Shuhua Li Papers, 1926-1972

Li Shuhua (Pinyin: Lǐ, Shūhuá; Wade-Giles: Li, Shu-hua; traditional and simplified Chinese: 李書華, 李书华; courtesy name: Rùnzhāng, 润章) was born in Hebei, 1890. He was a Chinese physical scientist, diplomat, educator and university administrator at the Peking University. He began studying abroad in France in 1912 and later attended the Université de Paris in 1919. During his study in Paris, he studied under Nobel laureates such as Paul Sabatier, Gabriel Lippmann and Marie Curie. He obtained his Ph.D in Physics in 1922. After returning to China, he served as the Professor of physics at Peking University until 1930, and he was also the Acting President of the University Franco-Chinois in Peking from 1926 to 1928, and the Acting President of Peiping University from 1928 to 1929. He also served as the Vice Minister and the Minister of Education, as well as a member and later the Director of the Research Council of the Academia Sinica. He was also elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chinese Society of Physics, the Chinese Society of Astronomers, and served on the Board of Directors of the Beijing Natural History Museum, the Beijing National Central Museum, and the Peiping Palace Museum. He later served as the vice president of the National Academy of Peiping from 1929 to 1949. He left to Taiwan as the Communist took over in China. He moved from Taiwan to New York City in 1953 and became close friends with Hu Shih. In 1979, he died in New York at the age of 88.