Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1995

citations Prof. Tang Auch in Just as the city of Delft in Holland is famous for its pottery, so the city of Yixing in China's Jiangsu Province is famous for its teaware. Unlike Delft pottery pieces which have the look of sameness about them, Yixing teaware is distinguished by its infinite variety. The exquisite beauty of Yixing's teaware owes much to the quality of the clay, the controlled combustion inside its kilns and the chemical process which takes place when heat is applied to stable molecular materials. But what happens during that chemical process is amystery to the layman. The man who has helped to shed light on this and other bondingmysteries during the process of chemical change is probably the greatest theoretical chemist of modern China. By ahappy coincidence, he is anative of Yixing. Tang Auchin was born in Yixing in 1915 and developed an early interest in the natural sciences. Like many scholars of his generation, Tang's education at Peking University was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and the need to move inland to the safe haven of Chongqing. In 1940, he graduated from the National Southwest Associated University with a Bachelor of Science degree and was retained by the institution which recognized in Tang Auchin themaking of abrilliant scientist. Six years later, the war having been won, Tang left China for the United States on a scholarship and pursued postgraduate studies at Columbia University. He was admitted to the scientific fraternities of PhiLamdaUpsilon and SigmaXi and graduated in 1949 with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Likemany patriots of his generation, Tang Auchin returned to China soon after graduation and started his teaching and research career at Peking University. Two years later he was given the challenging task of building from scratch adepartment of chemistry at the Northeast University in Changchun. This was a challenge Tang readily accepted and he discharged his new responsibilities with great distinction. At this new university, which was shortly afterwards renamed Jilin University, he pioneered research into the chemical bonding theory and the potential barrier for molecular rotation. Tang was so successful in this task that he was quickly inducted into the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a member of the chemistry division. In 1956, four years after his transfer there, he became vice-president of what was now Jilin University. 48th Congregation 4