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E-book
Author Montmerle, Thierry, author

Title The two lives of Cheng Maolan : from the "French Silk Road to astronomy" to the meanders of Mao's China / Thierry Montmerle, Yi Zhou, Yves Gomas
Published Cham, Switzerland : Springer, 2022

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Description 1 online resource (x, 116 pages) : illustrations (some color)
Series SpringerBriefs in astronomy, 2191-9119
SpringerBriefs in astronomy, 2191-9119
Contents The French "Silk Road" towards Astronomy (1926-1957) -- Return to the motherland (1957-1978) -- Appendix: Chinese students in astronomy at the Institut Franco-Chinois de Lyon (1921-1947) and their careers -- Name Index
Summary This book presents the exceptional biography of the 20th century Chinese astronomer Cheng Maolan, who came to France in 1926 on a China-France cooperation program to do his PhD with the idea of returning to China after a few years. Instead, he lived two lives. He first stayed in France and studied astronomy in Lyon, the "Silk city", where he suffered the hardships of the German occupation, but also witnessed the construction of the Haute-Provence Observatory. After the war, he started a promising career at Lyon Observatory. However, in 1957 he decided to live a second life, by returning to the motherland, which had in the meantime become the People's Republic of China. There, he suffered the hardships of the Cultural Revolution, but he managed to play a pivotal role in establishing the Beijing Observatory as its director. In particular, he prepared the ground for the Xinglong 2-m telescope, which saw its first light in 1989, ten years after his death. Cheng Maolan is now considered a "Chinese hero": an "Astronomy and Technology Museum" was built and named after him in 2018, in his native city of Boye, Hebei Province, China, featuring a tall, white statue in front of the building
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed June 22, 2022)
Subject Maolan, Cheng
Astronomers -- China -- Biography
Chinese -- France -- Biography
Astronomers
Chinese
China
France
Genre/Form Electronic books
Biographies
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
Author Zhou, Yi, author
Gomas, Yves, author
ISBN 9783030999308
3030999300