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A comment on Qian Xuesen dies at 98; Co-Founder of JPL and China's space program (2009). Parent comment

Re:Qian Xuesen dies at 98; Co-Founder of JPL and China's spa... by mng2 on Saturday December 14, 2013 @02:13PM (#6906694)
Iris Chang's biography of Tsien argues that the government backed him into a corner, then left him in bureaucratic limbo for several years. This would be a lot for a proud, brilliant man to take sitting down. I find it easier to believe that he was deeply insulted by the accusations made against him, and after enduring several years of uncertainty, chose the pit over the pendulum.
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Re:Qian Xuesen dies at 98; Co-Founder of JPL and China's spa... by gwern on Saturday December 14, 2013 @05:41PM (#6907418)
You can choose what you find easier to believe. But let's not pretend that Tsien was obviously innocent and it must have been the government's fault. I'm sure Chang is sympathetic to her subject and would like to argue that it's all the government's fault.
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