Chinese President Hu Jintao visited two renowned Chinese scientists, nuclear physicist Zhu Guangya and mathematician Yang Le, at their homes in Beijing Friday afternoon.  
   
The president solicited opinions and suggestions from the two scientists on the country's development of science and technology, and extended New Year's greetings to them and science workers throughout the country.
   
Zhu, 80, is an academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). Yang Le, 65, is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and a research fellow of the Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences of the CAS.
   
At 3:00 PM, Hu, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Zhu's home on behalf of China's central leadership. Hu presented a floral basket to Zhu and talked with the old scientist.
   
Zhu is one of the best-known scientists in China. He made great contributions to China's nuclear program and participated in organizing all the atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb experiments in China, the construction of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, the research on the application and development of radioactive isotopes, and the making and implementation of China's high-tech research and development program.
   
Zhu thanked Hu for his visit, saying it shows the CPC general secretary's solicitude for all Chinese scientists.
   
After that, the president visited the home of Yang Le, one of the most active mathematicians in China. In the 1970s, Yang studied the relationship between deficient values and borel directions of entire and meromorphic functions. In cooperation with another Chinese mathematician, Zhang Guanghou, he discovered and established the detailed relation between these two basic concepts.
   
President Hu spoke highly of Yang's achievements in mathematical studies. The president and the mathematician also discussed the government's efforts to promote research on basic science.
   
In his talks with the two scientists, Hu urged all Chinese scientists and people in all walks of life to follow the examples of the older generation of Chinese scientists, including their loyalty to the motherland and the people, braveness in innovation and overcoming hardships and rigorous scholarship, and devote their wisdom and strength to achieving prosperity of the country and happiness of the people.

President Hu Jintao visits  Zhu Guangya , renowned nuclear physicist, and Zhu's wife, Professor Xu Huijun, at their home in Beijing, December 24, 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2004)