[FPSPACE] Recent News on Tsien Hsue-Shen

[Keith Gottschalk]

     Tsien Hsue-Shen, now spelt Qian Xuessen (the pronunciation has not
changed) was the son of a fiercely anti-communist KMT officer, & married
the daughter of similar anti-communists. He apparently hoped to be
offered the vice-chancellorship of a university in the 2nd last yr. of
KMT / GMT rule in China.  I am not now sure of the chronological
sequence of when he packed up his personal library, which I agree during
McCarthyism would have made the FBI, Pentagon, CIA seethe with
paranoia.

     It is incredible to reflect that Qian was born in the same year as
Werner von Braun 1911 -
He endured a traumatic life, purged from the US, then terrorized during
the "Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution". I only hope he remains
alive, avoids complications from being bed-ridden, & stays non-senile,
to see on TV the 1st human spaceflight by China. It will be a nice, last
wish for the old silkworm!

Keith