Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, former president of Tsinghua University, and chair of the Tengchong Scientists Forum, Gu Binglin is one of the world’s top physicists and materials scientist, and a pioneer in the field of materials design. In the eyes of students of Tsinghua University, he is the most charming university president in China and a key figure behind Tsinghua’s rise to its status of a globally prestigious university. In the eyes of people from Tengchong and the entire Yunnan Province, he is a respectable and amiable old friend. And to add to his legacy, while in his 70s, he initiated the Tengchong Scientists Forum, planting the seeds of science for posterity in this borderland city. He is a trailblazer and future-maker.
Chen Ning Yang (second, right) and Gu Binglin (first, right) engage in discussions with faculty and students at Tsinghua University’s Institute for Advanced Study.
Advocate for the Materials Design Concept
Gu was born in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, in October 1945. In 1965, he was admitted to the department of engineering physics at Tsinghua University. Five years later, he graduated and began teaching at Tsinghua.
Gu’s academic career has been marked by exceptional achievements. He was among the first Chinese students sponsored by a government scholarship to study abroad following the country’s launch of reform and opening-up in 1978. At Aarhus University in Denmark, he studied solid-state physics under a renowned physicist and solved two major academic problems within three years. His doctoral dissertation defense received widespread acclaim, and he was awarded a special certificate of honor by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Throughout his career, Gu has focused on the relationship between the composition, structure, and properties of materials, and was one of the first advocates in China of the concept of “materials design.” This involves elucidating the relationships among material composition, structure, and properties from the perspective of atoms and molecules; designing new materials of specific compositions and structures; and achieving targeted new properties. He has vigorously advanced new computational simulation methods, promoted the application of computational materials design, and driven the shift in materials research and development toward demand-oriented material design. His work has laid a solid foundation for China to rank among the world’s leading countries in the field of computational materials design.
From developing growth-kinetic models for multicomponent semiconductor alloys, to establishing criteria for the ordering behavior of relaxor ferroelectrics, to systematically uncovering novel quantum properties in low-dimensional quantum structures and their related device applications, Gu and his team have made foundational contributions to the exploration of new materials. They have also calculated and predicted various new quantum states that were later experimentally confirmed. As a result of these achievements, Gu has received numerous honors, including the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award of China and the First Prize of the Science and Technology Award for Universities in China, and he was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the age of 54.
During the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, Gu, then president of Tsinghua University and president of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, headed the Olympic science and technology initiative, which promoted the application of the most advanced information and telecommunication technology to make the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games a highly technology-empowered sports event.
Charming University President
Gu served as president of Tsinghua University from 2003 to 2012, a period of rapid development of China’s higher education, and an important phase in Tsinghua’s journey to build itself into a world-class university. In leading Tsinghua, Gu always approached the present with a forward-looking perspective.
It was Gu who brought renowned international scientists to Tsinghua. He always quoted the statement made by Mei Yiqi, former president of Tsinghua University, in his inauguration speech in 1931, “A great university is not defined by its grand buildings, but by its great masters.”
Guided by this idea, he invited world-leading scientists, such as Chen Ning Yang, Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, and Shing-Tung Yau, to work at Tsinghua. Following these science luminaries, many more joined the university, which not only bolstered its development, but also contributed to the country’s talent cultivation and scientific research.
Gu also supported Tsinghua University in pioneering research in quantum physics, thereby laying the foundation for the university’s development in frontier and emerging fields. In building up the university’s strength in the research, he also brought in top Chinese quantum physicist Xue Qikun. When Tsinghua’s department of computer science hesitated about whether to offer a quantum physics program, Gu asked just one question, “Should we train students majoring in computer science for the present or for the future?”
Gu firmly believed that the soul of a university lies in innovation, and that fostering innovation must begin with creating fertile “cultural ground.” During his tenure, he vigorously promoted reform of teaching and advocated an educational philosophy valuing academic groundwork, practice and innovation. Thanks to his efforts, Tsinghua pays greater attention to students’ all-round growth, and encourages interdisciplinary and international exchanges and cooperation, stimulating the innovative vitality of both faculty and students. Gu dedicated himself to removing institutional barriers that hindered innovation, striving to create an academic atmosphere that enables bold innovation and tolerates failures.
