H. S. Tsien 錢學森

H. S. Tsien, American-educated scientist and professor at the California Institute of Technology who was known for his important work in the fields of jet propulsion, rocketry, and space physics. He was permitted to leave the United States in 1955 after five years of confinement to Los Angeles county for security reasons. He then went to the People's Republic of China, where he played a leading role in Peking's ballistic missile development program.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen

Qian Xuesen or Hsue-Shen Tsien (Chinese: 钱学森; 11 December 1911 – 31 October 2009) was a Chinese engineer who contributed to aerodynamics and rocket science. Recruited from MIT, he joined Theodore von Karman's group at Caltech, including the founding of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.[1] Later he returned to China as Qian Xuesen and made important contributions to China's missile and space program.

During the Second Red Scare in the 1950s, the United States government accused Tsien of communist sympathies. In 1950, despite protests by his colleagues, he was stripped of his security clearance.[2] Tsien decided to return to China, but was detained at Terminal Island near Los Angeles.[3]

After spending five years under virtual house arrest,[4] in 1955 Tsien was released in exchange for the repatriation of American pilots captured during the Korean War. He left the United States in September 1955 on the American President Lines passenger liner SS President Cleveland, arriving in China via Hong Kong.[5]

Upon his return, Tsien helped lead the Chinese nuclear weapons program. This effort ultimately led to China's first successful atomic bomb test and hydrogen bomb test, making China the fifth nuclear weapons state, and achieving the fastest fission-to-fusion development in history. Additionally, Qian's work led to the development of the Dongfeng ballistic missile and the Chinese space program. For his contributions, he became known as the "Father of Chinese Rocketry", nicknamed the "King of Rocketry".[6][7]

In 1957, in recognition of his achievements, Qian was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences .

Tsien was the cousin of mechanical engineer Hsue-Chu Tsien, who was involved in the aerospace industries of China and the United States; his nephew is Roger Y. Tsien, the 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Named after him are Asteroid 3763 Qianxuesen and the ill-fated space ship Tsien in the science fiction novel 2010: Odyssey Two.

Contents Early life and educationEdit

Qian Xuesen was born in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, 180 km southwest of Shanghai. He left Hangzhou at the age of three when his father obtained a post in the Ministry of Education in Beijing. Qian graduated from The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University and attended Chiao Tung University, later known as Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in Shanghai in 1934. There, he received a degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis on railroad administration. He interned at Nanchang Air Force Base.

In August 1935, Qian left China on a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship to study mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Master of Science degree after one year.

While at MIT he was called Hsue-Shen Tsien. He was influenced by the methods of American engineering education, especially its focus on experimentation. This was in contrast to the contemporary approach practiced by many Chinese scientists, which emphasized theoretical elements rather than "hands-on" experience. Tsien's experiments included plotting of pitot pressures using mercury-filled manometers.

Theodore von Kármán, Tsien's doctoral advisor, described their first meeting: “ One day in 1936 he came to me for advice on further graduate studies. This was our first meeting. I looked up to observe a slight short young man, with a serious look, who answered my questions with unusual precision. I was immediately impressed with the keenness and quickness of his mind, and I suggested that he enroll at Caltech for advanced study ... Tsien agreed. He worked with me on many mathematical problems. I found him to be quiet imaginative, with a mathematical aptitude that he combined successfully with a great ability to visualize accurately the physical picture of natural phenomena. Even as a young student he helped clear up some of my own ideas on several difficult topics. These are gifts which I had not often encountered and Tsien and I became close colleagues.[8]:309 ”

Kármán made his home a social scene for the aerodynamicists of Pasadena, and Tsien was drawn in: "Tsien enjoyed visiting my home, and my sister took to him because of his interesting ideas and straightforward manner." Career in the United StatesEdit Left to right: Ludwig Prandtl (German scientist),Hsue-Shen Tsien, Theodore von Kármán. Prandtl served Germany during World War II; von Kármán and Tsien served the United States; after 1956, Tsien served China. Tsien's overseas cap displays his temporary U.S. Army rank of colonel. Interestingly, Prandtl was von Kármán's doctoral adviser; von Kármán in turn was Tsien's.

