Ye Duzheng

Ye Duzheng was a Chinese meteorologist and academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1940 and received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1948 under the supervision of Carl-Gustaf Rossby. He returned to China in 1950 and worked at the Institute of Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and later at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he served as the director and honorary director. He was also the vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1981 to 1984 and a professor at Peking University and Northwest University of Xi'an. He is widely regarded as the founder of Chinese atmospheric physics and the father of Chinese meteorology. He made significant contributions to the study of atmospheric circulation, long-wave dynamics, Tibetan Plateau meteorology, climate change, and weather forecasting. He was awarded the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2005, which is the nation's highest scientific prize, and the International Meteorological Organization Prize in 2003, which is the highest award in meteorology. He was also a member of various national and international scientific committees and organizations, such as the Chinese Meteorological Society, the World Climate Research Programme, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. He died in 2013 at the age of 97 and was honored as a pioneer, a visionary, and an inspiration to many.