Prof Zhou Guangzhao

People’s Republic of China (Bejing)

Former President, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Prof Zhou, born in 1929, is a highly respected physicist. His life’s work, including advancing the theory of spiral amplitude of particles, has earned him widespread recognition and numerous awards. Prof Zhou is a graduate of Beijing University, and has spent most of his professional life as a teacher or administrator in the sciences.

Prof Zhou began his studies in physics at Tsinghua University, graduating in 1951. He joined the CPC in 1952, and did postgraduate work in theoretical physics at Peking University beginning in 1954. From 1957 to 1960, Professor Zhou was a research fellow at the Dubna Institute of Nuclear Research in Moscow. In 1961, he returned to China and worked as the chief engineer at the Ministry of Nuclear Industry. In 1979, he took up the post of research fellow at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He was elected a member of CAS in 1980, became director of the Theoretical Physics Institute from 1982 to 1984, and president of the CAS from 1987 to 1997.

Prof Zhou also holds numerous political accomplishments. He was elected to the Standing Committee of the 9th National People’s Congress in 1998, and later became vice chairman of the committee. As vice chairman, he attempted to raise the profile of scientific and technological research and development in China.

Other achievements include authoring more than 80 papers, with titles such as The Relativistic Theory of Polarized Particle Reaction and Reactions of Polarized Particles with Zero Masses. He serves as a fellow of various scientific institutes and academies around the world (including the US National Academy of Science), and is accredited with describing the helical state amplitude of particles for the first time in the world in 1958. The asteroid 3462 Zhouguangzhao is named after him.