren/Geschichte.pdf (accessed 6 March 2019) (in German).

12.From Mei Yiqi’s letter to Qian Sanqiang in 1947, collected by PCDS.

13.From an interview with Wang Shouwu by Wang Yige on 3 January 2011 in the United States, collected by PCDS.

14.From an interview with Wang Shoujue by Li Yanping,Liu Xiao and Zhang Chenghua on 31 March 2011 in Suzhou, collected by PCDS.

15.From an interview with Wang Shoujue by He Chunfan in 2009 in Beijing, collected by PCDS.