Wang Ganchang (Chinese: 王淦昌; pinyin: Wáng Gànchāng; Wade–Giles: Wang Kan-ch'ang) (May 28, 1907 – December 10, 1998) was a nuclear physicist from China. He was one of the initiators of research in China in nuclear physics, cosmic rays and particle physics. Wang figured among the top leaders, pioneers and scientists of the Chinese nuclear deterrent program. He was a member of the Chinese Academy of Science and a member of the Chinese Communist party.
In 1930, Wang first proposed to use a cloud chamber to study a new type of high-energy rays induced by the bombardment of beryllium with α particle, experiment conducted one year later by the English physicist James Chadwick, thus discovering a new type of particle, the neutron, and allowing him to win the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Wang first proposed the use of beta-capture to detect the neutrino in 1941. Fifteen years later Frederick Reines and Clyde Cowan employed his suggestion and detected the neutrino in 1956 winning forty years later the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Wang also led a group to discover the anti-sigma minus hyperon particle at Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia in 1959.
After May 1950, he became researcher and vice-director of the Institute of Modern Physics (中国科学院近代物理研究所). He was vice-director of the Soviet Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. From spring 1969, he was vice-director of the Ninth Research Institute (二机部第九研究院), predecessor of the China Academy of Engineering Physics. He was director of the China Institute of Atomic Energy (二机部副部长兼原子能研究所). He was deputy director of the Nuclear industry Science and Technology Commission (核工业部科技委). He was second vice-chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology. He was vice-chairman of the Chinese Physical Society (中国物理学会). He was first chairman of the China Nuclear Society (中国核学会). He was a member of the 3rd through 16th NPC Standing Committees.
In 2000, the Chinese Physical Society established five prizes in recognition of five pioneers of modern physics in China. The Wang Ganchang Prize is awarded to physicists in particle physics and inertial confinement fusion.
Read more about Wang Ganchang: Early Years, Overseas Student in Germany, Return To China, The WW II Years, Founding of The P.R. China, The USSR Years, Nuclear Deterrent, Fusion and Nuclear Energy, Project 863, Awards, See Also, Selected Literature By Wang Ganchang