Paul Ching Wu Chu (; born February 12, 1941) is a Chinese-American physicist specializing in
superconductivity,
magnetism, and
dielectrics. He is a Professor of physics and T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science in the
Physics Department at the
. He was the President of the
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2001 to 2009. In 1987, he was one of the first scientists to demonstrate
high-temperature superconductivity
High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-c or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The adjective "high temperature" is only in respect to previo ...
.
Early life
Chu was born in
Changsha
Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, and th ...
,
Hunan,
Republic of China in 1941. Chu's family was from
Taishan __NOTOC__
Taishan may refer to:
*Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China
*Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China
*Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China
**Gre ...
,
Guangdong. Chu spent his childhood in
Taiwan.
Education
In 1958, Chu graduated from
Taiwan Provincial Cingshuei high school.
In 1962, Chu earned his
Bachelor of Science degree from
National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. In 1965, Chu earned his
Master of Science degree from
Fordham University
Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
. In 1968, Chu earned his Ph.D. degree from the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
.
Career
After two years of performing industrial research with
Bell Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
at
Murray Hill, New Jersey
Murray Hill is an unincorporated community located within portions of both Berkeley Heights and New Providence, located in Union County in northern New Jersey, United States.
It is the longtime central location of Bell Labs (part of Nokia sin ...
, Chu was appointed
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...
of physics at
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...
in 1970. He was subsequently promoted to
associate professor
Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''.
Overview
In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...
and professor of physics in 1973 and 1975, respectively.
In 1979, Chu became a professor of physics at the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
, which he still holds. That being said, the discovery touched off a frenzy of scientific excitement exemplified by the
Woodstock of physics The term "Woodstock of physics" is often used by physicists to refer to the marathon session of the American Physical Society’s meeting on March 18, 1987, which featured 51 presentations of recent discoveries in the science of high-temperature sup ...
, at which he was a featured presenter.
He was then appointed the director of the Texas Center for
Superconductivity. Chu has served as the T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science at the same university since 1987. He also has served as a consultant and visiting staff member at
Bell Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
,
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in ...
, the
Marshall Space Flight Center
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama ( Huntsville postal address), is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's fi ...
,
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research national laboratory operated by UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy. The facility is located in Lemont, Illinois, outside of Chicago, and is the larg ...
, and
DuPont at various times.
Chu has received numerous awards and honors for his outstanding work in superconductivity, including the
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
and the
Comstock Prize in Physics
The Comstock Prize in Physics is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for recent innovative discovery or investigation in electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy, broadly interpreted."
Honorees must be residents of North America ...
in 1988,
and the American Physical Society's
International Prize for New Materials
The James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials is a prize that has been awarded annually by the American Physical Society since 1975, but was only given that name following its endowment by IBM in 1999. Prior to that it was known as the Internationa ...
. He was an invited contributor to the White House National Millennium Time Capsule at the National Archives in 2000 and was selected the Best Researcher in the U.S. by ''
U.S. News & World Report'' in 1990.
In 1989, Chu was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
.
He is a member of the
National Academy of Sciences,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...
(foreign member),
Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...
, Russian Academy of Engineering (RAE) and the
Third World Academy of Sciences. His research activities extend beyond superconductivity to
magnetism and
dielectrics.
On November 17, 2014, an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing plaque was presented to
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
for Chu and his team's 1987 discovery of high temperature superconductors.
On September 1, 2001, Chu succeeded Professor
Chia-Wei Woo as the President of
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Clear Water Bay Peninsula, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991 by the British Hong Kong Government, it was the territory's third institution ...
. Chu's tenure as University President ended officially on 1 September 2009.
Awards and honors
* Honorary Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) degree from
Whittier College
Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...
. (1991)
*2014 IEEE Council on Superconductivity Max Swerdlow Award for Sustained Service to the Applied Superconductivity Community.
See also
*
Committee of 100 (United States)
The Committee of 100 is a 501(c)(3) organization of Chinese Americans in business, government, academia and the arts whose stated aim is "to encourage constructive relations between the peoples of the United States and Greater China." It was f ...
*
yttrium
Yttrium is a chemical element with the symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and has often been classified as a "rare-earth element". Yttrium is almost always found in co ...
References
Additional sources
*
*.
*
External links
Paul Chu at uh.eduat archive.orgPaul C. W. Chu at ashk.org.hkPaul C. W. Chu at committee100.orgPaul Ching-Wu Chu at encyclopedia.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chu, Chingwu
1941 births
Living people
Chinese emigrants to the United States
21st-century American physicists
Cleveland State University alumni
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fordham University alumni
Members of Academia Sinica
Members of Committee of 100
National Cheng Kung University alumni
National Medal of Science laureates
People from Changsha
American people of Chinese descent
University of California, San Diego alumni
University of Houston faculty
Presidents of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Educators from Hunan
Scientists from Hunan
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fellows of the American Physical Society