Xu Ningsheng (; born 7 July 1957) is a Chinese physicist who served as

president of Fudan University The president of Fudan University is the chief executive , chief executive officer of Fudan University, and, essentially, the leader of the university. Each is appointed by and is responsible to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ...

from 2014 to 2021 and president of Sun Yat-sen University from 2010 to 2014. He is an academician 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

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 ...

Biography

Xu was born in Zhanlong Town of

Puning Puning (; postal: Puning) is a county-level city in the municipal region of Jieyang, in the southeast of Guangdong Province, China. Economy Puning's main industries include: citrus, Plum, clothing, traditional Chinese medicine and so on. The sp ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

province, on July 7, 1957, with his

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Chenghai District Chenghai (; postal: Tenghai; Teochew: Thěng Hài) is a district of the city of Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. Located at the Han River Delta in the southeast part of Guangdong Province, Chenghai spans from 116°41' to 116°54' E longitud ...

Shantou Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative ...

. Xu secondary studied at Xingwen High School. He was a

sent-down youth The sent-down, rusticated, or "educated" youth (), also known as the ''zhiqing'', were the young people who—beginning in the 1950s until the end of the Cultural Revolution, willingly or under coercion—left the urban districts of the ...

from 1975 to 1978, during the

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 goal ...

. After the Resumption of University Entrance Examination in 1977, he studied, then taught, at the Department of Physics of

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

, in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. He received his doctor's degree from

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first c ...

in 1986, and taught at the university for 10 years afterwards. He was honored as a Distinguished Young Scholar by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars () in 1995. In 1996 and that year, he returned to China and became professor of physics at Sun Yat-sen University, becoming Dean of its School of Physics and Engineering in 1999, and was promoted to Vice-President in 2004. He also served as Dean of International Exchange College between 2004 and 2008. He was elected a fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

in 1998. He was named a

Chang Jiang Scholar The Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholar award (), is the highest academic award issued to an individual in higher education by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It is also known as the Cheung Kong Scholar and the Yangtze ...

by the

Ministry of Education of China The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is a cabinet-level department under the State Council responsible for basic education, vocational education, higher education, and other educational affairs across the country. The Min ...

in 1999. In December 2010, he was appointed President of Sun Yat-sen University. In October 2014 he was appointed

President of Fudan University The president of Fudan University is the chief executive , chief executive officer of Fudan University, and, essentially, the leader of the university. Each is appointed by and is responsible to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Ningsheng 1957 births Living people Alumni of Aston University Educators from Guangdong Fellows of the Institute of Physics Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences People from Shantou Physicists from Guangdong Presidents of Fudan University Presidents of Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University alumni TWAS fellows