Chen Nengkuan (; 28 April 1923 – 27 May 2016), or N. K. Chen, was a Chinese
metallurgist
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
and
material scientist. He was an
academician of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of the 23 founding fathers of China's
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' ...
().
Biography
Chen was born in
Cili County,
Hunan.
He graduated from the mining and metallurgy department of National Tangshan Jiaotong University (now
Southwest Jiaotong University
Southwest Jiaotong University () is located in national central city Chengdu, Sichuan Province, affiliated to the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It's a national key university co-supported by the Ministry of Education o ...
) in 1946. He was admitted to a self-financed study abroad program sponsored by the government and then traveled to the United States for graduate studies in 1947.
He received a master's degree in 1948 and a
Doctor of Philosophy in metallurgy from
Yale University in 1950. He worked for
Johns Hopkins University and
Westinghouse Electric as a researcher after his graduation.
He returned to the People's Republic of China in 1955 after the
Korean War ended and was assigned work at Institute of Applied Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was one of the key contributors to the Chinese nuclear weapon programs. Chen was elected as academician of
Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980. In 1999, he was awarded "Two Bombs and One Satellite Meritorious Award" for his contribution on atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb.
Chen died on 27 May 2016 at the age of 93 in Beijing.
China's top nuclear researcher dies
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References
1923 births
2016 deaths
Chinese metallurgists
Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
People from Zhangjiajie
Physicists from Hunan
Southwest Jiaotong University alumni
Yale University alumni
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