AWARDEE OF TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES PRIZE

YAN MINGGAO

Abstract

Yan Minggao, materials scientist, born in June 1920, a native of Cichengzhen, Zhejiang. He graduated from Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central University, Chongqing in 1942. He went to USA in 1945 and received his M. S. and Dr. Eng. Degree in Department of Metallurgy, Yale University, New Heaven, Conn. After his graduation, he was a Research Associate in School of Engineering, New York University, working on investigation of phase diagrams and deformation textures of titanium alloys. Yan returned to China in 1951, and was appointed professor and Dean of the 2nd Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Polytechnic University. Since 1957, he has been a Professor, Chief Engineer, Technical Director, Chairman of Scientific and Technical Committee, Senior Consultant of the Institute of Aeronautical Materials(BIAM). In 1991, he was elected the academician of Chinese Academy of Science.
Prof. Yan is one of the pioneers in the field of research and application of aeronautical materials in China, and made many outstanding contributions in research and development of aeronautical materials. He made many breakthroughs in investigation and application of titanium alloys to the aircraft industry. He directed a number of applied basic research and new alloys exploration and acquired a series of important achievements; he organized and directed in the studying of fatigue and fracture of aeronautical materials, and yielded vast volume of experimental data and theoretical basis for the damage tolerance design and material selection of new aircraft and jet engines. In 1991 he received the highest reward— the aeronautical Golden Medal from the Ministry of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1999, he was elected the Honorary President of the International Conference on Mechanical Behavior of Materials(ICM) and Honorary Fellow of International Fatigue Conference(IFC).