Wang an
Wang an
Wang an
Born in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province from February 7, 1920 to March 24, 1990, he is a famous Chinese American scientist, inventor and entrepreneur.
He graduated from electrical engineering of Jiaotong University in 1940, studied in the United States in 1945, and received a doctorate in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 1948. Wang laboratories was founded in 1951 and later became a "computer king". In 1986, he became the fifth richest person in the United States. In 1986, he won the US Presidential Medal for freedom and was honored in the US Inventors Hall of fame in 1988. On March 24, 1990, Wang an died of esophageal cancer in Boston.
Life of the characters
Early experience
Wang An, born in Yushan Town, Kunshan, Jiangsu Province on February 7, 1920, spent his childhood in his hometown of Kunshan. He studied in Jinmin Primary School of Kunshan (now the first Central Primary School of Kunshan) and Kunshan County Middle School (now the first middle school of Kunshan City). In 1933, he was admitted to Shanghai Middle School of Jiangsu Province. In 1936, he was admitted to Jiaotong University (now the predecessor of Shanghai Jiaotong University and Xi'an Jiaotong University). In 1940, he graduated from national Jiaotong University (now the predecessor of Shanghai Jiaotong University and Xi'an Jiaotong University) and majored in electrical engineering The engineers and technicians were sent to the United States for further study and entered Harvard University in the autumn of the same year. In 1948, he received a doctorate in Applied Physics from Harvard University. In the same year, he joined Howard Aiken's "Harvard computer laboratory" and participated in the development of "mark 4" computer. Soon, he invented "magnetic core memory", which greatly improved the storage capacity of computers. On October 21, 1949, Wang an applied to the Patent Office for the patent of "magnetic core memory".
In 1951, Wang an left Harvard University and founded a computer company called Wang laboratories with only $600. In 1956, he sold the patent of magnetic core memory to IBM, making a profit of $500000. Ambitious Wang An is not satisfied with ease and pleasure. His persistent pursuit of career makes him spend all the 500000 dollars to support research work. In 1964, he launched the latest desktop computer made of transistors, which started the successful process of Wang an computer company.
In the following 20 years, Wang'an company made great progress because of new creation and innovation. For example, in 1972, the company successfully developed a semiconductor word processor, and two years later, it launched the second generation of this kind of computer, which became a necessary equipment in American offices at that time. A large amount of investment in scientific research, so that the company's products change with each passing day, quickly occupied the market. At that time, Wang An company was in the forefront of the times in the production of logarithmic computers, small commercial computers, word processors and other office automation equipment.
Of course, the development of any company will not be smooth sailing, Wang An company is no exception. As early as the mid-1960s, because the company's business was good at the beginning, and the boss, Dr. Wang An, was ambitious and wanted to compete with IBM, the computer industry's overlord, the company's business expanded too fast. The strength of the company can not bear such a great pressure, so it can only borrow everywhere, and eventually it is heavily in debt. On August 23, 1967, under the pressure of creditor banks, the company could only issue 2.5 million dollars of shares to repay its debts. Surprisingly, this has become the starting point of Wang'an's rapid development. Originally, because the company's performance is very good, deeply trusted by the public, the company's shares to 12.5 U.S. dollars per share, the closing day's share price was as high as 40.5 U.S. dollars. Within a day, the Wang'an family became a super rich man with a Book wealth of US $50 million.
Heyday
Around 1986, Wang'an company reached its peak, with an annual income of 3 billion US dollars, ranking 146 among the 500 large enterprises listed by happiness magazine in the United States, and employing 31500 employees around the world. And Wang an himself, with a personal wealth of 2 billion US dollars, is among the top ten richest people in the United States.
In October 1986, when Deng Xiaoping met Wang an in the Great Hall of the people, he held his hand and said with appreciation, "you are very famous in the United States, and now you are a big family and a big business. This is your own struggle
In 1984, the American Electronics Association awarded Wang an the "highest honorary achievement award of electronics and information technology".
