Wu Rukang Biography

Author: Li Luyang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Wu Rukang, an internationally renowned paleoanthropologist, is a researcher and former deputy director at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and honorary president of the Anatomical Society of China. He graduated from Central University in 1940 and obtained his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1949. Over more than half a century, he conducted systematic research on fossils such as Gigantopithecus, Lufenganthropus, Lantian Homo, Peking Man, Jinlongshan Man, Maba Man, Liujiang Man, and Ziyang Man, pioneering the era of in-depth study of human fossils by Chinese scholars and proposing theories such as the transition from ape to human, the uneven development of human physical characteristics, and the sequence of the emergence of human traits. In 1991, Wu Rukang's significant research achievement, "Early Humans in China," was awarded the First Prize of the Natural Science Award by the Chinese Academy of Sciences; in 1993, his research on Gigantopithecus was awarded the Second Prize of the Natural Science Award by the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and in 2000, he was honored with the Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Achievement Award. This book vividly recreates Wu Rukang's diligent pursuit of knowledge, his quest for truth, and his climb to the pinnacle of science, while also providing a detailed and lively description of his interests, romantic relationships, and family life.