Irène Joliot-Curie
A native of Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, Qian was born in Shaoxing, the son of the scholar Qian Xuantong. Qian attended Peking University and Tsinghua University, graduating in 1936 in the same class as his future wife He Zehui. Qian went to France in 1937. He studied in the Collège de Sorbonne and Collège de France, doing research under Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie. He obtained the French doctorate in 1940.