Chen Fahu (; born December 1962) is a Chinese

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and

climatologist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

who has served as Director of the Institute of Tibet Plateau Research of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

since 2018. He formerly served as professor and Vice President of

Lanzhou University Lanzhou University () is a public university in Lanzhou, Gansu, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Founded in 1909, the ...

, and Dean of the university's College of Earth and Environment Sciences. He is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) is a North–south research partnerships, merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting more than 1,400 scientists in some 1 ...

Education and career

Chen was born in December 1962 in

Danfeng County Danfeng County () is a county of Shangluo, Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, China. He earned his B.S. in

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, h ...

in 1984, his M.S. in physical geography in 1987, and his Ph.D. in

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

sciences in 1990, all from

. His doctoral advisor was academician Li Jijun. He also studied under academician Shi Yafeng. After earning his Ph.D., Chen became a lecturer in the Department of Geography of Lanzhou University and later promoted to associate professor and professor. From 1995 to 1997, he conducted

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

in England. He served as Dean of Lanzhou University's College of Earth and Environment Sciences from 1999 to 2005, and was appointed Vice President of the university in 2007, responsible for both research and the university journal. In 2018, he was transferred to Beijing to serve as Professor and Director of the Institute of Tibet Plateau Research of the

Research

Chen's research interests include

environment,

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

environmental archaeology Environmental archaeology is a sub-field of archaeology which emerged in the 1970s and is the science of reconstructing the relationships between past societies and the environments they lived in. The field represents an archaeological-palaeoec ...

, and palaeolimnology. He proposed and demonstrated the "Westerly Climate Regime" in Asia during the

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

epoch and confirmed rapid changes in Asian

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

. In 2010, Chen and his colleague

Zhang Dongju Zhang Dongju (; born 1982) is a Chinese archeologist and an associate professor at the College of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Lanzhou University. Zhang's research determined that the Xiahe mandible found in the Baishiya Karst Cave on t ...

, his former Ph.D. student, began studying the

Xiahe mandible The Xiahe mandible (, ) is a hominin fossil jaw (mandible) discovered in Baishiya Karst Cave, located on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in Xiahe County, Gansu, China. By the use of palaeoproteomic analysis, it is the first confirm ...

, an unusual hominin fossil discovered in 1980 in the

Baishiya Karst Cave Baishiya Karst Cave () is a high-altitude paleoanthropological site and a Tibetan Buddhist sanctuary located on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in Xiahe County, Gansu, China. This karst cave is the site of the discovery of the earl ...

by a Tibetan monk. They surveyed a number of caves in the Xiahe area. As so much time had passed since its initial discovery, it took them six years to ascertain that the fossil came from the

. In 2018, Zhang led a systematic excavation of the cave and discovered numerous palaeolithic tools and animal bones bearing cut marks. In collaboration with

Jean-Jacques Hublin Jean-Jacques Hublin (born 30 November 1953) is a French people, French paleoanthropology, paleoanthropologist. He is a professor at the Max Planck Society, Leiden University and the University of Leipzig and the founder and director of the Departm ...

at the

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (, shortened to MPI EVA) is a research institute based in Leipzig, Germany, that was founded in 1997. It is part of the Max Planck Society network. Well-known scientists currently based at ...

, they used palaeoproteomic analysis to confirm that the mandible belonged to the first known

Denisovan The Denisovans or Denisova hominins ( ) are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human that ranged across Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, and lived, based on current evidence, from 285 thousand to 25 thousand years ago. D ...

outside

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, and the earliest human known to have lived on the high-altitude

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...

, dating to 160,000 years ago.

Honours and recognition

Chen received the China Youth Science and Technology Award in 1996, the National Outstanding Scientist Award in 2005, and the

State Natural Science Award The State Science and Technology Prizes () are the highest honors conferred by the national government of the People's Republic of China in science and technology, in order to recognize citizens and organizations who have made remarkable contribut ...

(Second Class) in 2007. Chen was elected an academician of the

in 2015, and of

(TWAS) in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Fahu 1962 births Living people Chinese climatologists Chinese geographers 20th-century Chinese geologists Lanzhou University alumni Academic staff of Lanzhou University Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences People from Shangluo Scientists from Shaanxi TWAS fellows 21st-century Chinese geologists Chinese university and college faculty deans