In an online poll, Gu was elected as one of the most charming university presidents in China. This recognition stemmed not only from his outstanding academic status, but also from his charisma. People who meet him find him to be calm yet firm, and wise yet humble man, who remembers his students’ names even when meeting with them years later. “My love for Tsinghua will never change,” he said when he left office.
“Final Worthwhile Endeavor”
The late Chen Ning Yang, who passed away this October, was someone Gu admired since childhood. Having worked together closely for over 30 years, the two had developed a deep bond that was both mentorship and friendship.
Yang devoted his entire life to science. In his later years, he headed the establishment of the Institute for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University. This inspired Gu. Following Yang’s example, Gu, at the age of 77, initiated the Tengchong Scientists Forum as his “final worthwhile endeavor.”
During the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression over 80 years ago, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Nankai University moved to Yunnan and jointly formed the National Southwest Associated University. Operating for merely eight years, this institute produced two Nobel laureates, eight recipients of the “Two Bombs, One Satellite” (referring to China’s first atomic bomb, intercontinental ballistic missile, and satellite) Meritorious Service Medal, and 175 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, unprecedented in the history of higher education in China and even the world. The faculty and students of these three universities have maintained a close bond with Yunnan Province.
In 2020, accompanied by Xu Rongkai, former governor of Yunnan and a Tsinghua alumnus, Gu, along with Xu Zhihong, former president of Peking University, and Rao Zihe, former president of Nankai University, visited Tengchong in Yunnan. The three university presidents were impressed by the picturesque scenery and vibrant intellectual atmosphere in Tengchong. “It is a perfect place for scientists to gaze at the stars and seek truth,” they said.
The three former university presidents simultaneously proposed establishing a scientists forum in Tengchong, similar to the Davos World Economic Forum, to carry forward the legacy and spirit of the National Southwest Associated University, promote the development of Yunnan, and repay what the people of Yunnan had done for the three universities during the years of war.
With the strong support of the China Association for Science and Technology, the Yunnan provincial committee of the Communist Party of China, and the local government, the first Tengchong Scientists Forum was successfully held in December 2022.
Over the past three years, Gu has devoted a lot of effort and energy to the forum. As its chair, he worked with the two co-chairs and charted the course for the future of the forum.
The forum, themed “Science and Technology Lead the Future,” has grown from a meeting that attracted several hundred academicians in the fields of life and science, biodiversity, and materials science, to today’s grand event covering various academic fields such as technology and finance, and science and art. In the beginning, the forum convened an annual meeting, which featured one keynote forum and 10 parallel sessions. Today, it hosts dozens of thematic and series events throughout the year, attracting the participation and attention of nearly 3,000 experts and scholars from China and abroad.
In just a few years, the vision of establishing a science and technology version of the Davos forum in China has taken shape. The Tengchong Science Award and the newly added Tengchong Young Scientists Award have become two of the most anticipated science awards in China.
The Tengchong Young Scientists Award will be presented at the upcoming fourth Tengchong Scientists Forum to outstanding scientists under the age of 40 working in 10 fields including life sciences, materials science, and information and intelligent sciences.
Young people and the future have always been Gu’s great concern. “Young people are the future of the nation and the future of science,” he said on many occasions, including forum speeches and media interviews. Reflecting on the history of the National Southwest Associated University in cultivating a large number of outstanding young people, Gu expressed his hope that the Tengchong Scientists Forum can grow into a platform for young scientists to showcase their abilities, exchange ideas, and have dialogues with top scientists from around the world. He also hopes that the platform can promote the application and commercialization of scientific research results in Yunnan to promote high-quality development of the province, the country, and the entire world. 
CHEN WENXIN is communication manager of the Tengchong Scientists Forum.
