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Walter Gong

American academic

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ7964973
Source-derived summary

Walter Gong (July 1, 1922 – May 16, 2000) was an American academic and educational theorist who worked as a professor of natural sciences at San Jose State University (SJSU) and Brigham Young University (BYU).

Early life and education

Gong was born and raised in Merced, California. His ancestors came to the United States from China, near the end of the 19th century. His family was involved in the laundry and grocery business. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. While serving in the Navy, he chose to use the first name of Walter.

Gong attended Stanford University, where he earned bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees. There, he met Jean Char, who introduced him to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and whom he later married.

Career

Gong began his teaching career at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California. He was a professor at SJSU from 1959 to 1993. Gong co-authored a book on mechanics with William Shockley.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Walter Gong” as american academic. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1922, 2000, 1959, 1993—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1922-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Walter, Gong and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american academic. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7964973. VIAF identifies the subject as 16846117. The Library of Congress control number is no98098910. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922, 2000, 1959 and 1993.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Walter Gong primary sources, Walter Gong archive and Walter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Walter Gong” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.