Zhuo Renxi (; 12 February 1931 – 6 August 2019) was a Chinese chemist who specialized in

biomaterial A biomaterial is a substance that has been Biological engineering, engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose – either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a Medical diag ...

research. He served as professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry of

Wuhan University Wuhan University (WHU; 武汉大学) is a key comprehensive public university in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is directly affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The un ...

. He was an academician 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 ...

and a

Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering In April 1992, the constituent biomaterials societies of the World Biomaterials Congress, now the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering (IUSBSE) experienced the need to recognize all their members who had a sta ...

Early life and education

Zhuo was born on 12 February 1931 in

Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

, Republic of China. After graduating from the Department of Chemistry of

Fudan University Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...

, he was assigned to teach at

as an assistant professor. From 1957 to 1959, he furthered his studies at

Nankai University Nankai University is a public university in Tianjin, 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. Nankai University was establ ...

, where he conducted research in

organosilicon chemistry Organosilicon chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds containing carbon–silicon bonds, to which they are called organosilicon compounds. Most organosilicon compounds are similar to the ordinary organic compounds, being colourless, fl ...

under the guidance of Soviet experts. After returning to Wuhan University, he was promoted to lecturer in 1960, associate professor in 1978, and full professor in 1982. From 1983 to 1984, he was a

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in the United States. He later served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry of Wuhan University.

Research career

In 1972, Zhuo developed an organosilicon-based

anti-fogging Anti-fog agents, also known as anti-fogging agents and treatments, are chemicals that prevent the condensation of water in the form of small droplets on a surface which resemble fog. They are one of many additives used in the production of plastics ...

coating for optical glass, which was widely used in military

telescopes A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

and

telescopic sights A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate pos ...

. After the death of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

in 1976, Zhuo developed anti-fogging coating for Mao's crystal coffin that is displayed in his mausoleum. From the 1980s, Zhuo focused on biomedical

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

research. He led the Biomedical Materials Laboratory at Wuhan University, which was designated a national key laboratory in 2003. He was an editor for multiple research journals including ''Chinese Journal of Reactive Polymers'', ''Chinese Journal of Polymer Science'', and ''Polymer International''. For his significant contributions to the research of organosilicon chemistry and

biomaterials A biomaterial is a substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose – either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one. The corresponding f ...

, Zhuo was awarded multiple national and ministerial awards in natural sciences, including two National Science Congress awards. He was elected an academician of the

in 1997 and a

in 2000.

Later life

Zhuo retired in December 2018. He died in Wuhan on 6 August 2019, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhuo, Renxi 1931 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Chinese chemists 20th-century Chinese scientists Academic journal editors Chemists from Fujian Fudan University alumni Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Nankai University alumni People from Xiamen Academic staff of Wuhan University