AWARDEE OF TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES PRIZE

ZHANG XINGQIAN

Zhang Xingqian,  was born on October 16, 1921 in Wuyi, Hebei Province. He graduated from Wuhan University in 1942 and received Doctor Degree from MIT, U.S.A. in 1952. 1955-1963, he served as professor and head of Metal Physics Division of  Beijing University of Sciences and Technology. 1963-1970, he served as supervisor of Department of Experimental Research in the Northwest Nuclear Weapons Research Base, afterwards became associate chief engineer of the Base. 1988-1990 he was invited to MIT as visiting professor. In 1991 he was a member of the Sciences and Technology Commission of Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP). He is a research professor of CAEP. He was elected the academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991.
Zhang is a specialist in Materials Sciences and Engineering. His high temperature creep research done at MIT in the early fifties of last century is of pioneer nature. He established the technique of in-situ examination and measurement of creep and obtained direct evidence of grain boundary sliding (GBS) from systematic study of creep of pure aluminum and two component alloys. He proposed a model of how as a result of GBS grain boundary cracks form and propagate, and finally the specimen fractures. This model explains well the relationship between the behavior of grain boundary and ductility, fracture and strength of the metal. This research has been well received and is instrumental to the development of high temperature alloy.
After returning to China in 1955 he taught in Beijing University of Sciences and technology and took part in establishing the first Metal Physics Speciality in China. He published a monograph The Mechanical Properties of Metal and Alloy,  which  had also been used by other Universities. Since 1963, he took part in organizing nuclear materials, explosion physics and nuclear explosion diagnosis experimental research, and played important role in securing valuable experimental data for unclear device design, assembly and production, deciding the production route of uranium component and the construction of nuclear materials research base. 
He is the recipient of the first class award of the National Science Prize and the special class award of National Prize of Progress in Science and Technology.