Li Guohao (engineer)
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Li Guohao (; born 13 Apr 1913 in
Mei County, Guangdong Meixian (, Hakka: Moiyen), formerly Meihsien, is a district of Meizhou City, in northeastern Guangdong Province, China. The county is an important Hakka settlement and is the ancestral home of many Hakka descendants living in Taiwan. Histor ...
; died 23 Feb 2005 in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
) was a Chinese structural engineer and bridge engineering expert, known as '' Suspension Bridge Li''. His method of calculation, with a high degree of precision although of extreme complexity, can cut down the cost of engineering and promote bridge stability. Li also served as Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) of Shanghai, making him a politician of provincial-ministerial rank.


Biography

At the age of 16, Li, the son of a poor farming family, completed the preparatory course for
Tongji University Tongji University () is a comprehensive public research university located in Shanghai. Established in 1907 by the German government together with German physicians in Shanghai, Tongji is one of the longest-standing, most selective, and most pr ...
in Shanghai and started studying
civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
there in 1931, graduating with distinction in 1936. Just one year later, Li took over the seminars for steelwork and steel bridges from his German predecessor – in those days Tongji University had many visiting German scientists on its staff, including Erich Wilfried Reuleaux (1883-1967), professor for railways and transport in Darmstadt (
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
), who was in China from 1934 to 1937. Furnished with a
scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...
from the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Rese ...
, Li started his research work under Kurt Klöppel at TU Darmstadt in the autumn of 1938. He was awarded a doctorate in 1940 for his groundbreaking dissertation on the practical calculation of suspension bridges according to second-order theory. Together, Klöppel and Li published further research findings on the quantitative analysis of suspension bridges. Turning to stability theory, during the drafting of DIN 4114 (German Standard of stability of steel structures), the excellent article appeared on the sufficient criterion for the branching point of elastic equilibrium, which Klöppel and Li explained using the example of the buckling of struts – and their theoretical findings also applied to overturning, plate buckling and torsional-flexural buckling. Li submitted his habilitation thesis to the Faculty of Construction at Darmstadt TH in January 1942. After the war, he returned to Shanghai, to take up a post as professor at Tongji University in 1946. While there, he wrote textbooks on the design of steel structures (1952), steel bridges (1952) and bridge dynamics (1955). Li was elected a member 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 ...
in 1955. One year later he became pro-rector of Tongji University and established the Faculty of Applied Mechanics, where he lectured in
structural dynamics Structural dynamics is a type of structural analysis which covers the behavior of a structure subjected to dynamic (actions having high acceleration) loading. Dynamic loads include people, wind, waves, traffic, earthquakes, and blasts. Any structur ...
and the mechanics of plates and shells. Li already had a reputation as a bridges engineer by now and influenced the design of several bridges over the
Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
. Like many intellectuals, Li was ostracised as a ''reactionary scientific force'' during China’s
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
(1966-1976), but was rehabilitated in 1977 and became rector of his Alma Mater. Li remained productive even during the Cultural Revolution. During the 1980s, Li wrote books on earthquake engineering (1980), engineering works subjected to explosions (1989) and, of course, the calculation of bridges (1988). The 1980s can be quite rightly called the preparatory phase for the building of large bridges in China, with Li as its founding father. Li Guohao participated in several famous bridge designs and constructions such as Chengdu-Kunming Railway Bridge and
Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (), previously called the First Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, is a double-decked road-rail truss bridge across the Yangtze River in Nanjing, Jiangsu, connecting the city's Pukou and Gulou districts. Its upper deck i ...
. His services to scientific-technical developments were acknowledged by numerous awards, e.g. the
Goethe Medal The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an offici ...
(1982),
honorary doctorates An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
from Tongji University (1984) and TU Darmstadt (1985), member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences (1994) and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize (1995). Due to his outstanding achievements, Li was rated as one of top 10 world-famous bridge experts by the
International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering The International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) is a non-profit organisation with mission to promote the exchange of knowledge and to advance the practice of structural engineering worldwide in the service of the profess ...
in 1981.


Works

* with Kurt Klöppel: ''Hängebrücken mit besonderer Stützbedingung des Versteifungsträgers'', in: Der Stahlbau 13 (1940), No. 21/22, pp. 109-116. (in German) * ''Praktische Berechnung von Hängebrücken nach der Theorie II. Ordnung. Einfeldrige und durchlaufende Versteifungsträger mit konstantem und veränderlichen Trägheitsmoment'', in: Der Stahlbau 14 (1941), No. 14/15, pp. 65-69 & No. 16/18, pp. 78-84. (in German) * with Kurt Klöppel: ''Berechnung von Hängebrücken nach der Theorie II. Ordnung unter Berücksichtigung der Nachgiebigkeit der Hänger'', in: Der Stahlbau 14 (1941), No. 19/20, pp. 85-88. (in German) * with Kurt Klöppel: ''Das hinreichende Kriterium für den Verzweigungspunkt des elastischen Gleichgewichts'', in: Der Stahlbau 16 (1943), No. 6/7, pp. 17-21. (in German) * ''Ermittlung der Einflußlinien von Stabwerken auf geometrischem Wege'', in: Der Stahlbau 16 (1943), No. 12/13, pp. 45-52 & No. 14/16, pp. 58-64. (in German) * with Kurt Klöppel: ''Das hinreichende Kriterium für den Verzweigungspunkt des elastischen Gleichgewichts'', in: Der Stahlbau 16 (1943), No. 6/7, pp. 17-21. (in German) * ''Analysis of Box Girder and Truss Bridges''. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag 1988. * with A. Chen, A., 2001. ''Neuere Großbrücken in China'', in: Stahlbau 70 (2001), No. 9, pp. 661-666. (in German)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Guohao 1913 births 2005 deaths Chinese bridge engineers Chinese structural engineers Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Engineers from Guangdong Hakka scientists Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences People from Meixian District People's Republic of China politicians from Guangdong Politicians from Meizhou Presidents of Tongji University Scientists from Guangdong Tongji University alumni