Chen Jiayong

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Chen.
Chen Jiayong
Born(1922-02-17)17 February 1922
Jintang County, Sichuan
Died26 August 2019(2019-08-26) (aged 97)
Beijing, China
Resting placeBabaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery
Other namesChia-yung Chen
Alma materUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
National Central University
Known forDeveloping hydrometallurgy in China
Spouse(s)Liu Rong
Children2
AwardsState Science and Technology Prizes (five times)
Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize (1996)
Scientific career
FieldsChemical engineering
Hydrometallurgy
InstitutionsInstitute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Doctoral advisorH.F. Johnstone
Other academic advisorsGao Jiyu, Sherlock Swann
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese陳家鏞
Simplified Chinese陈家镛

Chen Jiayong (Chinese: 陈家镛; also romanized as Chia-yung Chen; 17 February 1922 – 26 August 2019) was a Chinese metallurgist and chemical engineer. He was a research professor and Vice President of the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). A pioneer in the development of hydrometallurgy in China, he was elected an academician of the CAS in 1980. He was awarded the State Science and Technology Prizes five times and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in 1996.

Early life and education[]

Chen was born on 17 February 1922 in Jintang County, Sichuan.[1] He was the fourth child and eldest son of his father Chen Songpu (陈松谱), a school teacher. In 1925, his family moved to Chengdu, where he studied at Chengdu County Primary School and Chengdu County High School (now Chengdu No. 7 High School).[2]

In 1939, he was admitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering of National Central University, then exiled in Chongqing during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He studied under some of the then top chemists of the country, including  [zh],  [zh], and  [zh]. After graduating in 1943, he was hired by the university as a faculty member.[2][3] Under the guidance of Gao Jiyu, he was the first in China to successfully synthesize the pesticide DDT.[2]

Career in the United States[]

After the end of World War II, Chen was awarded a Chinese government scholarship to pursue graduate studies in the United States in 1947. He earned his master's and Ph.D. (in 1952) from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), under the supervision of Sherlock Swann and H.F. Johnstone.[2]

In 1952, he became a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before returning to UIUC to work under Johnstone. His highly cited paper "Filtration of Aerosols by Fibrous Media" was published in the journal Chemical Reviews in 1955.[3][4] In 1954, he became a research engineer at the Yerkes Research Laboratory of the chemical company DuPont.[3]

Career in China[]

In 1956, the American government reached an agreement with the PRC to permit Chinese students in the US to go home, who had been banned from moving back to China since the Korean War. Chen and his wife decided to return to China with their two daughters.[2][3] On the invitation of the renowned metallurgist Ye Zhupei (Yap Chu-Phay), he accepted the position as Director of the Hydrometallurgical Laboratory of the Institute of Chemical Metallurgy (renamed as the Institute of Process Engineering in 2001), which was then being established by Ye under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).[2][3]

Although not specifically trained in metallurgy, Chen accepted the challenge to develop hydrometallurgy in China. Hydrometallurgy, a more energy-efficient and cleaner process than traditional pyrometallurgy, is especially suitable for the extraction of uranium, copper, and other non-ferrous metals. He spent years working under harsh conditions at the copper mine of Dongchuan, Yunnan, and oversaw the construction of a copper factory nearby, which was opened in 1964.[2][3] He also worked at the mines in Jinchuan, Gansu and Panzhihua, Sichuan, and made technological breakthroughs to efficiently separate non-ferrous metals such as gold, silver, copper, nickel, and cobalt. During the Cultural Revolution, the technologies he developed were exported to Albania as part of China's foreign-aid program.[2][3] He later served as Vice President of the Institute of Process Engineering.[5]

Chen supervised more than 50 graduate students, and published reference books including A Handbook on Hydrometallurgy (湿法冶金手册). He was awarded the State Science and Technology Prizes five times and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in 1996.[2] Chen was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980.[6]

In 2017, the CAS named China's first satellite for chemical engineering experiment after Chen. The CHEN Jiayong-1 was launched into space from India in February 2017. It was the first satellite named after a Chinese scientist.[7]

Chen was a member of the Communist Party of China. He served five consecutive terms as a member of the 4th to the 8th National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.[8]

Death[]

On 26 August 2019, he died in Beijing at the age of 97.[1][5] He was buried at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.[1]

Personal life[]

In 1948 Chen married his university classmate Liu Rong (刘蓉) in the United States. The couple had two daughters.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Shi Ming 石鸣 (26 August 2019). 湿法冶金学家陈家镛逝世 今年已有20位院士作别 [Chen Jiayong, a hydrometallurgist, passed away. Twenty academicians have died this year]. The Paper (in Chinese).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mao Zaisha 毛在砂 (25 July 2014). 陈家镛院士：化工"牵手"冶金. Sciencenet (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Liu, Wei; An, Zhentao; Mao, Zaisha (March 2015). "Chemical Metallurgist Chen Jiayong". Journal of Engineering Studies. 7 (1).
  4. ^ Chen, C. Y. (1 June 1955). "Filtration of Aerosols By Fibrous Media". Chemical Reviews. 55 (3): 595–623. doi:10.1021/cr50003a004. ISSN 0009-2665.
  5. ^ a b 97岁的陈家镛院士走了 "陈家镛一号"卫星仍在运行. Netease (in Chinese). 26 August 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  6. ^ "Biography of Chen Jiayong". China Vitae. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  7. ^ "First Satellite with Chemical Engineering Experiment Named After CAS Member CHEN Jiayong". Chinese Academy of Sciences. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  8. ^ 湿法冶金开拓者陈家镛院士逝世 享年98岁 [Academician Chen Jiayong, pioneer of hydrometallurgy, died at the age of 98]. Beijing News (in Chinese). 26 August 2019.
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