Professor Li Huatian (1922–2007) was one of the first few computer scientists in China and was well known for his early contributions to the areas of

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

and

computer networks A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections are ma ...

Life and work

He was born on Jan 29, 1922 in Songjiang,

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

(now Songjiang, Shanghai). He graduated from the

National Southwestern Associated University When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Universi ...

with a degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1943 and 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 higher le ...

with a master's degree in 1948. He returned to China in 1949 to start his research and teaching career as a university professor. He taught at

Dalian University of Technology Dalian University of Technology (DUT) (), colloquially known in Chinese as Dagong (), is a public research university located in Dalian, Liaoning, China, with an additional campus in Panjin, Liaoning. Established in April 1949, it is the ...

and

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

. He served as the department chair of the departments of Automation and Computer Science and the university vice president at Northeastern University. He also served as a vice president for IFAC, the

International Federation of Automatic Control The International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), founded in September 1957, is a multinational federation of 49 national member organizations (NMO), each one representing the engineering and scientific societies concerned with automatic c ...

. He resigned administration positions in 1984 to return to full-time research and teaching. Meanwhile, he founded the first PhD program in computer science in China. Till his final retirement in 1995, he had published numerous journal papers in areas of automatic control, computer theory, computer networks, and multimedia systems and brought up a lot of younger computer scientists in China. He also co-founded the

Neusoft Group Neusoft Corporation is a Chinese multinational provider of software engineering services, Information Technology services, product engineering services, IT education and medical equipment headquartered in Shenyang, China. "Neusoft" is an ac ...

in early 1990s with his PhD student

Liu Jiren Liu Jiren () is the chairman and CEO of Neusoft Group, a large software company in China. In 2019, Dr. Liu received Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartere ...

. Professor Li died on Jan 24, 2007 in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, China. Chinese computer scientists Theoretical computer scientists Computer systems researchers Harvard University alumni Tsinghua University alumni 1922 births 2007 deaths Educators from Shanghai Northeastern University (China) faculty Dalian University of Technology faculty Scientists from Shanghai National Southwestern Associated University alumni {{compu-scientist-stub