25 Facts About Wang Ganchang

Wang Ganchang was one of the founding fathers of Chinese nuclear physics, cosmic rays and particle physics.

Wang Ganchang was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and was a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

In 1941 Wang Ganchang first proposed the use of beta-capture to detect the neutrino.

Wang Ganchang led a group which discovered the anti-sigma minus hyperon particle at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia in 1959.

Wang Ganchang was vice-director of the Soviet Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.

From spring of 1969 onwards, Wang Ganchang held many high-level positions within Chinese academic and political organizations.

Wang Ganchang was vice-director of the Ninth Research Institute, predecessor of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, director of the China Institute of Atomic Energy, deputy director of the Nuclear industry Science and Technology Commission, and second vice-chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology.

Wang Ganchang was vice-chairman of the Chinese Physical Society and the first chairman of the Chinese Nuclear Society.

The Wang Ganchang Prize is awarded to physicists in particle physics and inertial confinement fusion.

Wang Ganchang was born in Zhitang, Changshu, Jiangsu Province on May 28,1907.

Wang Ganchang passed the entrance examinations for Tsinghua University in August 1928.

Wang Ganchang graduated from the Physics Department of Tsinghua in June 1929, and served as an assistant professor from 1929 to 1930.

Wang Ganchang suggested the use of a cloud chamber to study these particles.

Wang Ganchang first worked at Shandong University as a physics professor from 1934 to 1936.

Wang Ganchang then became a professor at Zhejiang University and served as head of the Department of Physics there from October 1936 to 1950.

From April 1950 to 1956 Wang Ganchang was a researcher at the Institute of Modern Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and served as the Institute's deputy director from 1952.

Professor Wang Ganchang was the first to propose the establishment of a cosmic ray laboratory in China.

Wang Ganchang remained affiliated with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research even after returning to China, serving as its deputy director from 1958 until 1960.

Wang Ganchang then relocated to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang province to prepare for China's first nuclear test.

In spring 1969, Wang Ganchang was one of several scientists who spoke with an Australian journalist about China's nuclear weapons programme.

That year, as part of his duties as vice-director of the Ninth Research Institute, Wang Ganchang received the task of conducting China's first underground nuclear test.

Wang Ganchang led the second and third Chinese underground nuclear tests.

Unfortunately, due to the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, which caused seven years of delay, Wang Ganchang's leading position in this field was lost.

Wang Ganchang was the first recipient of the State Natural Science Award in 1982.

Wang Ganchang was the first recipient of the Special Award of the State Science and Technology Progress Award in 1985.