Gong Zutong (; 10 November 1904 – 26 June 1986) was a Chinese

optical physicist Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

. He was a founder of China's

optical glass Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...

industry and served as Founding Director of the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

(CAS). He was elected an academician of the CAS in 1980.

Early life and education

Gong was born on 10 November 1904 in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, during the late

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. He obtained his bachelor's degree from

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

in 1930 and joined its faculty upon graduation. In 1932, he began his postgraduate studies at Tsinghua under the supervision of the prominent physicist

Chung-Yao Chao Chung-Yao Chao (; 27 June 1902 – 28 May 1998) was a Chinese theoretical physicist. He studied the scattering of gamma rays in lead by pair production in 1930, without knowing that positrons were involved in the anomalously high scattering cro ...

(Zhao Zhongyao), and his research on secondary

gamma radiation A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically s ...

was published in ''Nature''. In July 1934, he left for Germany to study at the

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ). ...

in Berlin-Charlottenburg (now

Technische Universität Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

). After earning his engineer's license in 1936, he continued to pursue Ph.D. studies at TH Berlin, and completed his dissertation in 1937. In the same year, however, the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

broke out and China came under military invasion by the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

. Gong abandoned his thesis defence and returned to China to join the resistance.

Career

Gong was back in China by 1938. He soon began preparing for the construction of China's first optical factory, the Kunming Optical Instrument Factory, to produce urgently needed instruments for the military. When the factory came into operation, he served as director of manufacturing. Six months later, it produced China's first

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

s for military

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

, a landmark in China's optical industry. The factory later also manufactured targeting mirrors for

machine guns A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

. Gong made three attempts to produce

during the Sino-Japanese War, but failed in the difficult wartime conditions. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he tried again and succeeded in 1953. After the successful trial production, he established an R&D base in

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

, marking the beginning of China's optical glass industry. In 1962, he established the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the

(CAS), and served as its director. The institute produced optical instruments for nuclear applications. He also developed China's first

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...

and East Asia's then-largest astronomical telescope (with a diameter of ), and pioneered

high-speed photography High-speed photography is the science of taking pictures of very fast phenomena. In 1948, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) defined high-speed photography as any set of photographs captured by a camera capable of 69 ...

in China. He was elected an academician of the CAS in 1980. Gong died in

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

on 26 June 1986, at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gong, Zutong 1904 births 1986 deaths Chinese expatriates in Germany Educators from Shanghai Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese optical physicists Physicists from Shanghai Tsinghua University alumni Academic staff of Tsinghua University Technische Universität Berlin alumni