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Bronze bust of Zhou Peiyuan at Department of Physics, Peking University

Zhou Peiyuan (Chinese: 周培源; Wade–Giles: Chou P'ei-yüan; August 28, 1902 – November 24, 1993) was a Chinese theoretical physicist and politician. He served as president of Peking University, and was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).[1]

Born in Yixing, Jiangsu, China, Zhou graduated from Tsinghua University in 1924. Then he went to the United States and obtained a bachelor's degree from University of Chicago in spring of 1926, and a master's degree at the end of the same year. In 1928, he obtained his doctorate degree from California Institute of Technology under Eric Temple Bell with thesis The Gravitational Field of a Body with Rotational Symmetry in Einstein's Theory of Gravitation.[2] In 1936, he studied general relativity under Albert Einstein in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.[1] He did his post-doc researches in quantum mechanics at University of Leipzig in Germany and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. He was a professor of physics at Peking University, and later served as the president of the University. He was elected as a founding member of CAS in 1955.

Tsinghua University's Zhou Pei-Yuan Center for Applied Mathematics is named in his honor.[3] In 2003, a bronze statue of Zhou was unveiled on the campus of Peking University.

Zhou's most famous work is the transport equation of Reynolds stress.[4]

References

Educational offices
Preceded by President of Peking University
1978–1981
Succeeded by
Zhang Longxiang
Party political offices
Preceded by
Xu Deheng
Chairman of Jiusan Society
1987–1992
Succeeded by
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