Hu Qiheng (born 1934) is a Chinese computer scientist. Hu was the vice president 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 ...

from 1987 to 1996 and led the National Computing and Networking Facility of China which connected China to the Internet in April 1994. Hu was inducted into the

Internet Hall of Fame The Internet Hall of Fame is an honorary lifetime achievement award administered by the Internet Society (ISOC) in recognition of individuals who have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of the Internet.

in 2013 as a global connector.

Early life and education

Hu was born in 1934 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 ...

, China. She graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Machinery in 1963 with an

associate's degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of Tertiary education, post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelo ...

in healthcare.

Career

Starting in the 1980s, Hu was the director of the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1983 to 1987. After being named secretary general of the

in 1987, she became the academy's vice president in 1988 and held the position until 1996. During her time as vice president, Hu was in charge of the National Computing and Networking Facility of China. She persuaded the National Science Foundation to allow China to connect to the Internet. Her discussions with the institution's officials led to a consensus that finally allowed the installation of the first

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

connection in China on April 20, 1994. After her position of vice president at the Chinese Academy of Sciences ended in 1996, Hu established the

China Internet Network Information Center The China Internet Network Information Center (), or CNNIC, is the administrative agency responsible for domain registry affairs of .cn under the Cyberspace Administration of China. Founded on 3 June 1997, it is now a government department based in ...

in 1997 and co-founded the

Internet Society of China The Internet Society of China (ISC) is a Chinese non-governmental organization made up of 140 members of the Chinese Internet industry including private companies, schools and research institutes. It is supported by Chinese government authorities s ...

in 2001. As president of the Internet Society of China, Hu advocated for Internet installment in the outskirts of China. In 2004, Hu was named as a member of the

Working Group on Internet Governance The Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) was a United Nations multistakeholder Working group initiated after the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) first phase Summit in Geneva failed to agree on the future of Internet gove ...

held by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

. Hu is also among the pioneers in the field of mode identification and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

(A.I) in China. She helped establish the Knowledge and Intelligence Science Laboratory and served as president of the China Automation Society and the China Computer Society.

Awards and honors

Hu was inducted into the

as a global connector in 2013.

Personal life

Hu is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Qiheng 1934 births Living people Chinese computer scientists Chinese women computer scientists Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Scientists from Beijing