Shortly after arriving at Caltech in 1936, Tsien became fascinated with the rocketry ideas of Frank Malina, other students of von Kármán, and their associates, including Jack Parsons. Along with his fellow students, he was involved in rocket-related experiments at the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at Caltech. Around the university, the dangerous and explosive nature of their work earned them the nickname "Suicide Squad."[9][10]

In 1943, Tsien and two other members of their rocketry group drafted the first document to use the name Jet Propulsion Laboratory, originally a proposal to the Army for developing missiles in response to Germany's V-2 rocket. This led to Private A, which flew in 1944, and later the Corporal, the WAC Corporal, and other designs.

Tsien’s willingness for public service was described by von Kármán: “ I was pleased to take him along with me to Germany toward the war’s end to look into Hitler’s secret technical developments. With Drs. Hugh Dryden and Frank Wattendorf, Tsien inspected the famous Kochel and Otztal wind tunnels, which were to influence Wattendorf into suggesting similar equipment in the United States and give rise to Arnold Engineering Center in Tullahoma. He was with me at Gottingen when I found myself in the position of interrogating my old teacher Ludwig Prandtl. What a strange meeting: my most brilliant student, who was to join Red China, together with my own great teacher, who worked for Nazi Germany. How odd of circumstance to separate three aerodynamicists who wanted nothing more in life than to work together in harmony.[8]:309,10 ”

Von Kármán wrote of Tsien, "At the age of 36, he was an undisputed genius whose work was providing an enormous impetus to advances in high-speed aerodynamics and jet propulsion."[11] Furthermore, the American journal Aviation Week & Space Technology named Qian its Person of the Year in 2007, and commented on his interrogation of von Braun, "No one then knew that the father of the future U.S. space program was being quizzed by the father of the future Chinese space program."[12]

During this time, he also worked on designing an intercontinental space plane. His work would inspire the X-20 Dyna-Soar, which itself would later influence the development of the American Space Shuttle.

Tsien married Jiang Ying (蒋英), a famed opera singer and the daughter of Jiang Baili (蒋百里) and his wife, Japanese nurse Satô Yato. The elder Jiang was a military strategist and adviser to Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek. The Tsiens were married on September 14, 1947[13] in Shanghai, and had two children; their son Qian Yonggang was born in Boston on October 13, 1948,[14] while their daughter Qian Yungjen was born in early 1950[15] when the family was residing in Pasadena, California.

Shortly after his wedding, Tsien returned to America to take up a teaching position at MIT. Jiang Ying would join him in December 1947.[16] In 1949, with the recommendation of von Kármán, Tsien became Robert H. Goddard Professor of Jet Propulsion at Caltech.[9]

In 1947 Tsien was granted a permanent resident permit,[5] and in 1949 he applied for naturalization, although he could not obtain citizenship.[2] Years later, his wife Jiang Ying said in an interview with Phoenix Television that Tsien could not raise the necessary funds.[17] DetentionEdit

By the early 1940s, US Army Intelligence was already aware of allegations that Tsien was a Communist, but his security clearance was not suspended.[18] However, on June 6, 1950 his security clearance was revoked and Tsien was questioned by the FBI. Two weeks later Tsien announced that he would be resigning from Caltech and returning to China, which by then was effectively governed by the Communist Party of China led by Mao Zedong.[4][19]

In August, Tsien had a conversation on the subject with the then Under Secretary of the Navy Dan A. Kimball, whom Tsien knew on a personal basis. After Tsien told him of the allegations, Kimball responded, "Hell, I don't think you're a Communist", at which point Tsien indicated that he still intended to leave the country, saying "I'm Chinese. I don't want to build weapons to kill my countrymen. It's that simple." Kimball then said, "I won't let you out of the country."[20]

After the firm in charge of arranging Tsien's move back to China tipped off U.S. Customs that some of the papers encountered among his possessions were marked "Secret" or "Confidential," U.S. officials seized them from a Pasadena warehouse. The U.S. Immigration and Nationalization Service issued a warrant for Tsien's arrest on August 25. Tsien claimed that the security-stamped documents were mostly written by himself and had outdated classifications, adding that, "There were some drawings and logarithm tables, etc., which someone might have mistaken for codes."[21] Included in the material was a scrapbook with news clippings about the trials of those charged with atomic espionage, such as Klaus Fuchs.[22] Subsequent examination of the documents showed they contained no classified material.[5]