On July 4, 1986, at the 100th anniversary ceremony of the founding of the New York goddess of liberty, Wang An was selected as one of the 12 most outstanding immigrants in the United States and received the "Presidential Medal of freedom" from President Reagan. The medal of freedom was originally used to honor those who made outstanding contributions in World War II. In 1963, President Kennedy re launched the award ceremony (instead of awarding outstanding contributions in the fields of science, culture, sports and social activities in peacetime), and only Wang An, architect I.M. Pei (won in 1993) and cellist Yo Yo Ma (won in 2011) won the medal.
In 1988, Wang won another award and was listed in the American Inventors Hall of fame. The American Inventors Hall of fame was founded in 1973. Before Wang An was selected (1973-1987), only 68 people including Edison (Edison was the first one) were selected. So far, only Wang An and electrical engineer Zhuo Yihe (selected in 2009) have been honored in the American Inventors Hall of fame.
Decline and death
However, fortune does not always favor Wang An company. At the end of 1980s, Wang An company was suffering from a terminal disease. At the same time, because of a series of major mistakes, Wang An company went from prosperity to recession. As of June 30, 1992, the year-end profit of Wang'an company decreased to 1.9 billion US dollars, 1.66 billion US dollars lower than the total revenue of the past four years. At the same time, the market value of Wang'an company also dropped from US $5.6 billion to less than US $100 million. In its heyday, Wang'an company employed 31500 people, but in 1992 it reduced to 8000. Just as Wang'an company miraculously rose more than ten years ago, it declined at an amazing speed.
In fact, Wang'an company was already in the predicament of lack of funds, but Wang lie, Wang'an's son, was still full of confidence in the future of the company at that time. "With $3 billion in annual revenue, we can't possibly collapse." Wang lie said confidently.
Facts have proved that he is wrong. Wang An company has suffered heavy losses in its industry. In the three months before they applied for Chapter 11 "bankruptcy protection" of the bankruptcy law, Wang An company did not get new investors and was deeply in debt. Wang'an company seems to be doomed, with a huge loss of nearly a quarter of its total assets looming. At this time, Wang'an company was in danger of violating the bank debt agreement, which required the company to maintain at least a minimum net asset value. Even if Wang An company can successfully restructure its debt, it will reduce its scale sharply and even be unable to continue to engage in the computer industry. Such a tragic situation will cause 5000 employees of Wang'an company to lose their jobs, and the shareholders of Wang'an company will also suffer a lot - including the Wang'an family itself, who once owned nearly $1.6 billion worth of shares. After the dream of a brilliant empire was shattered, what a gloomy and helpless ending!
Edward Miller is a famous business expert, he has repeatedly saved the company on the brink of extinction. On September 3, 1989, the ailing Dr. Wang an personally ordered his eldest son to resign and hired Miller to take over the post with high salary. Miller expressed his firm confidence to Dr. Wang. At that time, he was regarded as the Savior of Wang'an company. He signed a three-year contract to help Wang'an company recover, with an annual income of $1 million. Wang An's share price rose 25 cents to $6.25.
After taking office, Miller showed his ability in dealing with debts and quickly eased his fatal financial difficulties. Within one year, he significantly reduced the bank debt with obligation requirements, and successfully reduced the total debt from $575 million to $12 million. Most of the debt was paid by selling the assets of the branch and 30% of the shares of a factory in Taiwan.
However, for the computer, a high-tech emerging industry, Miller has its fatal shortcoming - he is a novice, so he can not effectively solve the basic problem of Wang An's failure, that is, to prompt Wang an laboratory to quickly launch new products. Because he knew little about the computer industry, he could not correctly predict the development progress of the company's new products, nor could he successfully organize human and material resources to carry out research and development activities. He had promised to produce an industry standard computer that could run UNIX operating system, but by the end of 1991 he had not organized software experts to develop it. He even claimed to turn the company into a software company on the basis of the original market of picture and text compatible computers. All these make Wang An company lose the chance to catch up with the world trend again.
The original customers have gradually replaced the word processor of Wang'an company with personal computers, while other potential customers have doubts about the development of Wang'an company. Mr. Turner, an information development consultant, said: "they failed because they didn't accept open systems, and once they started, they fell behind too much." Yes, in a fast-growing industry, stagnation or even slow progress will make enterprises obsolete by the times.
In addition, Miller did not keep the company
Chinese PinYin : Wang An
Wang an
