Zhao-lun Fang
1934–2007
First published on 17th January 2008
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| Plate1 Zhao-lun Fang will be remembered as an enthusiastic and knowledgeable scientist with numerous academic accomplishments in a variety of subjects at an international level. | ||
Fang graduated from the Department of Chemistry, Peking University in 1957, afterwards he started working as a Research Assistant in the Institute of Forestry and Soil Science in Shenyang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, until 1965 when he was promoted to Research Associate. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1977 and to full Professor in 1986 while at the Institute, which was then renamed the Institute of Applied Ecology, where he founded the Flow Injection Analysis Research Center in 1989. In 1996 he joined the Department of Chemistry, Northeastern University, and founded the Research Center for Analytical Sciences in 1998. In 2000, he founded another institute: the Institute of Microanalytical Systems in the Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou.
His major research areas included: flow injection and sequential injection methods and techniques for on-line separation, preconcentration, atomic spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis; microfluidic analytical systems; and applications in environmental, biological and pharmaceutical analysis. He is the author or co-author of more than 300 scientific papers and 6 monographs, including two monographs on flow injection analysis in English, these are “Flow Injection Separation and Preconcentration” published by VCH, 1993, and “Flow Injection Atomic Absorption Spectrometry” published by John Wiley & Sons, 1995. Both monographs have been cited widely by international researchers. One of his other monographs “Design and Application of Microchip Systems” (in Chinese) was probably the first in the field.
Professor Fang was elected a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1997. He was the major promoter for the research of microfluidics in China since the 1990s. In 2001, he organized the 165th Xiangshan Science Conference in Beijing on the topic of microfluidics. Based on this conference, quite a few of the most important proposals and suggestions on this field were submitted to the Chinese government. Afterwards, from 2002–2006, Professor Fang presided over the first major program project on microfluidics supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The ten top Chinese universities and research institutes were involved in this program. The achievements of this program greatly promoted the development of microfluidics in China.
He received a Natural Science Award of Lioaning Province in 2001, a State Natural Science Prize in 1995; the Natural Science Prize from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1990 and 1993, and the first Haiguang Award for Analytical Chemistry in 1994.
Professor Fang's international activities were also well known. He served as an Editorial Board member for Lab on a Chip, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He also served as Editorial Board or Editorial Advisory Board member for a variety of other international journals including Talanta, Analytica Chimica Acta, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Spectrochimica Acta, Part B and Journal of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. He was a Member of the Standing Committee of the Chemistry Division, CAS. He also contributed to the Technical Program Committee of µ-TAS (formally, International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences) in 2006 and 2007. On every committee he served, he always paid attention not only to scientific quality, but also balance between regions and among countries, and made an effort to encourage newcomers. Various committee members were impressed by his deep consideration, and he greatly contributed to expand the research communities of those fields.
While Fang was in hospital, he initiated and organized the First Shenyang International Colloquium on Microfluidics, which proved to be a great success in promoting microfluidic research across China and the world.
News of Fang's death will sadden many colleagues throughout the world. He will be remembered as an enthusiastic and knowledgeable scientist with many academic accomplishments internationally.
Fang is survived by his wife Shu-rong Yue, daughter Jin Fang, son Qun Fang, who is also a Professor of Zhejiang University and specialist in microfluidics, and grandchildren Fangjing Zou and Xiaoqing Fang.
Professor Takehiko Kitamori
The University of Tokyo
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