While at Caltech, Tsien had secretly attended meetings with J. Robert Oppenheimer's brother Frank Oppenheimer, Jack Parsons, and Frank Malina that were organized by the Russian-born Jewish chemist Sidney Weinbaum and called Professional Unit 122 of the Pasadena Communist Party.[23] Weinbaum's trial commenced on August 30 and both Frank Oppenheimer and Parsons testified against him.[24] Weinbaum was convicted of perjury and sentenced to four years.[25] Tsien was taken into custody on September 6, 1950 for questioning[5] and for two weeks detained at Terminal Island, a low-security United States federal prison near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

When Tsien had returned from China with his new bride in 1947, he had answered "no" on an immigration questionnaire that asked if he ever had been a member of an organization advocating overthrow of the U.S. Government by force. This, together with an American Communist Party document from 1938 with Tsien's name on it, was used to argue that Tsien was a national security threat. Prosecutors also cited a cross-examination session where Tsien said, "I owe allegiance to the people of China" and would "certainly not" let the United States government make his decision for him as to whom he would owe allegiance to in the event of a conflict between the U.S. and communist China.

On April 26, 1951 Tsien was declared subject to deportation and forbidden from leaving Los Angeles County without permission, effectively placing him under house arrest.[20]

During this time Tsien wrote Engineering Cybernetics which was published by McGraw Hill in 1954. The book deals with the practice of stabilizing servomechanisms. In its 18 chapters it considers non-interacting controls of many-variable systems, control design by perturbation theory, and von Neumann’s theory of error control (chapter 18). Ezra Krendel reviewed[26] the book, stating that it is "difficult to overstate the value of Tsien's book to those interested in the overall theory of complex control systems." Evidently Tsien’s approach is primarily practical, as Kendel notes that for servomechanisms the "usual linear design criterion of stability is inadequate and other criteria arising from the physics of the problem must be used." Return to ChinaEdit

Qian became the subject of five years of secret diplomacy and negotiation between the U.S. and China. During this time he lived under constant surveillance with the permission to teach without any classified research duties.[4] Qian received support from his colleagues at Caltech during his incarceration, including president Lee DuBridge, who flew to Washington to argue Qian's case. Caltech appointed attorney Grant Cooper to defend Qian.

The travel ban on Qian was lifted on 4 August 1955[5] and he resigned from Caltech shortly thereafter. Qian departed from Los Angeles aboard the SS President Cleveland in September 1955 amidst rumors that his release was a swap for 11 U.S. airmen held captive by China since the end of the Korean War.[27]

Under Secretary Kimball, who had tried for several years to keep Qian in the U.S., commented on his treatment:

   "It was the stupidest thing this country ever did. He was no more a Communist than I was, and we forced him to go."[2]

Immediately upon his return, Qian began a remarkably successful career in rocket science, boosted by the reputation he garnered for his past achievements as well as Chinese state support for his nuclear research. He led and eventually became the father of the Chinese missile program, which constructed the Dongfeng ballistic missiles and the Long March space rockets. Chinese nuclear program and other studiesEdit

In October 1956, he became the director of the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of National Defense, tasked with ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development. He was part of the overall effort that resulted in the successful "596" atomic bomb test on October 16, 1964, and the "Test No. 6" hydrogen bomb test on June 17, 1967. This was the fastest fission-to-fusion development in history at 32 months, compared to 86 months for the United States and 75 months for the USSR, and gave China a thermonuclear device ahead of major Western powers like France.

Qian's reputation as a prominent scientist who essentially defected from the United States to China gave him considerable influence in the era of Mao Zedong and afterward. Qian eventually rose through Party ranks to become a Central Committee member. He became associated with the China's Space Program - From Conception to Manned Spaceflight initiative.

Qian was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1957, a lifelong honor granted to Chinese scientists who have made significant advancements in their field. He organized scientific seminars and dedicated some of his time to training successors for his positions.[28]

Outside of rocketry, Qian had a presence in numerous areas of study. He was among the creators of systematics, and made contributions to science and technology systems[clarification needed], somatic science, engineering science, military science, social science, the natural sciences, geography, philosophy, literature and art, and education. His advancements in the concepts, theories, and methods of the system science field include studying the open complex giant system.[29][30] Additionally, he helped establish the Chinese school of complexity science.

