Professor, Academician Tran Dai Nghia's real name is Pham Quang Le, born on September 13, 1913 in Chanh Hiep village, Tam Binh district; now Hoa Hiep commune, Tam Binh district, Vinh Long province.
In 1946, while he was living a luxurious life abroad, at the invitation of President Ho Chi Minh and with his heart turned towards his beloved Fatherland, he left Paris with its luxurious life to return to the country with Uncle Ho to participate in revolutionary activities and was given a new name by Uncle Ho, Tran Dai Nghia. He was an excellent representative of the country's scientific team, one of President Ho Chi Minh's outstanding students with a simple, exemplary lifestyle, loved and respected by colleagues and people.
In his childhood, when the poor student Pham Quang Le was just entering primary school, his father passed away. Because the family was poor, his older sister had to drop out of school so that he could continue his studies. His mother worked hard and struggled day and night to raise her two children. Due to the poor family background and the absence of a father since childhood, student Pham Quang Le soon trained himself to be highly independent and self-disciplined in his studies. Every time he went to school, he went on a small boat for his older sister to row across the Mang River. The Mang River was always deeply imprinted in his memories throughout his life, because that place was associated with the image of his hard-working mother and his capable older sister; the place where he still went to school during his poor childhood. Until later, when he went to Paris - the splendid capital of France, where the Seine River is famous, the Mang River in the poor countryside was always imbued in his memories every afternoon when he watched the Seine River and in his dreams about his "birthplace"...
After finishing primary school, student Pham Quang Le passed the entrance exam with a full scholarship to Fertruts Ky School in Saigon (now Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted - Ho Chi Minh City). With the intelligence of a genius, he was able to study abroad in France. Here, he graduated as an engineer and a bachelor of mathematics from the following schools: Paris Polytechnic University; University of Mining; University of Electricity; Sorbonne University; Paris Bridge and Road University; then he stayed in France to work at the Aircraft Research Institute...
During this period, patriotic movements (such as the movement demanding amnesty for Phan Boi Chau, the funeral of Phan Chu Trinh, the Soviet-Nghe Tinh movement...) greatly influenced his patriotism, arousing in him an interest in studying historical issues of the nation. He especially studied the uprisings against French colonialism and sought to understand why the people of his country were so loyal, but every uprising eventually failed and disintegrated. After studying and researching historical documents, he concluded a very important reason: The failure of patriotic movements from the early 19th century to the early 20th century was due to the refusal to accept the first scientific and technological revolutions (for the Nguyen Dynasty), and the lack of necessary weapons for self-defense (for the patriotic movements of the scholars). And in his heart he always harbored a great secret ambition: To study to have enough knowledge to research, design and manufacture weapons so that he could return to serve the cause of liberating the country.
Since 1936, while studying in France, student Pham Quang Le had heard and known the name Nguyen Ai Quoc. From this point on, Nguyen Ai Quoc's patriotic ideology guided the young Pham Quang Le politically. During the 11 years of studying and working in France, besides being an explosives expert - proficient in chemical reactions and fields related to the bridge and road industry, aviation... he also worked as a chief engineer for an aircraft manufacturing research institute, with a salary equivalent to about 22 taels of gold/month at this time.
On July 5, 1946, along with tens of thousands of overseas Vietnamese in France, engineer Pham Quang Le went to Le Beurget airport to welcome President Ho Chi Minh and the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese Government to France. With admiration, respect, and trust for leader Ho Chi Minh and being a person with a lot of knowledge about Vietnamese intellectuals in France at that time, engineer Pham Quang Le was able to accompany President Ho Chi Minh in meetings and work with overseas Vietnamese. During the 2 months of working and visiting overseas Vietnamese (from July 1946 to September 1946), engineer Pham Quang Le shared with Uncle Ho his understanding and assessment of the situation of World War II, especially about his own work, study and scientific research process with the desire to serve the Fatherland... On September 8, 1946, Uncle Ho called Pham Quang Le, informed him that the Fontainebleau Conference had failed, then Uncle Ho suggested: "I will return to the country, you return to me...". And when President Ho Chi Minh returned from Paris, engineer Pham Quang Le followed him back to the Fatherland after more than 11 years of living, studying and working in France.
7 days after returning to the country (October 27, 1946), engineer Pham Quang Le was directly assigned to Thai Nguyen to research and manufacture anti-tank guns based on the American bazooka model, with two bullets provided by Professor Ta Quang Buu. On December 5, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh invited engineer Pham Quang Le to the Northern Department. Here, he directly assigned him to be the Director of the Military Ordnance Department and gave him a new name, Tran Dai Nghia. Directly assigned by Uncle Ho, engineer Tran Dai Nghia and many comrades built and developed the military ordnance industry, manufacturing many new types of weapons in conditions of extreme shortage of materials and equipment, most notably the Bazooka gun and bullets, and the SKZ recoilless rifle, which contributed significantly to our army's victory on the battlefield. Engineer Tran Dai Nghia opened many training classes and fostered the theory and practice of weapon manufacturing for officers and workers in the military ordnance industry in the early days of the resistance war. With his wholehearted contributions, at the first National Congress of Heroes and Emulation Fighters in Viet Bac in 1952, engineer Tran Dai Nghia was awarded the title of Labor Hero by the State, one of the first seven Labor Heroes of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
From the 1950s until the end of his life, scientist Tran Dai Nghia was trusted by the Party and the State and assigned many important responsibilities: Director of the Military Ordnance Department, Director of the Artillery Department, Deputy Director of the General Department of Logistics and then Deputy Director of the General Department of Technology (Ministry of National Defense). From Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade to Deputy Minister of Industry, in any position he always completed the assigned work excellently and continued to be appointed to many new important responsibilities: Deputy Director of the State Basic Construction Committee, Director of the State Basic Construction Committee. Director of the State Science and Technology Committee. When peace was restored, he held the position of Director of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and then Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations... Each of his successful working stages was recognized with noble medals and awards such as: Hero of Labor, Resistance Medal, Ho Chi Minh Medal, Ho Chi Minh Prize and was elected as an Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the former Soviet Union. In 1996, he was honored to receive the Ho Chi Minh Prize from the State for his research and development of Bazookas, recoilless rifles... during the resistance war against France. His research works have been highly appreciated internationally and widely applied in the Army...
On August 9, 1997, he fell ill and passed away in Ho Chi Minh City. Throughout his life, Professor - Academician Tran Dai Nghia devoted himself entirely to science and above all to the entire Vietnamese people. Physicist Nguyen Van Hieu said: "For our generation, the merits and ethics of that scientist have gone down in history as a legendary angel". General Vo Nguyen Giap called Tran Dai Nghia: "the Buddha who makes weapons".
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