Y.H. Ku

Who was Y.H. Ku?

Dr. Y.H. Ku was born in 1902 in Wushi, Jiangsu Province, China. He entered the Tsing Hua School in Beijing, China, at the age of thirteen. After graduating from Tsing Hua School, he received a special scholarship to study electrical engineering at MIT.

At MIT from 1923–28, he was awarded the Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Science degrees in electrical engineering. He completed all three degrees in three and one-half years, a record at the time, and also had the unique distinction of being the first Chinese to be awarded a doctoral of science degree from MIT. Two of his advisors at Harvard were Nobel laureate P.W. Bridgmen and philosopher A.N. Whitehead.

Returning to China in 1928, he became professor and chair of the Department of Engineering, Zhejiang University; dean, National Central University; chair of Electrical Engineering and Founding Dean of Engineering of Tsinghua University. He was also director of the Aeronautic Research Institute, China and director of the first Electronics Research Institute, China. During the war against Japan, he was Principal Deputy Minister of Education and president of China's National Central University.