Chen Nengkuan


Chen Nengkuan was a Chinese metallurgist and physicist. He was a detonation physics expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was known as one of the founding fathers of Two Bombs, One Satellite.

Biography

Chen was born in Cili County, Hunan. He obtained a bachelor's degree from National Tangshan Engineering College in 1946 and then obtained his doctor's degree in metallurgy from Yale University in the United States. He worked for Johns Hopkins University and Westinghouse Electric as a researcher after his graduation. He returned to 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.