Wang Ganchang

Wang Ganchang

Wang Ganchang (May 28, 1907 - December 10, 1998), male, born in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, is a member of the Communist Party of China and a member of the Jiusan Society. Before he died, he was the president of the Chinese Academy of atomic energy, honorary chairman of the Central Committee of the 93 society, nuclear physicist, one of the founders and pioneers of China's nuclear science, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and winner of the "two bombs and one Star Medal for meritorious service".

He graduated from the Department of physics of Tsinghua University in 1929. In 1933, he received a doctor's degree from the University of Berlin. In 1964, he independently put forward the idea of using laser target to realize nuclear fusion. He is one of the founders of laser inertial confinement fusion theory and research in the world.

Wang Ganchang, one of the main founders of China's nuclear weapons development, participated in the experimental research and organizational leadership of China's breakthroughs in the principles of atomic and hydrogen bombs and the development of nuclear weapons. He has won two first prizes of National Natural Science and special prize of national science and technology progress.

Life of the characters

Wang Ganchang was born in fengtangwan, Changshu County, Jiangsu Province on May 28, 1907. He went to Shaxi primary school in Taicang County in 1916 and went to Shanghai at the age of 13 to study in Pudong middle school. He graduated from high school in 1924 and entered a foreign language specialized class. Then I went to a technical school to learn driving and maintenance skills.

In August 1925, he was admitted to Tsinghua University. In June 1929, he graduated from the Department of physics of Tsinghua University and stayed as a teaching assistant. Under the guidance of Professor Wu Youxun, he completed his paper "Radon intensity and daily change around Tsinghua garden". This is the first experimental research paper on atmospheric radioactivity in China.

In 1930, Wang Ganchang studied at the official expense of Jiangsu Province. He went to the Royal Institute of chemistry of Berlin University to study as a graduate student and studied under the famous female nuclear physicist L Meitner.

In 1931, when Wang Ganchang was studying as a graduate student in Germany, he put forward the idea of the possible discovery of neutrons. In 1932, British scientist Chadwick carried out the experiment according to this idea, discovered neutrons and won the Nobel Prize.

In 1932, Wang Ganchang published his thesis on the upper limit of RAE continuous β - ray spectrum under the guidance of maitner; in December of the same year, he completed his doctoral dissertation on the research of internal conversion electron and obtained his doctoral degree. He has made academic visits to Britain, France, the Netherlands, Italy and other countries, visited Cavendish Laboratory and other famous European science centers, and met with Rutherford, Chadwick, Ellis and other physics masters.

In April 1934, Wang Ganchang returned to China. He has been a professor in the Department of physics of Shandong University and Zhejiang University. During this period, Wang Ganchang cultivated a group of outstanding young physicists, including Li Zhengdao, the Nobel Prize winner in physics.

In 1941, Wang Ganchang proposed a creative experimental method of recoil neutrinos produced by light nuclei capturing K-shell electrons and releasing neutrinos in his paper "a proposal on neutrino detection". In January 1942, the American Physical review published this essay, which won the second Mr. Fan Xudong Memorial Award.

In September 1947, as a visiting scholar, Wang Ganchang went to the University of California, Berkeley to do research work. He cooperated with sb Jones to study the problem of meson decay in cosmic rays.

In 1950, he was transferred to the Institute of modern physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1952, Wang Ganchang, Wu Hengxing and Lin Chuanliu went to the Korean battlefield to complete the task of detecting whether the US military used atomic weapons and throwing radioactive materials. In the same year, he was deputy director of the Institute of modern physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1955, he was elected member of the academic department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In September 1956, Wang Ganchang, as a representative of China, worked as a researcher in the Dubner Institute of nuclear research in the Soviet Union, engaged in the study of basic particles, and was selected as the deputy director. During his work at the Joint Institute of atomic and nuclear research, his physics team first discovered the anti sigma negative hyperon (～Σ -), and first observed the antiparticles with strange quarks produced in the interaction of elementary particles.

In 1959, Wang Ganchang found a case of producing anti sigma negative hyperons from 40000 pairs of negatives in his research at the Dubner Institute of nuclear research of the Soviet Union, and found the antiparticle of hyperons, which caused a sensation in the international academic circles.

In December 1960, Wang Ganchang returned from the Soviet Union. In April 1961, he was assigned to secretly participate in the research and development of the atomic bomb, responsible for physical experiments. In 1962, he basically mastered the means and experimental techniques of atomic bomb implosion.

In December 1964, Wang Ganchang independently put forward the proposal of laser driven nuclear fusion, and the research of laser driven nuclear fusion in China began.

