Guo Yonghuai

Guo Yonghuai was a Chinese aerospace engineer and aerodynamics scientist who made significant contributions to the development of China's atomic and hydrogen bombs, missiles, and satellites. He was a founder of mechanics in mainland China and a leader of the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He also helped found the University of Science and Technology of China and served as the chair of the department of Chemical Physics. He was a student of Theodore von Kármán, a renowned physicist and engineer, and a colleague of Tsien Hsue-shen, a prominent rocket scientist. He published many papers and books on gas dynamics, compressible hydrodynamics, explosive mechanics, high-pressure physical property equations, aerodynamics, aeronautics, structural mechanics, and weapon experimental environment. He was awarded the Two Bombs, One Satellite Achievement Medal in 1999 for his major contributions to China's national defense and scientific advancement. He died in a plane crash near Beijing Capital International Airport on December 5, 1968, when traveling from Qinghai to Beijing. He and his guard, Mou Fangdong, protected the data from being destroyed. He was buried at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing. He is remembered as a patriotic scientist and a pioneer of mechanics in China.