Zhang Xiangtong (; November 27, 1907 – November 4, 2007), also romanized as Hsiang-Tung Chang, was a Chinese neurophysiologist and an academician of

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 ...

(CAS).

Career

He carried out fundamental studies on the structure and function of the central nervous system. Chang was one of the pioneers in the study of dendritic potentials and among the first to recognize the functional significance of dendrites in the central nervous system. He was the first to propose a fundamental distinction between axosomatic and axodendritic synapses. Chang was regarded as one of founders of China's neuroscience. He helped found Shanghai Institute of Brain Research of CAS (later Institute of Neuroscience of CAS), which is a part of Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences nowadays. Chang was born in

Zhengding Zhengding (), originally Zhending (), is a county in southwestern Hebei Province, North China, located approximately south of Beijing. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of the province, and h ...

Hebei Province Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

. He graduated from the Department of Psychology, Peking University in 1933, and obtained a doctor of philosophy in physiology from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in the United States in 1946. From 1948 to 1952, Chang was an assistant professor at

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

. From 1952 to 1956, Chang was an associate researcher at

Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classi ...

. After his return to China in late 1956, he served as a research fellow at Shanghai Institute of Physiology of CAS. He became the director of Shanghai Institute of Brain Research of CAS in 1980 and, since his retirement in 1984, the honorary director of the Institute. In the 1940s and 50s, Chang focused on auditory, visual and sensorimotor systems.

Awards and honors

* Chang was elected a foreign academician of the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

in 1966, an honorary foreign member of

Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

in 1982 and an honorary member of

International Association for the Study of Pain The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) is an international learned society promoting research, education, and policies for the understanding, prevention, and treatment of pain. IASP was founded in 1973 under the leadership of ...

in 1989. * He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from International Neural Network Society in 1993. * Asteroid 316450 Changhsiangtung, discovered by the PMO NEO Survey Program at Purple Mountain in 2008, was named in his memory. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on February 5, 2020 ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Xiangtong 1907 births 2007 deaths Biologists from Hebei Chinese neuroscientists Educators from Hebei Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National University of Peking alumni People from Zhengding County Rockefeller University faculty Yale School of Medicine alumni Yale School of Medicine faculty