Wing Gin Pon, 78; Helped Develop Nuclear Weapons
Wing Gin Pon, 78, one of the first Chinese American researchers to develop nuclear weapons, died of pneumonia and a heart infection May 28 in a Menlo Park, Calif., nursing home.
Pon, a second-generation American, earned an electrical engineering degree and a master’s in physics at UC Berkeley.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 20, 2003 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday June 20, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 62 words Type of Material: Correction
Pon obituary -- An obituary brief in the California section June 7 on Wing Gin Pon, one of the first Chinese American researchers to develop nuclear weapons, stated that the first hydrogen bomb was set off during a 1954 test on Bikini Island. In fact, the first hydrogen bomb was detonated Nov. 1, 1952, on Elugelab (“Flora”) Island in the Eniwetok Atoll.
At Berkeley’s Radiation Laboratory, which became the Lawrence Berkeley lab, he worked on the trigger for the first hydrogen bomb, set off during a 1954 test on Bikini Island, among other top-secret projects.
But the environmental impact of the nuclear-testing fallout and U.S. involvement in Vietnam disillusioned Pon, who left the lab in the 1960s.
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