Ding Dazhao

AWARDEE OF PHYSICS PRIZE

DING DAZHAO

Abstract

Prof. Ding Dazhao, a nuclear physicist, was born in 1935 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He graduated from Physics Department of Fudan University in 1955 and then began his scientific work in October that year in Institute of Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences (the former of China Institute of Atomic Energy - CIAE). During 1956 to 1960 he joined the research term of high energy physics study under the supervision of Prof. Wang Ganchang in Joint Institute of Nuclear Research in Dubna of former Soviet Union. He went back to CIAE at the end of 1960 and then engaged in the research on nuclear reaction between light nuclei, neutron physics and nuclear structure. He successfully held the posts of research teams leader (1961), director of laboratory (1978), deputy director of research division (1981), deputy director of the committee of sciences and technologies of CIAE (1983). He was appointed as the vice-director of Beijing Electron and Position National Laboratory of CAS in 1990~1995. Now he is the Advisor on S&T of CIAE.
Ding was elected the academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991.
Ding proposed and developed a method to identify charged particles in bubble chamber by measuring the relative bubble densities of a unknown particle with π- meson of known momentum. This method played key rule in the discovery of Anti-Sigma-Minus Hyperon event in 1960, when he was in Dubna. Ha was awarded the First Class National Prize of Natural Sciences in 1982 with Prof. Wang Ganchang by this discovery.
In supporting the program of development of the nuclear weapon of our country, he established the experimented facilities at cascade high voltage generator and low energy Van de Graaff at CIAE and studied the nuclear reaction of d-Li and n-Li systems in 1960's. He participated the work to establish the neutron data library and carried on the experiment study of the neutron induced Gamma Ray production data in 1970's. He was the one of the leading person in establish the Beijing Tandem Accelerator Nuclear Physics National Laboratory of CIAE in 1980's and supervised the research work on nuclear structure by neutron capture reaction and the giant resonance of nuclei. For these work Ding won the ministry's level prizes of Progress of Sciences and Technologies several times.
In 1990's, he was in charge to explore the application of Synchrotron Radiation at BEPC National Laboratory and at the meantime supervised a group to study the giant resonance built on hot rotating nuclei at CIAE. Now he is the chief scientist of the program on study of the basic physics and techniques of Accelerator Driven Nuclear Energy System for waste incineration and fissile breading, which is one of the key projects of National Basic Research.