ndsbv7_Z 9/27/07 3:28 PM Page 397 Zelinski6 Zhao origins of petroleum, in questions of fermentative cataly- correspondence (1911–1939). Archival material can also be sis, and his study of sapropels, proteins, and amino acids. found in the collections of the N. D. Zelinski6 Memorial Office and Library in Moscow. Zelinski6 first encountered the study of the influence of living matter on the formation of nonliving forms after OTHER SOURCES he took part in a scientific expedition, undertaken in 1981 on the initiative of the academician A. O. Kovalevsky, to Akademija Nauk SSSR. Zelinski6, Andre6. Akademik N. D. Zelinski6 [The academician N. D. Zelinski ]. Moscow: study the Black Sea. Its primary aim was to establish the 6 Znanie, 1981. reason for the formation of hydrogen-sulfide in deep waters (the absence of life in the sea at great depths was Andrusev, M. M., and A. M. Taber. N. D. Zelinski6: Kniga dlia uchashchikhsia [N. D. Zelinski : A book for students]. considered to be connected to this). On the basis of the 6 Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1984. analysis of the gathered specimens in the Black Sea silt, Bogatski , Alekse V., Georgi V. Lazur’evski , and A. Nirka Zelinski6 proposed a new theory—which ran counter to 6 6 6 6 Evgeni . N. D. Zelinski6 (1861–1953): Stranitsy zhizni i the theory of professor Nikolai I. Andrusov—positing a 6 tvorchestva [N. D. Zelinski6 (1861–1953): Pages from his life bacterial origin of hydrogen-sulfide. As a result, it seems and writing]. Kishinev: Shtiintsa, 1976. only logical that he would subsequently turn his attention Institut Organichesko6 Khimii imeni N. D. Zelinskogo to the study of sapropels, the basic materials for the for- (1934–1984) [The N. D. Zelinski6 Institute of Organic mation of which in water reservoirs are microflora and Chemistry]. Moscow: Nauka, 1983. microfauna, which exist in a symbiotic relationship with Nikogosian, Nikola6 B. “Vstrechi s Zelinskim” [Encounters with one another and, in the course of the biochemical process, Zelinski6]. Khimiia i zhizn’ [Chemistry and life] 2 (1986): transform into a sediment saturated with microorganisms. 91–93. Ultimately this led to study of fermenting catalysis in pro- Sterligov, Oleg D. “K 125-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia akademika tein bodies, since it is precisely the latter which play a N. D. Zelinskogo” [In Honor of the 125th anniversary of the decisive role in all natural processes of an organism. academician N. D. Zelinski6’s birth]. Vestnik AN SSSR The multifaceted nature of Zelinski6’s investigations [Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences, USSR] 10 (1986): has earned this scientist deserved recognition. Zelinski6’s 129–132. achievements were highly valued both by the scientific Solov’ev, Iuri6 I., and Oleg D. Sterligov. “Nauka sblizhaet liude6 community and by the state. He was accepted as a mem- naibolee prochno: Iz arkhiva akademika N. D. Zelinskogo” ber to the French Chemistry Society and elected honorary [Science brings people together most closely: From the member of the London Chemistry Society. In 1924 the archive of N. D. Zelinski6]. Vestnik RAN [Bulletin of the Russian Chemistry and Physics Society awarded him the Russian Academy of Sciences] 8 (1992): 111–128. important A. M. Butlerov Prize. In 1926 he was awarded Solov’ev, Iuri6 I., ed. Khimiki o sebe [Chemists about themselves]. the title of honored scientist. He was a winner of the State Moscow: Vladmo, Graff-Press, 2001. See pp. 96–98. Prize of the USSR three times (1942, 1946, and 1948), Lunin, Valeri6 V., ed. Khimicheski6 fakul’tet MGU. Put’ v tri and he was named Hero of Socialist Labor (1945). He was chetverti veka [The chemistry department at MGU: Its three- awarded the Lenin Order four times (l940, 1945, 1946, quarter-century path]. Moscow: Terra-Kalender, 2005. See and 1951), and the Red Banner of Labor twice (1941 and pp. 17–20, 159–161, and passim. 1943). Zelinski6 was married three times. His first wife, Elena Zaitseva Raisa Ivanovna (née Drokova, b. 1850) died in 1908 after a difficult, long illness. His son, Alexandr is from this marriage. In 1909 he married Evgeniia Pavlovna Kuz’mina-Karavaeva (b. 1881). From this marriage he had ZHAO ZHONGYAO (Chung-Yao Chao in a daughter, Raisa (married to A. F. Plat ). His wife died º Wade-Giles; b. Zhuji County, Zhejiang Province, China, after a brief illness in 1934. Zelinski was married for the 6 27 June 1902; d. Beijing, China, 28 May 1998), nuclear third time to Nina Evgenievna Bok (née Zhukovskaia), physics. with whom he had two sons, Andre6 and Nikolay. Zhao was a Chinese experimental nuclear physicist whose research on light-nuclei interactions in the 1930s SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY helped inspire the discovery of the positron and pave the The Moscow branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Archive way for the acceptance