| Prof. Zhang Qinglian (1908 - 2006) was an outstanding chemist and chemistry educator in China, an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was the pioneer and founder of the stable isotope chemistry in China. In the early time, Prof. Zhang studied in Europe and received award of PhD degree. In 1937, a year that the flame of war spread over the country, he came back to China for serving his motherland. He had been engaged in long-term research on the heavy water and stable isotope chemistry. In his young time, Prof. Zhang had achieved some internationally influential research results on the heavy water. In 1960s, Prof. Zhang made important contributions for the development of the nuclear industry of China. In his senile time, Prof. Zhang led a group to conduct the accurate measurements of the atomic weights of 10 elements, including indium (In), iridium (Ir), antimony (Sb), europium (Sb), cerium (Ce)) erbium (Er), germanium (Ge), dysprosium (Dy), zinc (Zn), and samarium (Sm). The data contributed by Prof. Zhang have been accepted as the new international standards. He dedicated himself to science and loved to his students. He devoted himself to cultivating young scientific talents. Not only he promoted the development of inorganic chemistry education in Chinese universities, but also had he positive and profound impact on the chemistry teaching in the middle schools of China. In Prof. Zhang’s whole life, there are quite many touching and incentive stories, which could be selected as wonderful materials for the ideological and political education involved in the chemistry courses. The scientist spirit embodied in Prof. Zhang’s life is worth inheriting and actively practicing by our young generations. |