IN the eyes of her daughter, He Zehui was a “simple, ordinary (普通的) old lady, who lived a low-key life”. But the truth is that this “old lady” was anything but “ordinary” – she was one of the pioneers of nuclear (核能的) science and technology, and a key figure in the development of scientific ballooning (科学气球探测). Actually she was often called “China’s Madame Curie”.