of quantum electrodynamics. He (Fund 629) contains the following materials relating to the legacy of Zelinski6 (1888–1942): his participation in various also helped to found the field of nuclear physics in China organizations and institutions (1902–1939); patents and and to train generations of Chinese nuclear physicists in certificates of authorship (from the 1920s and 1930s); and the twentieth century. NEW DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHY 397 ndsbv7_Z 9/27/07 3:28 PM Page 398 Zhao Zhao Early Years and Education. Zhao’s remarkably long life ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences less than two began at the turn of the twentieth century in an area of years after his arrival. His performance in the preliminary southern China known for its strong scholarly tradition. examinations so impressed Millikan that the latter per- Ironically for a man who would make his reputation as an suaded the China Foundation for the Promotion of Edu- experimental physicist, Zhao—as the overprotected cation and Culture to grant Zhao a three-year fellowship. youngest child and the only son in the family—was for- It was Millikan’s practice to assign a thesis topic to each of bidden by his elderly parents from engaging in any kind his students, and to Zhao he prescribed a project related of physical activity. His father, Zhao Jihe, earned a meager to the use of the optical interferometer. To Millikan’s sur- living as a schoolteacher and a practitioner of traditional prise, Zhao demurred, regarding it as too easy. Millikan Chinese medicine in the countryside. He did, however, then suggested the study of the absorption of hard (high inspire a strong sense of Chinese nationalism in his son energy) gamma rays in matter. When Zhao, still not satis- and encouraged him to pursue an academic career. fied, hesitated, Millikan blew up. He said, according to Taking advantages of the educational reform that had Zhao, that “This is a very interesting and important topic. commenced during the last days of the Qing dynasty, We have looked at your records and believe that you will Zhao went to Zhuji middle school to receive a western- be the appropriate person to carry it out. If you don’t want style education in the late 1910s. He excelled in both the to do it, just tell me now. There is no need to put off a sciences and humanities but eventually decided to pursue decision” (Zhao, 1992, p. 199). Zhao quickly accepted the topic and would realize only later what an excellent the former when he went to the Advanced Normal School choice it was. of Nanjing in 1920. The college, soon renamed the Southeastern University, attracted Zhao because of its free tuition and the high reputation of the faculty, many of Major Discoveries, 1929–1932. By the late 1920s, after whom had recently returned from studying abroad. the triumph of quantum mechanics, physicists increas- Finally on his own, Zhao enjoyed hands-on laboratory ingly turned their attention to nuclear physics and quan- experiments and decided to major in chemistry, even tum electrodynamics (QED). The latter, most though he also maintained a strong interest in mathemat- prominently developed by Paul Dirac, aimed to combine ics and physics. Indeed, he chose to work as an assistant in quantum mechanics and relativity in explaining interac- the Department of Physics even before graduation. tions between light (photons) and electrons. When Zhao started his experiment, a major step in QED had just been At Southeastern, Zhao came under the influence of undertaken in 1929 by two physicists, Oscar Klein of Ye Qisun (Chi-Sun Yeh in Wade-Giles), an experimental Sweden and Yoshio Nishina of Japan, who—building on physicist who had studied at the University of Chicago Arthur Compton’s work—derived a formula on the scat- and received a PhD from Harvard University in 1923 tering of photons by electrons. Millikan, sensing the after conducting research on the measurement of the importance of the subject, wanted Zhao to check experi- Planck constant and on magnetism with William Duane mentally the validity of the new theory. and Percy Bridgeman. When Ye was offered the chairman- Zhao’s experiment proceeded smoothly. Using tho- ship of the Department of Physics at the newly reconsti- rium C" (Thallium-208), a powerful radioactive source, tuted Qinghua University in Beijing in 1925, he brought he obtained gamma rays of the highest energy available at Zhao with him. Zhao first served as an assistant but soon that time, 2.65 MeV. Directing the gamma rays through was promoted to be an instructor, supervising laboratory different absorbers in an ionization chamber, he obtained sessions and making physics instruments. Under Ye’s lead- their respective absorption coefficients by measuring the ership, the department developed into perhaps the best ionic currents caused by the rays with and without the program in the field in China.