Wang was born on 26 February 1915 in Tokyo, Japan, with his ancestral home in Suzhou, China.[2][3] His father Wang Yingwei (王应伟) was an astronomer then studying in Japan.[4]
After World War II broke out in 1939, Nazi Germany, a major maker of optical glass, banned the export of the strategic product. The British government offered support for domestic companies to develop and manufacture the product, and Wang decided to abandon his studies and join Chance Brothers, a leading British glass manufacturer.[7] His research at the company led to the development of new types of optical glass and precision instruments.[7]
China
In 1948, Wang returned to China and established the Department of Applied Physics at the former Dalian University (now part of the Dalian University of Technology).[7]
Wang was elected a founding member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1955.[6] In 1992, he and five other scientists advocated the creation of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) independent from the CAS. When the Chinese government accepted their proposal and established the CAE in 1994, Wang was again elected as a founding academician and a member of the presidium.[4] He was a fellow of SPIE and chaired a number of SPIE symposiums and conferences.[1]
In March 1986, Wang Daheng and three other prominent scientists—Wang Ganchang, Yang Jiachi, and Chen Fangyun—wrote a letter to Deng Xiaoping advocating the development of strategic technologies.[9] Deng accepted their proposal, which gave birth to the influential 863 Program, named after the date of their letter.[6][9]