The Forgotten Mentor Behind a Nobel Laureate
And the Father of China’s Automation Instrumentation
Dr. Chen-Ning Yang is widely celebrated as a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. But behind his brilliance stood a lesser-known figure — his early mentor, Professor Wang Zhuxi. Beyond shaping Yang’s intellectual foundation, Wang was a pioneer in China’s automation instrumentation, laying the groundwork for technologies that today power industries across the globe.
Early Life and Academic Journey
Born on June 7, 1911, in Gong’an County, Hubei Province, during the twilight of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Zhuxi was a prodigy from the start. After high school, he was admitted to both Tsinghua University and the National Central University, eventually choosing to pursue physics at Tsinghua.
Awarded a government scholarship, he later studied statistical physics at the University of Cambridge, immersing himself in the world of modern theoretical science. Upon returning to China, Wang was appointed professor of physics at the National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming — at just 27 years old.
Key Milestones:
• 1911: Born in Hubei
• 1930s: Tsinghua University
• 1938: Cambridge studies
• 1938: Professor at 27
Academic Leadership and National Service
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Professor Wang took on a series of influential academic and administrative roles:
- Head of the Physics Department at Tsinghua University
- Director of Theoretical Physics and later Vice President at Peking University
His trajectory was dramatically interrupted during the Cultural Revolution. Sent to a labor farm in Jiangxi Province, Wang was cut off from academia. It wasn’t until 1972, when his former student Chen-Ning Yang returned to China and petitioned Premier Zhou Enlai, that Wang was found and brought back to Beijing.
There, he worked quietly on a linguistic project: compiling The New Radical-Based Chinese Character Dictionary — a far cry from his earlier physics research.
A Return to Science: Foundations of Flow Measurement
In 1974, Wang was invited by Vice President Shen of Peking University to return to scientific work — specifically, to help a new generation of researchers understand weighting functions, a concept critical to the emerging technology of electromagnetic flowmeters.
Why Weighting Functions Matter
At the time, industrial electromagnetic flowmeters were large, complex, and expensive — relying on uniform magnetic fields and grid-frequency sine wave excitation. These required sensor lengths three times the pipe diameter, making them hard to install and maintain.
Weighting functions offered a new theoretical model — enabling sensor designs less affected by flow velocity profiles, and thus more compact and robust. In partially filled pipes, they helped correlate varying fluid heights to accurate flow rate and area measurements — laying the foundation for modern signal interpretation in electromagnetic flowmeters.
A Historic Lecture in Kaifeng
In June 1975, after compiling a detailed manuscript, Professor Wang traveled to the Kaifeng Instrument Factory to deliver a two-day lecture that would change the course of Chinese instrumentation development.
A Modest Arrival
On the morning of June 4, he arrived in a faded brown suit, carrying a black briefcase with a handle wrapped in yellow plastic tubing. With no transportation provided, he stayed overnight in a spartan guesthouse — no bathroom, no air conditioning, just a mosquito net and a wooden bed.
Despite these humble conditions, his lecture — grounded, rigorous, and forward-looking — made a deep impact on the factory’s engineers and researchers.
Legacy and Influence Across China
After the lecture, Professor Wang maintained close contact with the Kaifeng Instrument Factory, offering guidance on experimental designs for non-uniform magnetic field flowmeters. His teachings sparked a wave of innovation and collaboration:
Shanghai Institute of Thermal Instrumentation
Partnered with Huazhong Institute of Technology (Prof. Kuang Shuo) and Kaifeng Instrument Factory (Ma Zhongyuan)
Shanghai Guanghua Instrument Factory
Joint projects with Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Huang Baosen, Shen Haijin)
Tianjin Instrument Factory No. 3
Collaboration with Tianjin University (Prof. Kuang Jianhong)
These initiatives advanced China’s capabilities in flow measurement and helped transition the field from empirical design to theory-driven innovation.
A Lasting Contribution to a Global Industry
Today, China ranks among the world’s leaders in electromagnetic flowmeter production, with technologies applied in industries ranging from water treatment and petrochemicals to food processing and pharmaceuticals.
Much of this progress can be traced back to the pioneering theory and unwavering dedication of Professor Wang Zhuxi — a man who mentored Nobel laureates, endured political persecution, and quietly revolutionized an industry.
Though his name may not be widely known, his legacy is deeply embedded in the devices that measure, regulate, and power the modern world.
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Post time: May-22-2025