Yang Chengzong ( zh, 杨承宗, 1911–2011) was a

radiochemist Radiochemistry is the chemistry of radioactive materials, where radioactive isotopes of elements are used to study the properties and chemical reactions of non-radioactive isotopes (often within radiochemistry the absence of radioactivity leads t ...

, academician, and professor at the

University of Science and Technology of China The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) is a public university in Hefei, China. It is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and co-funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Education of the People' ...

. He is regarded as the founding father of

Radiochemistry Radiochemistry is the chemistry of radioactive materials, where radioactive isotopes of elements are used to study the properties and chemical reactions of non-radioactive isotopes (often within radiochemistry the absence of radioactivity leads t ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He contributed to the establishment of the university in 1958 and founded the university's Department of Radiochemistry and Radiation Chemistry. He established the first radiochemistry laboratory in China. In November 1978, Yang was appointed as the Vice President of the University of Science and Technology of China, and he retired from the university in March 1994.China. He is a member of the Chinese Chemical Society and the

Chinese Nuclear Society The Chinese Nuclear Society (CNS; ) is a non-profit organization representing individuals contributing to and supporting nuclear science, nuclear technology and nuclear engineering in China. Objectives It was established in 1980. Its objective i ...

. He served as the chair of the Professional Committee of Nuclear and Radiochemistry of the organizations.

Education and career

Yang was born in

Wujiang District, Suzhou Wujiang District (; Suzhounese: ''Wukaon Chiu''), formerly Wujiang City, is one of five urban districts in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. As the southernmost county-level division of Jiangsu, it borders Shanghai to the northeast and Zhejiang province t ...

in 1911. He obtained a degree from

Utopia University Utopia University, known in Chinese as Datong or Tatung University, was a private university in Shanghai. It was established in March 1912 by a group of former Tsinghua faculty members led by Hu Dunfu, and became one of the most reputable priv ...

. He began his career in radiochemistry in 1934, studying under Zheng Dazhang at the Radium Research Institute in Beijing. He attended the Curie Institute in Paris in 1947. He obtained a doctorate degree in 1951 from the College of Science,

Paris-Sud University Paris-Sud University (), also known as the University of Paris — XI (or as the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, University of Paris before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, ...

. His first engagement with radiochemistry research was at the

China Institute of Atomic Energy The China Institute of Atomic Energy or CIAE (), formerly the Institute of Atomic Energy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the main research institute of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). Founded in 1950, it conducts research in th ...

. Yang contributed to the field of

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel refers to any substance, typically fissile material, which is used by nuclear power stations or other atomic nucleus, nuclear devices to generate energy. Oxide fuel For fission reactors, the fuel (typically based on uranium) is ...

production, which impacted nuclear weapons tests and the development of China's nuclear energy.Zhang Zhiyao Yuan Zeqing. Yang Chengzong-Dedicated to the Development of Science and Technology in China with The Spirit of Marie Curie ''Progress in Chemistry'', 2009, 21(10): 1993-2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Chengzong 1911 births Chinese academics 2011 deaths Chinese scientists Academic staff of the University of Science and Technology of China