Notable alumni of SJTU

Qian Xuesen

(Dec 11, 1911-Oct 31, 2009)

Qian graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1934. He made important contributions to the missile and space programs of both the United States and China. He was a professor at both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology. Qian was also an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was awarded China's Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal and is known as the "Father of Chinese Aerospace".

Wu Wenjun

(b. 1919)

Wu graduated from the mathematics department in 1940. He is an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and The Third World Academy of Sciences. He received the first Preeminent Science and Technology Award, the highest of the state science and technology awards, in 2000. Wu's major achievements are concentrated in topology and mathematical mechanization. He established foundational work for topology. His characteristic class and embedded research have been called "Wu's Formula", "Wu's Characteristic Class", "Wu's Embedded Classes", and they are still widely quoted by international peers.

Xu Guangxian

(Nov 7, 1920-April 28, 2015)

Xu graduated from the Department of Chemistry at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1944. He was an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and received the Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2008. He is known as "The Father of Chinese Rare Earths Chemistry".

Xu was long engaged in the teaching and research of physical chemistry and inorganic chemistry. He established a basic law that the rare earth solvent extraction system has a "constant mixture ratio", and a universal theory of cascade extraction in the 1970s.

Wang Zhenyi

(b. 1924)

Wang is professor of the medical school at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 1992, he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences. Wang led research that has helped improve the survival of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia. He received five international awards in tumor studies and seven national-level awards in China. He received the Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2010.