Wang Zhuxi ( Chinese: 王竹溪;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Wáng Zhúxī''; June 7, 1911 - January 30, 1983), who had the given name Zhiqi () and the sobriquet Zhuxi, was a Chinese physicist, philologist, and writer.

Biography

Wang was born in

Gong'an County Gong'an County () is a county in southern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Hunan to the south. It is under the administration of Jingzhou City. History During the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era, Gong'an County was k ...

Hubei Province Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

. He graduated from the Department of Physics of

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 1933, and continued his postgraduate study in the university's graduate school. With government support, he went to study in the United Kingdom, where he obtained his doctorate degree from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

under the supervision of

Ralph Fowler Sir Ralph Howard Fowler (17 January 1889 – 28 July 1944) was a British physicist and astronomer. Education Fowler was born at Roydon, Essex, on 17 January 1889 to Howard Fowler, from Burnham, Somerset, and Frances Eva, daughter of George De ...

in 1938. Upon his return to China, Wang taught statistical physics, thermodynamics, and quantum mechanics at the Department of Physics at Tsinghua. After 1952 he became a professor 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 ...

, later serving as the vice president of the university. In recognition of his advancements in the field of physics, he was elected as a founding member 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 1955. Wang authored several textbooks published by the Peking University Press, including "Thermodynamics" and "Introduction to Statistical Physics". He served as the director of the Terminology Committee of the Chinese Physics Society, and created many Chinese translations of new physics terms. In the meantime he was devoted to studying

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

, serving as an editor of the "New Chinese Dictionary by Division Heads" with 2,500,000 words. It simplified 214 division heads of the

Kangxi Dictionary The ''Kangxi Dictionary'' ( (Compendium of standard characters from the Kangxi period), published in 1716, was the most authoritative dictionary of Chinese characters from the 18th century through the early 20th. The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing d ...

into only 56, and arranged over 50,000 Chinese characters by stroke orders from top to bottom and left to right, which was a convenient system for retrieval. Many of Wang's students are prominent physicists, including Nobel laureate

Chen-Ning Yang Yang Chen-Ning or Chen-Ning Yang (; born 1 October 1922), also known as C. N. Yang or by the English name Frank Yang, is a Chinese Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrab ...

and former president of the

Zhou Guangzhao Zhou Guangzhao (; born May 15, 1929) is a Chinese theoretical physicist who served as President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1987 to 1997. Early life and education Zhou Guangzhao was born on May 15, 1929 in Changsha, the capital of ...

. In 2003, a bronze bust of Wang was founded at the Peking University campus.

Works

*Thermodynamics, 2nd Edition; Wang Z.X; Peking University Press 2005 *Statistical Physics, Wang Z. X., Peking University Press *Special Functions, Wang Z. X., Guo D R, Singapore World Scientific Publishing C. 1989 *New Chinese Dictionary by Division Heads, Wang Z.X.

References

* The Beauty of Rigor and Conciseness—Wang Zhuxi's Life Long Pursuit of Physics, by Wang Zhengxing, Peking U Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Zhuxi 1911 births 1983 deaths Educators from Hubei Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National Southwestern Associated University faculty Peking University faculty People from Jingzhou People's Republic of China science writers People's Republic of China translators Physicists from Hubei Tsinghua University faculty Victims of the Cultural Revolution Writers from Hubei 20th-century Chinese translators