Wang Buxuan (5 February 1922 – 31 August 2019), also known as Bu-Xuan Wang and Pu-Hsuan Wang, was a Chinese thermal physicist and engineer, considered a pioneer in the field of engineering

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of the ...

in China. He established the engineering thermodynamics program at

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 1957 and the China Solar Power Society in 1979. He was elected an academician 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 ...

in 1980.

Early life and education

Wang was born 5 February 1922 in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, Republic of China. He earned a B.S. from the

National Southwestern Associated University When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Universi ...

in 1943 and an M.S. in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

in the United States in 1949.

Career

When the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

was established in 1949, Wang gave up his doctoral studies and returned to China. He taught at

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

before moving to

, where he established the engineering

program in 1957. Answering a national need, Wang spent 1963 to 1966 researching the synthesis of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

at a major chemical plant in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

province. By redesigning a compact heat exchange system to enhance heat transfer and improve catalystic reaction, he doubled the daily production of the plant. It was listed by the Chinese government as one of the country's 100 important achievements in 1966. In 1979, Wang founded the China Solar Power Society, and was its chairman until 1987. Wang's research interests were

heat transfer Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, ...

, including biomedical heat transfer and heat transfer through porous media, thermal properties of matter, and

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

. From 1981 to 1987, he conducted basic research on the "film boiling of subcooled liquid flowing with higher velocity along a solid surface" and the "evaporation of liquid drops on solid surface", which won the

State Natural Science Award The State Science and Technology Prizes () are the highest honors conferred by the national government of the People's Republic of China in science and technology, in order to recognize citizens and organizations who have made remarkable contribut ...

in 1989. He published more than 400 research papers with more than 2000 SCI citations, and ten monographs or textbooks. Wang was elected an academician of the

in 1980. He was conferred the Research Scholarship Award of the

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science The is an Independent Administrative Institution in Japan, established for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science in all fields of the natural and social sciences and the humanities.JSPSweb page History The Japan Society for ...

in 1985, the Energy for Mankind Prize of the Global Energy Society in 1986, the

Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize The Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation (HLHL, ) is a Hong Kong-based non-government organisation which annually bestows prizes upon Chinese scientists. It was established on 30 March 1994, with funds donated from the charitable foundations of Ho Sin Han ...

for Technological Sciences in 1998, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the China Solar Thermal Alliance in 2018.

Personal life and death

Wang's eldest son, Wang Ruji (王如骥), is a chemist who served as vice chair of the chemistry department of Tsinghua University. Wang died on 31 August 2019 in Beijing, aged 97.

References

External links

Wang Buxuan
at the National Museum for Modern Chinese Scientists {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Buxuan 1922 births 2019 deaths Chinese expatriates in the United States Chinese mechanical engineers Educators from Wuxi Engineers from Jiangsu Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National Southwestern Associated University alumni Academic staff of Peking University Purdue University College of Engineering alumni Physicists from Jiangsu Scientists from Wuxi Academic staff of Tsinghua University