On this day, 180 years ago, March 7, 1845 (January 29, 1845 in the lunar calendar), modern scientist Xu Jianyin was born. Xu Jianyin, also known as Zhong Hu, was born on March 7, 1845 (born on the 29th day of the first month of the 25th year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty), a native of Wuxi County. The second son of Xu Shou, a pioneer of modern chemistry in China. In March 1862 (the first year of Tongzhi), he accompanied him to work at the Anqing Internal Ordnance Institute founded by Zeng Guofan. In the process of manufacturing and developing my country's first steam engine and the first ship, the Yellow Que, Xu Shou, Hua Henglao and others, he repeatedly thought about it differently. In the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867), he followed his father to Jiangnan Machine Manufacturing General Administration and continued to play an important role in assisting in the manufacture of my country's first batch of military ships and the production of gunpowder and guns. At the same time, he assisted his father in creating a translation museum and co-translated 12 scientific and technological books on chemistry, astronomy, machine manufacturing, electricity, acoustics, etc. with the British. He also assisted his father in founding Gezhi Academy and became the second Hua Dong. In the twelfth year of Tongzhi, he was appointed as the director of Jiangnan Machine Manufacturing Bureau. In 1875 (the first year of Guangxu), he headed the Shandong Machine Manufacturing Bureau and created it himself. He never hired Westerners. It took two years to complete it. His talents were praised by Li Hongzhang and Ding Baozhan and recommended to the Qing court. In the fifth year of Guangxu, he was appointed as the Second Counsellor of the Embassy in Germany. He went to Europe to inspect and order ironclad boats. He ordered two ships from the Stedenvore Shipbuilding Works in Germany. After sailing back to our country, they were named Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, becoming the main ships of the Beiyang Navy. In more than two years in Europe, he also inspected more than 80 factories in Britain, France and other countries, and wrote scientific and technological articles such as "The Record of the Boat of Reading Klubu","Method for Making Mine Shell","Copper Refining, Casting, Rolling, Copper Plate, Casting, and Drawing Copper Pipe Pipe Welding Methods" and "Method for Making Lime" were published in Shanghai's Gezhi Compilation; It also introduces the management experience of Western factories in administration, production, technology and other aspects to China for reference. Guangxu returned to China at the end of the seventh year. While waiting for appointment in Beijing, he compiled and published the diaries he kept in Europe into "Miscellaneous Records of European Travel", and published the translated "Constitution of the German Parliament" and "Chronicle of the German Alliance" at the same time. In August of the 10th year of Guangxu, he returned to his residence due to his father's illness. In the 12th year of Guangxu, he was transferred to supervise the Jinling Machine Manufacturing Bureau, refining cast steel and making breech guns. In the 15th year of Guangxu's reign, Zeng Guoqian, the governor of Liangjiang, sent Xu Jianyin to Zhenjiang to handle the case. Xu Jianyin was the only one person to serve as a consul of several countries. He argued on reason and was neither arrogant nor humble. In the 16th year of Guangxu's reign, the Hubei Railway Bureau was established by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and a high-quality coal mine with extremely rich reserves was surveyed in Hujiawan along the Yangtze River in Daye. In the 20th year of Guangxu, he was recommended as an alternate road in Zhili. After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, he was ordered to go to Tianjin and Weihai to inspect the ship's equipment and supervise military affairs. After his reply, he remained in charge of the ordnance Zhang Jing. In the 22nd year of Guangxu, he was transferred to the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau to promote the investigation. During this period, he designed and built the Qingzhou Dockyard, the largest dock in my country at that time, and wrote 16 volumes of "New Book of Art of War". During the 100-day reform in the 24th year of Guangxu, Xu Jianyin was once appointed as the supervisor of the newly established State Administration of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, he returned to his hometown to visit tombs and lived idle in Xi and Shanghai. In the 26th year of Guangxu, at the invitation of Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Huguang, he served as the chief instructor of military preparation in the Hubei Camp Affairs Department, and also ran the Hanyang Steel Pharmaceutical Factory. He translated 20 volumes of "The Book of Shipbuilding" and 4 volumes of "Painting Ship Lines". At the same time, smokeless nitrocellulose powder was trial-produced and was successful. Then, domestic cotton was used to replace imported cotton to produce smokeless gunpowder successfully. On March 31, 1901 (February 12, 27th Guangxu), while mixing ingredients in the workshop of Hanyang Steel Pharmaceutical Factory to prepare for batch production of smokeless gunpowder, the machine exploded, killing him and all 14 employees present. Xu Jianyin was 56 years old.