我国空间物理学先驱桂质廷──纪念桂质廷教授100周年华诞

PROFESSOR C. T. KWEI A CHINESE PIONEER IN SPACE PHYSICS$ For the centenary of Prof Kwei's birth

桂质廷（１８９５～１９６１），我国著名的地球物理学家．他是建国初期中国科学院地球物理组专门委员，第一个巡测了我国境内地磁常量的中国人．他最先和学生一道在国内进行了高空电离层的常规观测．他所创建的武汉大学游离层实验室，５０年来未曾间断电离层的观测研究．本文着重介绍他的生平简历、教学态度、学术成就和爱国主义思想．

Profossor C. T. Kwei (1895～ 1961 ) was born in Shashi, Hubei,China. He received education there until 1909,when he went to Shanghai,entering the middle school attached to St. John' S University. In 1912,he was admitted into Qinghua School in Beijing. He was sent to Yale University in 1914 and became a graduate student at the University of Chicago in 1917. In 1918,as a volunteer,he went to Europe doing rear services organized by the international YMCA. He entered Corned University in 1919 and got his MSc. in 1920. At Corned,he fell in love with Miss Helen Hsu,an American girl with Chinese origin. They got married in Shanghai in 1921 and then went to Changsha. Kwei resumed teaching until 1923 when he got a scholarship from the Rockfeller Foundation and they sailed to the U. S. again.This time,Kwei entered Princeton University and did research under the direction of Prof. K.T. Compton. He got Ph. D. degree in 1925, and they returned China in the same year. Since then,Kwei had been a professor successively at various universities. In 1939,he finally came to Wuhan University and worked there until his last breath.Prof. Kwei' S lectures were always organized with great care. Attending his lectures was like listening to stories,very inspiring and very impressive. In research work,Prof. Kwei attached profound importance to observation and experiment. Many a record--setting accomplishments had been made. Among them: 1931 -- 1935, with the support from the Carnegie Institution of Washington,Prof. Kwei had made patrol geomagnetic survey over China during his vacations,the first Chinese making such experiments. 1937￣ 1938,Prof. Kwei and Mr. P.L. Sung recorded,and reported the spreading of the F,--layer in 1938,a discovery simultaneous to Drs. H. G. Booker and H. W. Wells i. 1943￣ 1945, during Prof. Kwei' S sabetical leave at the U. S.,a coorperative project was contracted between Wuhan University,and the Bureau of Standards,with Kwei as the project director. An ionospheric lab was thus founded in Wuhan University in 1946. Through half a century' S collective effort,this scientific seed laid down by Prof. Kwei has now been growing up into a tree with prosperity and vitality. The College of Electronic information has been established composed of 4 departments and 2 research institutions related to near--Earth space physics and radiowave propagation.