Li Aizhen

Who is Li Aizhen?

Li Aizhen is a scientist at Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, affiliated to Chinese Academy of Sciences. She is an expert in semiconductor material and physics.

Born in Guangbian Village, Yongning Town, Shishi, Fujian Province, Li graduated from Quanzhou First High School in 1954, and entered Fudan University to study chemistry. She started her research career at Shanghai Institute of Metallurgy of CAS—now Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology—in 1958. From August 1980 to October 1982, Li was a visiting scholar at department of electronic engineering of Carnegie-Mellon University in the United States. During her stay in the States, she visited Bell Labs and met with Alfred Y. Cho, the "father of molecular beam epitaxy".

On May 1, 2007, Li was elected a foreign member of United States National Academy of Science, thus became the first female Chinese scientist to receive this honor. More significantly, Li has not been admitted into Chinese Academy of Sciences. So she was so far the only non-academician from China, who was elected into US Academy of Sciences as a foreign member.