Mr. Feng Duan, a renowned physicist and metal and crystal materials scientist, died Tuesday in Nanjing. He was 98.
Feng Duan was born in Suzhou in 1923. His diligent family style made him insist on self-study even if his studies were interrupted many times because of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
In 1942, he was admitted to the Department of Physics, Central University, and stayed on to teach after graduation.
In the 1950s, Feng Duan began to engage in the research of metal physics. He organized the design and successfully developed China's first electron beam floating zone melting apparatus to prepare molybdenum, tungsten, niobium and other single crystals, making important contributions to the national defense industry.
In the 1970s, Feng turned to the field of crystal defect research. In the 1980s, he focused on condensed matter physics and materials science, which promoted the development of nanomaterials science in China.
In 1984, under the leadership of Feng Duan, the Solid Microstructure Laboratory of Nanjing University was founded. Since then it has repeatedly ranked first in the national key laboratory evaluation list, and established China's global position in microstructure research.
Feng Duan led a number of major scientific research projects and cultivated a number of outstanding talents such as Min Naiben, Zheng Youliao, Du Youwei, Wang Guanghou, and Xing Dingyu.
An asteroid was named after the physicist in 2011 by the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to pay tribute to Feng Duan's outstanding achievements.
(source: ourjiangsu.com)
