In Memoriam: Wing Tsang

Wing Tsang was a leader in combustion chemical kinetics. Technically, he led through his experimental work on high temperature reactions using a single-pulse shock tube, where he made key innovations, and through his construction of widely-used databases of evaluated or estimated kinetic parameters for combustion reactions. Organizationally, Wing led as the Chief of the Chemical Kinetics Division of NIST, as co-founder of the International Conferences on Chemical Kinetics (ICCK), and as Editor of the International Journal of Chemical Kinetics. He received the U.S. Dept. of Commerce Gold Medal in 1987. The top early career award in chemical kinetics, presented every other year at the ICCK, bears his name.
Born in Shanghai in 1935, Wing Tsang spent three years trapped in Japanese-occupied Manila during World War II before arriving in New York City in 1945. He attended public schools in Queens before earning an S.B. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 1956, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Cornell University in 1961. While at Cornell, Wing met and married another researcher, Joanne S.C. Wong.
In 1962, Wing Tsang began his 51-year career at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology). In 1964, he introduced the ‘chemical thermometer’ technique, allowing accurate determination of rate coefficients k(T) from the measured stable product distributions of single-pulse shock tube experiments.  Beginning in the 1980s, Wing published a series of careful evaluations of key reaction rate parameters, and he led the development of widely used databases, including the Chemical Kinetic Database for Combustion Chemistry which includes more than 800 reactions. His deep understanding of rate theory allowed him to develop high quality estimates of missing reactions before high-fidelity computations were feasible. That database formed the basis of many well-known combustion chemistry models, and has been cited more than 3,000 times. Wing also participated in the chemical kinetics critical evaluation effort led by Donald Baulch, which has also had a major impact on combustion kinetics. Wing also constructed important databases for reactions involved in pollutant formation, and in flame suppression/inhibition. Despite caring deeply about the correctness of the numbers and of interpretations of observations, he had a gentle cheerful way of interacting with people that made him very effective in resolving disputes. Wing Tsang fostered connections between the different academic chemical kinetics communities, and with those working to solve industrial or societal problems.
Wing Tsang is survived by his brother James and his sister-in-law Carol, by his 4 daughters and their partners: Grace (Richard), Rose (Ravi), Joyce (Harald), and Alice (Stanley), and by 5 grandchildren. The family suggests those wishing to memorialize Wing donate to support the Wing Tsang Early Career Award. (For details, contact ICCK Treasurer William Green of MIT).