Slide Rule

2015年09月25日

“A teacher is a person who could propagate ancient doctrines, impart knowledge and solve questions”. If we say that, delivering lectures, and answer questions is the responsibilities of a teacher, what would it means if a teacher tends to “empty his purse to help”, and “provide financial support”? Perhaps, that conduct is additional care and love that a teacher shows to the students. 

The slide rule in the above picture symbolizes Qian Xuesen’s considerate care and love for his students.

Before introducing this slide rule, we would talk about the national bonds that New China once issued. It appears that, there is no relation at all between the slide rule and national bonds, but the two things come to meet due to Qian Xuesen’s efforts.

In order to promote national economic construction, and improve the quality of life of the public, New China annually issued “national economic construction bonds” from 1954 to 1958.

The government encouraged the public to buy national bonds, and Qian Xuesen also responded actively through buying national bonds with twenty thousand yuan. Half of that twenty thousand yuan was bonus of the first prize of 1956 Science Award he had won for his work “Engineering Cybernetics” in 1957. The Science Award was conferred by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and it is the first highest natural science award that China has ever issued. 

That ten thousand yuan increased to 11500 yuan in 1961, which included its principal of ten thousand and relevant interest rate. Qian Xuesen withdrew that sum of money and donated it to the mechanics department of University of Science and Technology of China and to act as supporting teaching expenditure.  

In September, 1961, Qian Xuesen began to give lessons for the mechanics department, and the University of Science and Technology of China allocated him two assistants. Qian Xuesen required his assistants to give him a timely report over the questions of students’ assignments.

One day, Qian Xuesen asked his two assistants how much time the students needed to finish their assignments. The latter stumbled over his question, which displeased Qian Xuesen for their reaction indicated that they did not fully know students’ situations.

The assistants immediately carried out survey and collected students’ answers about the time they needed to finish assignments. When seeing the survey results, Qian Xuesen thought it took a much longer time than expected, and asked them to do further research and work out why it would take so much time to finish assignments.

The research results showed that two thirds of the students were born into a poor family and did not have enough money to buy slide rules. Many calculating procedures were done manually, taking up much time.

Qian Xuesen got upset after knowing the true reason, thinking that, what if students studied with proper stationary? Therefore, he asked the mechanics department to use part of his donation to buy enough slide rules for all the students.

At that time, a slide rule’s price was higher than other stationary. An administration staff came to a shop and selected a kind of slide rule with the lowest price. However, the number of the slide rules he bought still couldn’t guarantee every student would have one slide rule. 

Given that situation, class monitor Huang Jihu and other class leaders decided to let other classmates use the existing slide rules first, and they would work out solutions to overcome the problem of slide rules running short. 

When hearing about the whole process, Qian Xuesen asked the administration staff not to save money on indispensible aspects; even if the price was high, enough slide rules should be prepared to guarantee every student in the mechanic department could own one.

Therefore, the administration staff went to a stationary shop and bought back some slide rules with higher price and better quality.

And class monitor Huang Jihu also received his own slide rule, a “luxurious one” worth 18 yuan! In the days when the monthly salary at average was just dozens of yuan, spending 18 yuan buying a slide rule was unimaginable for his poor family condition. Huang Jihu liked it so much that he couldn’t bear to put it down, inscribed his name on the metal frame of his slide rule so as to avoid mixing it with other classmates’ slide rules, and took good care of it during his use. 

Years later, Huang Jihu became professor of the University of Science and Technology of China, and in2008, the 50th anniversary of the University, he donated that slide rule that he had treasured for many years to Qian Yonggang, son of his teacher Qian Xuesen, to express his great gratitude for his teacher’s love and care.  In 2011, in order to actively react to the collection work of the Qian Xuesen Library, this “treasure” came to Shanghai.

Qian’s love and care for his students, just like this slide rule preserved in so good a condition, shall be remembered forever by students and the people.