From the 1980s onward, Qian had advocated the scientific investigation of traditional Chinese medicine, Qigong, and the concept of "special human body functions". He particularly encouraged scientists to accumulate observational data on qigong so that future scientific theories could be established.[31] Later lifeEdit

Qian retired in 1991 and lived quietly in Beijing, refusing to speak to Westerners.[32]

In 1979 Qian was awarded Caltech's Distinguished Alumni Award for his achievements. Qian eventually received his award from Caltech, and with the help of his friend Frank Marble brought it to his home in a widely covered ceremony. Furthermore, in the early 1990s, the filing cabinets containing Qian's research work were offered to him by Caltech. Most of these works became the foundation for the Qian Library at Xi'an Jiaotong University, while the rest went to the Institute of Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Qian was invited to visit the US by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics after the normalization of the Sino-US relationship, but he refused the invitation, having wanted a formal apology for his detention. In a reminiscence published in 2002, Marble stated that he believed Qian had “lost faith in the American government” but that he had “always had very warm feelings for the American people.”[33]

The Chinese government launched its manned space program in 1992, reportedly with some help from Russia due to their extended history in space. Qian's research was used as the basis for the Long March rocket, which successfully launched the Shenzhou V mission in October 2003. The elderly Qian was able to watch China's first manned space mission on television from his hospital bed.

In 2008, he was named Aviation Week and Space Technology Person of the Year. The recognition was not intended as an honor, but is given to the person judged to have the greatest impact on aviation in the past year.[11][34] Furthermore, that year China Central Television named Qian as one of the eleven most inspiring people in China.[35]

In July 2009, the Omega Alpha Association, an international systems engineering honor society, named Qian (H. S. Tsien) one of four Honorary Members.[36]

On October 31, 2009, Qian died at the age of 97 in Beijing.[12][37]

A Chinese film production, Qian Xue Sen, directed by Zhang Jianya and starring Chen Kun as Qian was released on December 11, 2011 in both Asia and North America,[38] and on March 2, 2012 in China.

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, in his novel 2010: Odyssey Two, named a Chinese spaceship after him. Scientific papersEdit

   1939: Two-dimensional subsonic flow of compressible fluids, Journal of Aeronautical Sciences 6(10): 399–407[39]

   1939: (with Theodore von Kármán) The buckling of thin cylindrical shells under axial compression, Journal of Aeronautical Sciences 7(2):43 to 50.

   1943: "Symmetrical Joukowsky Airfoils in shear flow", Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, 1: 130–48.

   1943: On the Design of the Contraction Cone for a Wind Tunnel, Journal of Aeronautical Sciences, 10(2): 68-70.

   1945: (with Theodore von Kármán), "Lifting- line Theory for a Wing in Nonuniform Flow," Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, 3: 1–11.

   1946: "Similarity laws of hypersonic flows", MIT Journal of Mathematics and Physics 25: 247-251, MR0018074

   1952: The transfer functions of rocket nozzles, Journal of the American Rocket Society

   1949: "Rockets and Other Thermal Jets Using Nuclear Energy", in The Science and Engineering of Nuclear Power, Addison-Wesley Vol.11.

   1953: "Take-Off from Satellite Orbit", Journal of the American Rocket Society 23(4)

   1956: "The Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo Method", Advances in Applied Mechanics 4: 281–349, MR0079929

   1958: "The equations of gas dynamics", in Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics v. 3, Princeton University Press, MR0097212

MonographsEdit

   1954: Engineering Cybernetics, McGraw Hill, link from HathiTrust

   1957: Technische Kybernetik, Übersetzt von Dr. H. Kaltenecker. Berliner Union Stuttgart

   2007: "Hydrodynamic", manuscript facsimile, Jiaotong University Press, ISBN 978-7-313-04199-9

