Zhou Guangzhao

Dr. Zhou was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 1987.

He first visited the US in 1979. In the 1980s he spent time as a visiting researcher at the University of California and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland.

Zhou returned to China in 1960, where he worked on the Chinese nuclear weapons program, ultimately becoming director of the Chinese Nuclear Weapons Research Institute. He was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and later became the Vice President (1984–1987) and President (1987–1997) of the CAS.

Zhou Guangzhao ForMemRS (Chinese: 周光召; pinyin: Zhōu Guāngzhāo; born May 15, 1929) is a Chinese theoretical physicist who served as President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1987 to 1997.

Zhou Guangzhao was born on May 15, 1929 in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. He was the 5th child of the civil engineer Zhou Fengjiu, and the younger brother of biochemist/geneticist Zhou Guangyu. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1951, and then did graduate work in theoretical physics for three years at Beijing University. He stayed at Beijing Univ. on the faculty after completing his PhD. In 1957 he was sent to the USSR by the Chinese Atomic Energy Research Institute to work at the Dubna Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.