Wang Daheng (; 26 February 1915 – 21 July 2011) 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 ...

, engineer, and inventor widely considered the "father of optical engineering" in China. He was a founding academician of both 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 Republi ...

and the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

. He was the founder of the Changchun Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics,

Changchun University of Science and Technology Changchun University of Science and Technology () is a key university in Changchun, Jilin, China, previously known as Changchun Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (). It was founded by Wang Daheng in 1958. After half a century's developmen ...

, and the Chinese Optical Society.

Early life and education

Wang was born on 26 February 1915 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan, with his ancestral home in Suzhou, China. His father Wang Yingwei (王应伟) was an astronomer then studying in Japan. Wang graduated from the Department of Physics at

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

in 1936. In 1938, he won the

Boxer Indemnity Scholarship The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program () was a scholarship program for Chinese students to be educated in the United States, funded by the . In 1908, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to return to China the excess of Boxer Indemnity, amounting to ...

to study in England. After earning his master's degree from

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 1940, he began his doctoral studies at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

in optical physics and technology.

Career

United Kingdom

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

broke out in 1939,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, a major maker of optical glass, banned the export of the strategic product. The British government offered support for domestic companies to develop and manufacture the product, and Wang decided to abandon his studies and join

Chance Brothers Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology. The Chance fam ...

, a leading British glass manufacturer. His research at the company led to the development of new types of optical glass and precision instruments.

China

In 1948, Wang returned to China and established the Department of Applied Physics at the former Dalian University (now part of the

Dalian University of Technology Dalian University of Technology (DUT) (), colloquially known in Chinese as Dagong (), is a public research university located in Dalian, Liaoning, China, with an additional campus in Panjin, Liaoning. Established in April 1949, it is the ...

). In 1952, Wang established the Changchun Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (originally named the Institute of Instrumentation) of the

in Changchun. He is also considered the founder of

, a spinoff of the institute. He worked at the institute from 1952 to 1983, and served several times as its president. At the institute, he made a number of inventions and developed China's first electronic microscope and

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...

. Under his leadership, the Changchun Institute played a crucial role in the development of strategic weapons, developing high-precision optics for

missile guidance Missile guidance refers to a variety of methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its P ...

systems. It enabled major breakthroughs for China's submarine-launched ballistic missile program. Wang was elected a founding member of the

(CAS) in 1955. In 1992, he and five other scientists advocated the creation of the

(CAE) independent from the CAS. When the Chinese government accepted their proposal and established the CAE in 1994, Wang was again elected as a founding academician and a member of the presidium. He was a fellow of

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

and chaired a number of SPIE symposiums and conferences. In March 1986, Wang Daheng and three other prominent scientists—

Wang Ganchang Wang Ganchang (; May 28, 1907 – December 10, 1998) was a Chinese nuclear physicist. He was one of the founding fathers of Chinese nuclear physics, cosmic rays and particle physics. Wang was also a leader in the fields of detonation physic ...

Yang Jiachi Yang Jiachi (; 16 July 1919 – 11 June 2006) was a Chinese aerospace engineer and a specialist in satellite control and automation. A participant in the development of China's first satellites and the developer of the attitude control system for ...

, and

Chen Fangyun Chen Fangyun (; 3 April 1916 – 29 April 2000) was a Chinese electrical engineer. Considered the founder of radio electronics in China, he was pivotal in the development of telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) systems that control China's sate ...

—wrote a letter to

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...

advocating the development of strategic technologies. Deng accepted their proposal, which gave birth to the influential

863 Program The 863 program () or State High-Tech Development Plan () was a program funded and administered by the government of the People's Republic of China intended to stimulate the development of advanced technologies in a wide range of fields for th ...

, named after the date of their letter. Wang died on 21 July 2011 in Beijing, at the age of 96. He was buried at the

Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery () is Beijing's main resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high government officials and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to society. In ...

Honours and recognition

Wang was awarded the

Two Bombs, One Satellite Two Bombs, One Satellite () was an early nuclear and space project of the People's Republic of China. ''Two Bombs'' refers to the atomic bomb (and later the hydrogen bomb) and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), while ''One Satellite' ...

Meritorious Medal in 1999 for his role in developing the technology to trigger

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles ( neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manife ...

using laser. He was also conferred the Special Prize of the

State Science and Technology Progress 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 ...

and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Achievement in Science and Technology. The asteroid 17693 Wangdaheng, discovered by the

Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program The Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program (SCAP) was an astronomical survey to search for near-Earth objects. It was conducted during the 1990s, at the Xinglong Station in Xinglong County, Chengde, Hebei province, China and resulted in the disc ...

in 1997, is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Daheng 1915 births 2011 deaths Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of the University of Sheffield Boxer Indemnity Scholarship recipients Changchun University of Science and Technology Chinese engineers Chinese expatriates in the United Kingdom 20th-century Chinese inventors 20th-century Chinese physicists Academic staff of Dalian University of Technology Fellows of SPIE Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Optical engineers Optical physicists People from Tokyo Tsinghua University alumni