-  "My given name is Qian (money), but I do not like money."

-  "My career is in China; my success is in China; my destination is in China."

-  "We cannot just parrot, this is not the scientific spirit; the most important thing of the spirit is innovation."

Qian Xuesen (11 Dec. 1911 – 31 Oct. 2009) was a scientist who made important contributions to the missile and space programs of both the United States and People’s Republic of China.

Born into a teacher’s family in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, Qian received good education when he is young. He graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1934 and received a degree in mechanical engineering. In August 1935 he left China on a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship to study mechanical engineering at the MIT under the tutelage of the father of the U.S. ballistic missile Von. Karman, and earned a Master of Science degree a year later. In 1939, Qian earned his doctorate from Caltech and stayed as a faculty member, later becoming the Robert H. Goddard Professor of Jet Propulsion in 1949, and establishing a reputation as one of the leading rocket scientists in the United States.

During the Second Red Scare of the 1950s, the United States government accused Qian of having communist sympathies, and he was stripped of his security clearance in 1950. Qian then decided to return to China, but instead was detained at Terminal Island near Los Angeles. After spending 5 years under virtual house arrest, Qian was released in 1955, in exchange for the repatriation of American pilots captured during the Korean War. Notified by U.S. authorities that he was free to go, Qian immediately arranged his departure, leaving for China in September of 1955.

Upon his arriving, within a year Qian submitted a proposal to the PRC government to establish a ballistic missile program. This proposal was quickly accepted and Qian was nominated the first director of the program in late 1956. Under his leading, the researchers did the first successful missile launch in 1964. Qian’s theory on air dynamics and industrial control laid a fast foundation on initial steps of the rocket industry and made much contribution to the following successes. Even nowadays, the space programs of PRC mostly used Qian’s research as the basis, e.g, the Long March rocket Shenzhou V was successfully launched in October 2003. Qian also contributed a great deal to the PRC’s state of Higher Education. He was the first Chairman of the Department of Mechanics of University of Science & Technology of China (USTC), a new type of university established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) after the founding of PRC.

For the whole life Qian had received numerous awards. In 1979 Qian was awarded Caltech’s Distinguished Alumni Award. In 1999, the CPC Central Committee and State Council and the Central Military Commission granted him "two missiles one satellite Medal". He is the fellows of both Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chinese Academy of Sciences, known as the “Rocketry King of China” and ”Father of Chinese Aviation”.