Bulletin Special Supplement Nov 1972

T ung Y en L in , B.S., M.S. An eminent scholar is like a tower and his fame is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think o f it; the tower is the real thing. Today we are privileged to have w ith us an eminent scholar whom many here have often heard about but are seeing for the first time. He is Tung Yen Lin, Professor o f Civil Engineering o f the University o f California at Berkeley. He received his degree o f Bachelor o f Science in Civil Engineering from Tangshan College o f Chiaotung University in 1931. Two years later he received his Master's degree in Civil Engineering from the University o f California at Berkeley. A fter he returned to China in 1933 ， he worked as chief bridge engineer and chief design engineer fo r several railways. But his primary interest was in teaching. He taught for many years at National Tungchi University. In 1946’ he decided to return to the United States fo r the sake o f both his career and his wife. Mrs. L in was curious to see the country about which she had heard so much. His former major professor at Berkeley was able to arrange for him an appointment as assistant professor fo r one year. The one year extended to several, and the Lin family has remained in Berkeley ever since. Professor L in has shown that academic brilliance and hum ility can find their expression in the same person. He believes that the future o f engineering lies in the uninhibited approaches o f the younger generation and that as a teacher he should work hard to keep pace w ith the students. He considers the several consulting firms o f which he serves as chairman, as a continuation o f teaching, wherein theory and practice go side by side. His two books ， Design o f Prestressed Concrete Structure and Design o f Steel Structure, are judged by the Structural Division membership o f the American Society o f Civil Engineering as among the 12 most valuable books in the field. Our graduand has served as consultant to many government agencies and private institutions. A complete catalogue o f all the technical committees on which he has served would be too formidable a list. He has also rendered invaluable services to this University as adviser to the Vice-Chancellor and the University Architect on its major building projects. In addition to prizes fo r many o f his structures, Professor L in has received the American Society o f Civil Engineering (ASCE) Howard Gold Medal, ASCE Wellington Prize and Outstanding Research Award, and the ASCE Prestressed Concrete Award which has been re-named the T.Y. Lin Award in his honour. Earlier this year, he was elected Academician o f the Academia Sinica. A graduate o f Chiaotung or Communications University, he is a "man o f com munications" par excellence. For not only has he built innumerable railways and bridges connecting towns and joining the shores o f rivers, he is well-known fo r his proposal to build a bridge across the Bering Strait. I f his proposed bridge is built, i t w ill jo in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, and we shall then be able to drive a car from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Mr. Chancellor, it is this University's wish that Your Excellency add to his other honours that o f the degree o f Doctor o f Laws ， honoris causa. 一 6 —