Former Residence of Zhu Kezhen in Nanjing 01 2012-11

Coching Chu (; March 7, 1890 – February 7, 1974) was a Chinese

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

and

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

. Born in

Shangyu Shangyu District () is a district of the prefecture-level city of Shaoxing in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. At the 2010 census, its population in the built-up (''or metro'') area was 779,412, up from 722,523 in the 2000 census. Shan ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

, Chu went to

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

for his college education in 1910. He graduated from the College of Agriculture,

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1913. In 1918, he received his Ph.D. in meteorology from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. From 1920 to 1929, he was chairperson of Department of Meteorology,

Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xian ...

(formerly known as the Nanking Higher Normal School, National Southeastern University, and National Central University). From 1929 to 1936 he served as director of the Chinese Institute of Meteorology of the Academia Sinica, which at the time was located in mainland China. Academia Sinica later became the predecessor of the

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 Republi ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

on mainland China and the Academia Sinica of the Republic of China on

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. From 1936 to 1949, he served as the president of

National Chekiang University Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the n ...

(now known as

Zhejiang University Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the n ...

) and elevated the institution to one of the most prestigious universities in China. During that time, he sent manuscripts relating to the history of Chinese science to Joseph Needham in England. On October 16, 1949, he was assigned to the position of vice president of the

. In 1955, he was elected an academician of the

Academic papers

''Some Chinese Contributions to Meteorology''
Geographical Review: Vol. 5, No. 2. (Feb., 1918), pp. 136–139.
''A New Classification of Typhoons of the Far East''
Monthly Weather Review: Vol. 52, No. 12. (Dec., 1924), pp. 570–579.
''The Place of Origin and Recurvature of Typhoons''
Monthly Weather Review: Vol. 53, No. 1 (Jan., 1925), pp. 1–5. *''The Complete Works of Coching Chu'' Shanghai Scientific & Technological Education Publishing House

Academic papers

Further reading