In 1978, Wang Ganchang returned to Beijing as vice minister of the Ministry of nuclear industry and director of the Institute of atomic energy. Under his direct leadership, he successively carried out the basic research work of high current electron beam inertial confinement fusion and KrF laser inertial confinement fusion, and made a pioneering work for later inertial confinement fusion to obtain nuclear energy.

In 1982, Wang Ganchang won the first prize of two National Natural Science Awards for his work in discovering anti sigma negative hyperons and developing and testing nuclear weapons.

In 1984, Wang Ganchang received an honorary certificate from the Free University of Berlin at the German Embassy in China to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his doctoral degree at Berlin University. It is specially designed for scientists who are still working in the front line of scientific research 50 years after receiving their doctorate. People call such scientists "Dr. King".

In 1992, with the promotion of Wang Ganchang and Yu Min, laser inertial confinement fusion, as an independent subject, was included in the national "863" program and won the long-term stable support of the country.

In June 1998, Wang Ganchang was awarded the title of the first batch of "senior academicians" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

At 21:48 on December 10, 1998, Wang Ganchang died of illness in Beijing at the age of 91.

Main contributions

scientific research

In the early 1950s, Wang Ganchang led and participated in the research on cosmic rays. He and Xiao Jian jointly led the construction of China's first Alpine cosmic ray laboratory at 3185 meters above sea level in Luoxue mountain, Yunnan Province. Under their leadership, a self-designed magnetic cloud chamber was installed in the alpine laboratory. The laboratory was built in 1954 and began to observe the interaction between cosmic rays and matter. More than 700 cases of strange particles have been collected and the properties of strange particles have been studied, which made the research of cosmic rays in China into the international advanced ranks at that time.

In 1964, Wang Ganchang independently put forward the idea of using laser target to achieve nuclear fusion. He was one of the founders of the theory and research of laser inertial confinement fusion in the world, and also made China's scientific research in this field take the lead in the world at that time. At the Dubner Institute of nuclear research, a team led by Wang Ganchang discovered the anti sigma negative hyperon.

In 1985, Wang Ganchang changed his research direction to KrF laser fusion, and transformed the original high current electron accelerator into KrF laser pumping excimer laser. After continuous improvement, by the beginning of 1996, the laser output energy reached 276 joules, making China's excimer laser research into the international advanced ranks, becoming a country with 100 Joule KrF laser after the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and the former Soviet Union, and making the atomic energy institute an important research field of KrF excimer laser technology and KrF laser inertial confinement fusion in China We need a base.

As one of the main scientific and technological leaders in China's nuclear weapon development and a pioneer in nuclear weapon research and testing, Wang Ganchang guided and participated in the development of China's atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb during his nuclear weapon development. As chairman of the Technical Committee for cold test of atomic bomb, he directed China's first underground nuclear test and led and organized China's second and third underground nuclear tests. He presided over and directed the detonation physics test, explosive technology, near-field nuclear explosion detection, anti electromagnetic interference, anti nuclear reinforcement technology and laser simulated nuclear explosion test, and achieved important results. He won the first prize of National Natural Science Award in 1982 and two special prizes of national science and Technology Progress Award in 1985.

In addition, Wang Ganchang is very concerned about the development of China's science and technology, especially the high-tech industry. In March 1986, Wang Ganchang, together with Wang Daheng, Chen Fangyun and Yang Jialong, jointly put forward to the Central Committee the "proposal on tracking and studying the development of foreign strategic high technology", proposing to develop high technologies such as biology, aerospace, information, laser, automation, energy and new materials that will have a significant impact on the country's future economy and society, and strive to narrow the gap between China and advanced countries in science and technology, We should innovate in the advantageous high-tech fields and solve the major scientific and technological problems urgently needed by the national economy. This gave birth to the world-famous strategic high-tech development plan - "863" plan. It has created a new situation for China's high-tech development.

Main works

chinese

1. Wang Ganchang, my early research work, science, 1992, 44 (1): 45 ～ 46

2. Wang Ganchang, discovery of various bases and their properties, scientific world, 1947, 16 (819): 233-234

3. Wang Ganchang, Wang Zhuxiang, vickslier, vlana, Ding Dazhao, et al. On parity nonconservation in strong interaction with strange particles, Acta physica Sinica, 1961,17 (2): 73-75

4. Wang Ganchang, Lian Peisheng, Kang Lixin, Li Yingxiang, nuclear energy - Dang

Chinese PinYin : Wang Gan Chang