AWARDEE OF CHEMISTRY PRIZE

ZHANG QINGLIAN

Abstract

Zhang Qinglian (Tsing-Lien Chang), inorganic chemist, was born in Jiangsu on 31 July, 1908.  He received Ph.D. degree from Berlin University, Germany in 1936, and is now professor at Peking University.  He was elected member of Chinese Academy of   Sciences in 1955.
While studying in Berlin University in Germany (1934-1936), he researched on   the first batch of heavy water supplied by the Norsk Hydro-Electric Corp., Oslo, Norway, a novel substance newly discovered by H. C. Urey.  Precise measurements comprised the critical phenomena, vapor pressure up to 230℃, and the vapor pressure of HDO and H218O, etc.  He observed significant depression of heavy isotopes in snow. Summarizing the known data in various origins of water on earth, Zhang and E.H. Riesenfeld put forward a theory for the distribution of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in nature, being based on the different vapor pressures of the isotopic forms of water. The theory is characterized by the cycle of water transference ——“ocean → cloud→ land-water → river → ocean”.
In the period of 1937 - 1939, when he worked in Academia Sinica and Guang   Hua University, Shanghai, he did some experiments on new complex compounds   besides the physical properties of heavy water.  Then he accepted the professorship   offered by Southwest Associated University in Kunming, where he resumed researches on heavy water, and chemical kinetics of deuterium compounds.
After the World War 11, Zhang returned to Tsing Hua University, Beijing.  He   made a systematic study of various potassium salts in heavy water.  By using a   vitreous quartz pycnometer, he carried out a precise experiment for the density of heavy water at temperature from the freezing point through to the boiling point.  The result was published in Nature in 1949.
The year 1952 saw the thoroughout reformation of the Chinese educational   system.  Zhang was assigned to serve chairman of the teaching and research section of inorganic chemistry in Peking University. Numerous features of isotopic chemistry were studied, including isotopes of other elements, such as lithium, boron, carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, covering the isotopic fractionation in geological processes, isotopic effects in spectra and chemical equilibra, etc.  The snow and ice at the earth's tip, Mt.  Jolmo Longma (also known as the Everest) were investigated for the isotopic abundance.  Deuterium oxide was measured for its density at 25℃, accurate to seven significant figures. He determined the over-all distribution constant of deuterium for the GS dual-temperature process of heavy water production at 30℃ and 130℃ under 20 atm pressure.
As a result of joining the activities of the IUPAC Commission on Atomic Weight   and Isotopic Abundances in 1983, Zhang's research interest was switched to this   discipline.  A series of experiments in making mass spectrometric measurements of   isotopic ratios were performed for elements of indium, iridium, antimony, europium and cerium.  The atomic weights observed had an uncertainty of 0.003 for the first two elements and 0.001 for the latter three.  That higher accuracy was achieved through the calibration of the mass spectrometer with highly enriched isotope-pair.  All these values have been accepted by the IUPAC Commission of Atomic Weights as new international standards.