Introduction
School of Physics at Peking University
address: Physics Building, Peking University, Beijing 100871
Tel:10-62751732 Fax:10-62751615
http://www.phy.pku.edu.cn/
In 1913, the ˇ°Wu Li Menˇ± was formed in Peking University which was the first physics undergraduate education unit in China. Then it was renamed as the Department of Physics in 1919. With the great efforts of many pioneer physicists, the Department of Physics had become one of the most prestigious physics institutions in China. During the period of World War II, the Physics Departments of Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University moved to Kunming and formed the Physics Department of the National Southwestern Associated University, where many outstanding scientists had been educated, including Zhengdao Li (T.D.Lee), Zhengning Yang (C.N. Yang), Guangya Zhu, Jiaxian Deng, and so on. In 1952, higher education system of China was reorganized and the new Physics Department of Peking University became the most important physics base in China. At the beginning the 2000s, based on the former Department of Physics, the Atmospheric Science Division of the Department of Geophysics, the Department of Technical Physics, the Department of Astronomy, the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics and some inter-discipline research centers, the School of Physics was established. During the passed more than 90 years, the Department of Physics in Peking University have cultivated more than ten thousands scholars, including more than 110 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science, 12 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The education and research areas in the School of Physics at PKU cover Physics, Atmosphere Science, Astronomy and Nuclear Science and Technology. The School has two first level National Key Specialties (Physics, Atmospheric Science) and two second level National Key Specialties (Astrophysics, Nuclear Technology and Applications). It has three national education bases for basic science research and education with majors in Physics, Nuclear Physics, Atmosphere Science, respectively. The School consists now nine administrative divisions, namely, the Institute of Theoretical Physics, the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics and Material Physics, the Institute of Modern Optics, the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, the Department of Astronomy, the Department of Atmosphere Science, the Department of Technical Physics, the Center for Teaching of General Physics and the Center for Teaching of Fundamental Physics Experiment.
At present, the School of Physics has more than 180 faculty members including 13 Academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 9 ˇ°Cheung Kongˇ± Scholars, 76 full professors, 69 associate professors and 38 senior engineers. There are 11 Distinguished Young Scholars sponsored by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Furthermore, the School is composed of 3 NSFC Creative Research Groups (QCD and Hadron Physics, Femtoscond Optical Physics and Mesoscopic Optics and Biological Network). Besides, about 20 Post-doctorial Fellows, more than 80 Ph.D. Students and about 110 M.Sc. Students join the School every year, which play significant roles in the research work of the School, too.
The research work in the School of Physics relates not only the original creative ones in the frontiers of fundamental physics but also the innovation of advanced technology. In the recent 5 years, the School of Physics took on more than 300 research projects supported by the NSFC, the MOST, and the MOE, including presiding five ˇ°973ˇ± projects and five ˇ°863ˇ± projects. The researchers in the School of Physics publish more than 300 SCI papers annually with a rapid increase of those in the top international academic journals in the past 5 years. As a consequence, the School has been offered 3 State Natural Science Prize, 2 State Science and Technology (S&T) Development Prize, 7 MOE Prizes and 5 Beijing S&T Development Prize. 4 National Education Awards were also received over past few years.