Wang XIJI

Professor Wang Xiji has devoted his academic and professional career to the promotion ofinto China’s space industry for over 65 years. Hegraduated from southwest combined university in machinery department in 1942 and studied in Virginia institute of technology in dynamic and fuel major in U.S. since 1948. In 1950, he came back to China and took up teaching in Dalian institute of technology and Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Since 1958, as one of the organizers of the early research on rocket technology of China, Professor Wangserved as the technical leader of China’s first liquid fuel rocket and follow-on meteorological rocket.Then he creatively combined sounding rocket technology with guided missile technology and put forward technical concept of first launch vehicle. He took charge of system design of longmarch-1 launch vehicle and the development of nuclear test sampling rocket series.He served successivelyas the director of Beijing institute of space machinery and electricity institute, vice president and director of science and technology committee of CAST and chief engineer of the ministry of astronautics since 1965.

Professor Wang became thechief designer of recoverable satelliteand took charge of development concept based upon domestic technological and industrial basis. The satellite return technology reached international advance level. In 1975, China’s first recoverable satellite was successfully launched then and China became the third country in the world mastering this high technology.He won the national scientific and technological progress prize of special class for returnable satelliteand dongfanghong-1 satellite in 1985.He was also the chief designer of double star programs which was significant international space cooperation with ESA in 21st century.

Under his leadership, a great number of new technologies were adopted and a series of critical technologies were broken through and thus the function of the satellites was enhanced and its lifetime lengthened.In 1987, he was elected as the member of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).Due to his initiation and participation in the development of two new disciplines of uncontrolled rocket and space return technologies，Professor Wang was elected as the member of Chinese Academy of Science in 1993.

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