Liang Shoupan (Chinese:梁守槃; 13 April 1916 – 5 September 2009) was a Chineseaerospace engineer. The chief designer of China's first generation ofanti-ship missiles including theHY-1 andHY-2, he is regarded as the "father of China's cruise missile program".[1] He also designed theC-101,C-801 and other missiles. He was an academician of theChinese Academy of Sciences and theInternational Academy of Astronautics. In 2006, he was one of the five scientists who received the Highest Achievement Award of China's aerospace industry.
Liang was born on 13 April 1916 inFuzhou,Fujian, Republic of China. His father Liang Jingchun (梁敬錞) was an official in the Ministry of Justice of theBeiyang government and served as an advisor to theKuomintang government in Taiwan after 1949. He spent his childhood inBeijing and attended secondary schools in Beijing,Tianjin, andShanghai.[2]
In June 1933, Liang enteredTsinghua University to studyaeronautical engineering. As soon as he earned his bachelor's degree in June 1937, theSecond Sino-Japanese War broke out. He enlisted in theRepublic of China Air Force and studied at its advanced aeronautical engineering program. In August 1938, he went to the United States to study aeronautical engineering at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his master's degree in just a year and returned to China in February 1940.[2]
From February 1940 to August 1942, Liang taught aeronautical and mechanical engineering at theNational Southwestern Associated University inKunming. Starting in August 1942, he worked at Guizhou Aeronautical Engine Factory as an engineer and designer for three years. After thesurrender of Japan in August 1945, he joinedZhejiang University as a professor and was appointed chair of the Aeronautical Engineering Department in June 1949.[2]
After the establishment of thePeople's Republic of China, Liang became a professor atHarbin Institute of Military Technology in September 1952. In May 1956, he was transferred to the newly establishedFifth Academy (for aerospace and missile research) of theMinistry of National Defense and awarded the military rank of colonel.[2] A leading scientist in the start-up phase of the Fifth Academy, he was put in charge of rocket engine research and later comprehensive design.[3]
After the Fifth Academy was upgraded to theSeventh Ministry of Machine Building in 1965, Liang served as head of the Third (Sub-) Academy, in charge of the development ofanti-ship missiles for coastal defence.[3] He was the chief designer ofHY-1 andHY-2 (known in the West as the Silkworm) anti-ship missiles,[4] and theC-101 supersonic missile.[2] From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, he was the chief designer of theC-801 anti-ship missile, which was comparable to theExocet of France.[2] After 1982, he served as vice director of the Science and Technology Committee of theMinistry of Aerospace Industry (the former Seventh Ministry).[3]
Liang served as a delegate to the Third, Fourth, and FifthNational People's Congresses, and was a member of the Third, Sixth, and Seventh NationalChinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).[5]
Liang died on 5 September 2009 in Beijing, at the age of 93.[5]
Liang was elected an academician of theChinese Academy of Sciences in 1980 and of theInternational Academy of Astronautics in 1985.[4][5]
Liang was conferred a Special Prize of theState Science and Technology Progress Award in 1988[5] and the Qiu Shi Distinguished Scientist Prize in 1994.[5][6] In 2006, he was one of the five scientists who received the Highest Achievement Award for the first 50 years of China's aerospace industry, together withQian Xuesen,Ren Xinmin,Tu Shou'e, andHuang Weilu.[7]