1937年，钱三强赴法留学，师从居里夫人的女儿伊雷娜·约里奥-居里。到巴黎后，他几乎每天都泡在实验室里，34岁就成为法国国家科学研究中心研究导师。处于个人事业发展巅峰期的钱三强，做了回国的决定，他说：“虽然科学没有国界，科学家却是有祖国的。”

　　In 1937, Qian Sanqiang went to study in France, under the guidance of Marie Curie's daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie. After arriving in Paris, he spent almost every day in the laboratory and became a research instructor at the French National Center for Scientific Research at the age of 34. At the peak of his personal career development, Qian Sanqiang made the decision to return to China, saying, “Although science has no borders, scientists have their own homeland“.

　　拒做“中国原子弹之父”：千军万马完成

　　Declined the title of “Father of China's Atomic Bomb“: Accomplished by a collective effort

　　归国后，钱三强主持成立了中国科学院近代物理研究所，邓稼先、彭桓武等一批有造诣、有理想的原子能科学家也应邀请前来。在艰苦的条件下，他们白手起家，钱三强将之形象地比作“吃面包从种小麦开始”。在中国第一颗原子弹爆炸成功后，钱三强就被西方媒体称为“中国原子弹之父”，但他表示不接受这种说法，“其实是千军万马的人做的事情，没有一个协作是根本做不到的”。