Qian Xuesen Qian Xuesen, the Chinese rocket scientist, teaches a class at the California Institute of Technology in 1955, shortly before his deportation back to China. Students who worked with him were “awestruck” by his brilliance. They recalled that he generously mentored those whose mental powers matched his, but was impatient and harsh toward those he deemed intellectually incapable.
Bettmann/Corbis.