《中國大百科全書 力學》（石光漪 撰）

中國現代科學家。祖籍浙江杭州﹐1911年12月11日生於上海。1934年畢業於上海交通大學鐵路機械工程系。1935～1938年在美國麻省理工學院和加利福尼亞理工學院航空工程系求學。1938年獲加利福尼亞理工學院博士學位﹐導師是近代力學奠基人卡門﹐T.von。錢學森是卡門組織的美國最早的火箭研究機構“噴氣推進實驗室”主要成員。1947～1949年間和1949～1955年間﹐他先後任麻省理工學院和加利福尼亞理工學院教授。1955年回到中國。回國後立即投身於開創和發展中國力學﹑航天事業等工作。他是中國科學院數學物理學部學部委員﹑中國科學院力學研究所研究員﹐並擔任中國科學院力學研究所第一任所長﹑中國力學學會第一任理事長﹐中國科學技術大學近代力學系主任。自1958年起﹐他任中國人民解放軍國防科學技術委員會副主任﹐在中國國防科學技術方面做了大量組織領導工作。錢學森是中國共產黨黨員﹐任幾屆中共中央候補委員。他還是中國科學院和中國人民解放軍科技機構的領導成員。

錢學森在力學的許多領域都做過開創性工作。他在空氣動力學方面取得很多研究成果﹐最突出的是提出了跨聲速流動相似律﹐並與卡門一起﹐最早提出高超聲速流的概念﹐為飛機在早期克服熱障﹑聲障﹐提供了理論依據﹐為空氣動力學的發展奠定了重要的理論基礎。高亞聲速飛機設計中採用的公式是以卡門和錢學森名字命名的卡門－錢學森公式。此外﹐錢學森和卡門在30年代末還共同提出了球殼和圓柱殼的新的非線性失穩理論。他在1946年對稀薄氣體的物理力學特性的研究﹐是這一分支發展的先聲。

錢學森是許多交叉學科和橫斷性學科的倡導者。他回國後繼續主張從物質的微觀規律確定其宏觀力學性質﹐並取名為“物理力學”﹐編寫專著《物理力學講義》(1962)並組織這一方面的研究隊伍。在火箭和噴氣推進方面﹐他提出並實現了用火箭作助推器﹐使飛機起飛的跑道縮短﹐並為長程火箭推進做過一系列開創性的工作。1949年他最先提出關於核火箭的設想。1947年N.維納建立“控制論”這一新學科後﹐50年代初錢學森迅速將它發展成為新的技術科學──“工程控制論”。回國後﹐他組織並推動系統工程方面的研究。在 L.von貝爾塔蘭菲的“一般系統論”的基礎上﹐錢學森倡導建立“系統學”。至此﹐錢學森的研究已從力學這一學科進入到一般科學的理論。他對科學體系﹑科學方法論等提出了許多新的見解。

錢學森早年在美國發表的學術論文散見於美國《噴氣推進》﹑《數學與物理雜誌》等期刊﹐重要的有五十餘篇。專著有《工程控制論》(英文﹐1954)﹑《星際航行概論》(1963)﹑《物理力學講義》(1961)﹑《論系統工程》等。他還重視科學普及工作。

《中國大百科全書 航空航天》（任新民 撰）

中國現代科學家﹑世界著名火箭專家。浙江省杭州市人﹐1911年12月11日生於上海。1934年畢業於上海交通大學﹐1935年赴美國麻省理工學院留學﹐翌年獲碩士學位﹐又轉入加利福尼亞理工學院﹐在導師卡門﹐T.von的指導下深造。1938年獲博士學位後留校任教並從事火箭導彈研究。1947～1955年間任麻省理工學院和加利福尼亞理工學院教授。1955年回國後﹐歷任航空委員會委員﹐國防部第五研究院副院長﹑院長﹐中國空間技術研究院院長﹐第七機械工業部副部長﹐國防科學技術委員會副主任﹐國防科學技術工業委員會科學技術委員會副主任。

30年代錢學森是卡門組織的加利福尼亞理工學院古根海姆航空實驗室火箭研究小組的重要成員。1943年他和F.馬林納合作完成的研究報告《遠程火箭的評論與初步分析》為40年代噴氣推進實驗室研製成功地地導彈和探空火箭奠定了理論基礎。這些導彈是後來美國採用複合推進劑火箭發動機的導彈的先驅。錢學森在超音速及跨音速空氣動力學﹑薄殼穩定理論方面對航空工程理論有許多開創性的貢獻。他和卡門一起提出的高超音速流動理論為飛行器克服音障和熱障提供了依據﹐為空氣動力學的發展奠定了基礎。以他和卡門命名的卡門－錢學森公式被用於高亞音速飛機的氣動設計。1949年他還提出了用火箭助推的滑翔機作為洲際旅客運輸火箭的設想和核火箭的設想。

