Li Wenhua (; 15 January 1932 – 23 December 2022) was a Chinese ecologist, and an academician of the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

Biography

Li was born in

Guangrao County Guangrao County () is a county of Dongying City in north-central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The southernmost county-level division of Dongying City, it lies halfway between the downtowns of Zibo Zibo (, ) is a prefecture ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, on 15 January 1932. After high school in 1949, he studied, then taught, at what is now

Beijing Forestry University Beijing Forestry University (BFU/BJFU, ) is a public university located at Haidian District of Beijing, China.Home
Beijing Forestry University. Ret ...

. In September 1957, he pursued advanced studies in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, studying

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

under biologist Sukachev. Li returned to China in 1961 and continued to teach at Beijing Forestry University. In 1973, he became a member of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau Scientific Research Team 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 Republ ...

, and in 1992 attained his role as a researcher at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Resources. In 2002, he was recruited as dean of the School of Environment,

Renmin University of China The Renmin University of China (RUC; ) is a national key public research university in Beijing, China. The university is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. RUC ...

, and served until 2006. On 23 December 2022, Li died in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, at the age of 90.

Honours and awards

* 1987 State Natural Science Award (First Class) * 1991 State Science and Technology Progress Award (Third Class) * 1997 Member of the

* 2018 Fellow of

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Wenhua 1932 births 2022 deaths People from Dongying Scientists from Shandong Beijing Forestry University alumni Academic staff of Beijing Forestry University Chinese ecologists Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering TWAS fellows 20th-century Chinese scientists 21st-century Chinese scientists