Xian Dingchang

AWARDEE OF PHYSICS PRIZE

XIAN DINGCHANG

Xian Dingchang, a theoretical physicist and an expert in synchrotron radiation (SR) instrumentation and application, was born in 1935 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.  After graduation from the Technical Physics Department of Peking University in 1956, he joined the research group led by Prof. Zhu Hongyuan on particle theory and quantum field theory at the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.  During 1959-1964, he worked at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, USSR on strong interaction, asymptotic behavior of scattering amplitudes and symmetry theory.  In 1965 he assisted Prof. Zhu Hongyuan in developing the “Straton Model" of hadrons.  Starting from 1975, he engaged with collaborators in the research of non-abelian classical gauge field theory.  During 1980-1982 he visited the Institute of Theoretical Physics; SUNY at Stony Brook, USA; Pool de Physique, Université de Bruxelles, Belgium and Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, UK working on quantum field theory and the lattice theory of non-abelian gauge field theory. 
Xian moved in the field of SR instrumentation and application in 1984, successfully led the construction of the first SR facility in China in 1989, since then the facility has been continuously serving as a unique experimental platform for the vast users' community.  He engaged in applying SR in various fields, among them: the SR X-ray photoacoustic theory in solids and experiment, application of SR to the research of archaeology and cultural relics, application of SR as a nondestructive tool to paleontology research.  Recently he is leading the construction of an SR beamline and experimental station based on multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) method for protein structure study.
Xian was elected the academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991, and fellow to the Third World Academy of Sciences in 2002.  He was awarded the State Prize of Progress in Science and Technology (extraordinary grade) in 1990 and some other State and Chinese Academy of Sciences prizes.