錢學森回國後在 1956年 2月 17日向中國政府提出《建立我國國防工業意見書》﹐最先為中國火箭和導彈技術的發展提出了極為重要的實施方案。他協助周恩來﹑聶榮臻籌備組建火箭導彈科學技術研究方面的領導機構。1956年4月起﹐他作為這一領導機構的成員﹐負責規劃與組建國防部第五研究院。此後他長期擔負火箭導彈和航天器研製的技術領導職務﹐並以他在總體﹑動力﹑制導﹑氣動力﹑結構﹑材料﹑計算機﹑質量控制等領域的豐富知識﹐為組織領導中國運載火箭和航天器的研製工作發揮了巨大作用。他對中國火箭導彈和航天事業的迅速發展做出了重大貢獻。

錢學森在50年代初將控制論發展成為一門新的技術科學──工程控制論﹐為導彈與航天器的制導理論提供了基礎。他把中國導彈武器和航天器系統的研製經驗﹐提煉成為系統工程理論﹐應用於軍事運籌和社會經濟問題﹐成功地推進了作戰模擬技術和社會經濟系統工程在中國的發展。

錢學森的專著有《工程控制論》﹑《物理力學講義》﹑《星際航行概論》﹑《論系統工程》等。他的學術論文有50多篇發表於美國刊物﹐更多的發表於國內刊物。錢學森是中國科學院數學物理學部學部委員﹑中國宇航學會名譽理事長﹑中國科學技術協會副主席。

《中國大百科全書 自動控制與系統工程》（王壽雲 撰）

中國工程控制論專家﹐系統工程專家﹐系統科學思想家。中國科學院學部委員。浙江省杭州市人﹐1911年12月11日生於上海。1934年畢業於上海交通大學機械工程系﹐1935年到美國麻省理工學院航空系學習﹐後轉入加利福尼亞理工學院航空工程系﹐導師為T.von卡門。1938年獲航空與數學博士學位。曾參與美國早期火箭和導彈研製工作。1947年經卡門推薦任麻省理工學院終身教授。1949年任加利福尼亞理工學院教授。1955年10月回國。他是中國科學院力學研究所﹑國防部第五研究院以及中國空間技術研究院的主要創建人。歷任第七機械工業部副部長﹐國防科學技術委員會副主任﹐國防科學技術工業委員會科學技術委員會副主任。

1954年錢學森在美國出版《工程控制論》﹐從技術科學的觀點﹐對各種工程技術系統的自動控制理論作了全面研究﹐奠定了工程控制論的基礎。1956年蘇聯出俄文版﹐1957年民主德國出德文版﹐1958年中國出中文版。1956年獲中國科學院一等科學獎。1957年國際自動控制聯合會(IFAC)第一屆理事會推舉他為首屆理事長。

1956年錢學森和許國志共同創建中國第一個運籌學研究組織。60年代初他推動國防部第五研究院和中國科學院數學研究所合作進行控制理論的應用研究。1962年在國防部第五研究院指導計畫協調技術的應用。1956年起長期從事中國運載火箭和航天系統工程的技術領導工作﹐對這一事業的發展作出了重大貢獻。1978年以來﹐他發表了一系列關於系統工程﹑系統科學﹑思維科學的文章。1979年10月與其他學者聯合倡議組建中國系統工程學會。1980年11月中國系統工程學會第一屆理事會一致推舉他為名譽理事長。1986年當選為中國科學技術協會主席。

錢學森的系統科學思想﹐首先表現在他提出了一個清晰的現代科學技術的體系結構。他認為從應用實踐到基礎理論﹐現代科學技術可以分為工程技術﹑技術科學﹑基礎科學和馬克思主義哲學四個層次。系統科學是由系統工程這類工程技術﹐系統工程的理論基礎象運籌學﹑控制論和信息論這類技術科學﹐以及一切系統的一般理論“系統學”等組成的一個新興科學技術部門。系統工程是組織管理的技術﹐是一大類工程技術的總稱﹐而不是一個單一的學科。他提出要建立系統科學的基礎科學“系統學”。並親自領導了系統學研討班。

錢學森的專著有《工程控制論》﹑《物理力學講義》﹑《星際航行概論》﹑《論系統工程》等。他在美國發表過50餘篇論文﹐更多的發表在中國刊物上。