Wu Youxun's Hometown

Wu Youxun (April 26, 1897 - November 30, 1977), styled Zhengzhi, was from Gao'an, Yichun City, Jiangxi Province. A physicist and educator, he was one of the pioneers and founders of modern physics research in China, and is known as the 'founding father' of physics research in China. In June 1920, Wu Youxun graduated from the Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry at the Nanjing Higher Normal School; In 1925, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, then served as an assistant and lecturer in the university's physics laboratory, under the tutelage of Professor Compton; in October 1945, he became the president of the National Central University; in 1948, he was elected as an academician of the Academia Sinica; in December 1950, he served as the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; in 1955, he was appointed as a member of the Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (academician). Wu Youxun's contributions were mainly reflected in his research on X-rays, especially on scattering and absorption. In the 1920s, he made contributions to the establishment and recognition of the Compton effect through systematic, exquisite experiments and incisive theoretical analysis in the study of X-ray scattering; after returning to China, he initiated experimental and theoretical research in areas such as X-ray scattering spectroscopy, and creatively developed a general theory of multi-atomic gas scattering of X-rays.