About Prof. Jun Shi

JunShi (December 13, 1912 - September 1, 2005), born in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, was a chemist and educator. In 1980, he was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (academician). On February 16, 2001, at the age of 90, he became a member of the Communist Party of China. He passed away on September 1, 2005, in Nanjing at the age of 93. In September 2009, he was posthumously honored as an inspiring figure among the people of Jiangsu since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In 1917, Shi Jun enrolled in the local elementary school, and in 1924, he graduated from primary school and skipped a grade to enter the second year of junior high school at Xiaoyou Middle School. In 1926, after completing junior high school, Shi Jun followed his elder brother to Suzhou for high school. While his brother attended Suzhou Industrial Vocational School, Shi Jun enrolled in its affiliated high school.

In 1927, Suzhou Industrial Vocational School merged with Central University, and its affiliated high school became part of Suzhou Middle School's high school section, offering separate classes for arts and sciences, with Shi Jun enrolled in the science class. Despite his inclination towards literature, Shi Jun also worked as an amateur editor for the Wu County Daily. He graduated from high school in 1929 and was admitted to Soochow University through recommendation. In 1930, he took entrance exams for Tsinghua University and Central University and was accepted by both. Shi Jun chose to attend the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University. During his four years at Tsinghua, except for two courses, all his grades were "excellent" or "excellent plus," and he was awarded the "Peck" scholarship. He graduated from university in 1934 and immediately applied to become one of the second batch of government-sponsored students to study abroad from Tsinghua, and he was accepted. When the results were announced, it was stipulated that he would study paper engineering. After a year of internship in China, he was designated to further his studies in the United States at the University of Maine, the only university offering a major in paper engineering at the time. In August 1935, he went to the United States and studied for two terms at the University of Maine. In May 1936, he obtained a Master of Science in Paper Engineering, with his thesis "The Relationship between Screening and Performance of Mechanical Wood Pulp" being split into two papers and published in American paper engineering journals. He then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to specialize in chemical engineering.

For more than 60 years, he has worked tirelessly in higher chemical education, with students spread far and wide, including many renowned scientists, with 14 academicians among them. Mr. Shi Jun is a pioneer and trailblazer in China's cement and chemical engineering disciplines, making significant contributions to research in absorption, drying techniques, membrane separation technology, and chemical thermodynamics. He has been honored with titles such as "Outstanding Expert with Major Contributions to Chemical Engineering in China," the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Award for Scientific and Technological Progress, as well as numerous national and provincial-level scientific and technological progress awards. In 1998, he also led the completion of the new edition of the "Chemical Engineering Handbook" and the compilation of the Chemical Engineering volume of the Encyclopedia.

He has served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the first member of the State Council's Academic Degrees Committee Evaluation Group, and the first and second member of the Technical and Economic Advisory Committee of China Petrochemical Corporation, as well as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chemical Engineering.

1924-1926 Attended Xiaoyou Junior Middle School in Changshu County.

1927-1929 Attended Suzhou High School.

1929-1930 Studied at Soochow University for one year.

1930-1934 Studied at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

1935-1936 Obtained a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Maine, USA.

1936-1938 Conducted further studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

1938-1939 Instructor at the Military Affairs Department of the National Government in Chongqing.

1939-1946 Professor at the Central Institute of Technology in Chongqing.

1939-1941 Adjunct professor at the Chongqing Ordnance University.

1939-1944 Adjunct research advisor at the Research Laboratory of Chongqing Power and Fuel Factory.

1942-1946 Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Central University in Chongqing.

1944-1948 Professor and department head in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Chongqing University.

1946-1949 Professor and department head in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Central University in Nanjing.

1949-1952 Professor and department head in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Nanjing University.

1950-1952 Adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Nanjing Jinling University.

1952-1958 Professor and department head in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Nanjing Institute of Technology.

1954-1956 Adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry at Nanjing University.

1979-1985 Professor and department head in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Nanjing Institute of Chemical Technology.

November 1980 Elected as a member of the Chemistry Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

From 1985 until his passing, he served as a professor, honorary department head, honorary director of the Institute of Chemical Engineering, and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Chemical Engineering (now the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering) at Nanjing University of Chemical Technology (now Nanjing Tech University).