From left: Chen Ning Yang of Princeton University; Daniel Bovet of Rome; Li Zhengdao of Columbia University; Alexander Todd of Cambridge University, England; and Albert Camus of France, after receiving their awards in Stockholm, Sweden, December 10, 1957.
Chinese-American physicist Li Zhengdao, who became the second youngest Nobel laureate in 1957, died on Sunday, August 4, at his home in San Francisco at the age of 97.
A scientist whose work expanded the understanding of physics elementary particles, was one of the greatest minds in the field, according to a joint obituary by the Li Zhengdao Institute at Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Beijing China Center for Modern Science and Technology, reports Associated Press agency.
Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb,” called Lee one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists of his time, whose work demonstrated “remarkable freshness, versatility, and style.”
Born in Shanghai in 1926, Lee moved to the United States on a Chinese government scholarship to pursue graduate study. From 1946 to 1950, he studied under Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago.
In 1956, at the age of 29, he became the youngest tenured professor at Columbia University. He developed a model for studying various quantum phenomena, called the Lee model.
In 1957, Lee and another physicist, Zhenning Yang, won the Nobel Prize for their studies of the symmetries of subatomic particles. Li was 31 at the time.
Li's distinguished career has earned him numerous other awards, including the Albert Einstein Prize and the Galileo Galilei Medal.
Li became a U.S. citizen in 1962, but in the 1970s, as China opened up to international exchanges, he made numerous visits to his home country to lecture and support the development of science.
Prepared by: Sergey Daga