Zhang Xu (; 6 November 1913 – 12 September 2015) was a Chinese telecommunications engineer and academic who taught for more than five decades at

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU; ) is a public research university in Shanghai, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university was established on April 8, 1896 as Nanyang Public School (南洋� ...

and the

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) is a national public research university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It was founded in 1956 instructed by the Premier Zhou Enlai. UESTC was established on the basis of the incorp ...

. He was the first professor in China to teach

radio communications Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and played a major role in the development of

fiber-optic communication Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of infrared light through an optical fiber. The light is a form of carrier wave that is modulated to carry information. Fiber is pref ...

in the country. He was elected 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 ...

in 1980.

Biography

Zhang was born on 6 November 1913 in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

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 ...

, Republic of China. After graduating from the Department of Electrical Engineering from National Chiao Tong University (now

) in 1934 with top grades, he was awarded a government scholarship to study in the United States. He completed his master and Ph.D. degrees at

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 ...

in 1936 and 1940, respectively. Zhang returned to China in 1940 and became a professor in the Department of Telecommunications at National Chiao Tong University. He also taught as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

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 ...

University of Shanghai University of Shanghai, also known as Shanghai College and Hujiang University (), was a university established by the American Baptist Missionary Union and the Southern Baptist Convention in Shanghai. It was the predecessor of University of Sh ...

, and

Utopia University Utopia University, known in Chinese as Datong or Tatung University, was a private university in Shanghai. It was established in March 1912 by a group of former Tsinghua faculty members led by Hu Dunfu, and became one of the most reputable privat ...

. He was the first professor in China to teach

. In 1956, he was transferred to the newly established Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering (now

), where he taught for the next 22 years. He returned to Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1978 and served as Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department of the university. He was elected an academician of the

in 1980. Zhang died on 12 September 2015 in Shanghai, at the age of 101.

Contributions

As one of the experts who helped establish China's telecommunications networks, Zhang is considered a telecommunications pioneer in the country. Together with

Ye Peida Ye Peida (; 18 October 1915 – 16 January 2011) was a Chinese telecommunications engineer and educator. He was a founding professor of the Beijing Institute of Posts and Telecommunications in 1955 and served as its president in the 1980s. He wa ...

and

Huang Hongjia Huang Hongjia (; 5 August 1924 – 22 September 2021) was a Chinese scientist. He was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and a professor at Shanghai University. Life and career Huang developed coupling wave theory in the fi ...

, he played a major role in developing

in China in the 1980s. In 1988, Zhang and Ye published a report that advised the breakup of the monopoly that the Ministry of Posts and Communications held in China's telecommunications industry. The Chinese government adopted their proposal and created shareholding companies to operate the country's telecom networks. Zhang authored, edited, or translated 56 books and published more than 400 articles, including about 100 research papers. His teaching career spanned more than five decades until his eighties. He educated nearly 1,000 students, including academicians and Zhao Zisen.

References

External links

Zhang Xu
at the National Museum for Modern Chinese Scientists {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Xu 1913 births 2015 deaths Chinese centenarians Men centenarians Chinese expatriates in the United States Engineers from Jiangsu Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Scientists from Wuxi National Chiao Tung University (Shanghai) alumni Academic staff of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Chinese telecommunications engineers Academic staff of Tongji University Academic staff of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Academic staff of Utopia University