Huang Kun

{{Short description|Chinese physicist (1919–2005)}} {{Family name hatnote|Huang|lang=Chinese}} {{Infobox scientist | image = Huang Kun (1963).png | caption = Huang in 1963 | name = Huang Kun | native_name = 黄昆 | native_name_lang = zh | birth_name = | other_names = | birth_date = {{birth date|1919|09|02|df=yes}} | birth_place = Jiaxing, Zhejiang, Republic of China | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2005|07|06|1919|09|02}} | death_place = Beijing, People's Republic of China | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | known_for = Born–Huang approximation | fields = Solid-state physics<br />Semiconductor | workplaces = Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences | alma_mater = Yenching University<br />National Southwestern Associated University<br />University of Bristol | awards = Highest Science and Technology Award (2001) | spouse = | partner = | children = | thesis_title = Some considerations in the theory of alloys, together with a discussion of the binding energies of the lightest nuclei<ref>{{cite book|title=Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1916–1961|last=Yuan|first=Tung-li|date=March 1963|volume=IV|issue=4|publisher=Chinese Culture }}</ref> | thesis_url =  | thesis_year = 1948 | doctoral_advisor = Nevill Mott | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website =  | footnotes = | module = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes|order=st | s = {{linktext|黄|昆}} | t = {{linktext|黃|昆}} | p = Huáng Kūn }} }} '''Huang Kun''' ({{zh|s=黄昆}}; September 2, 1919 – July 6, 2005) was a Chinese physicist and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was influential in the establishment of solid-state physics in China. He is known for his various contributions to solid-state physics including the Huang diffraction, early theory of polaritons, the Born–Huang approximation, the {{Interlanguage link|Huang–Rhys factor|de|Huang-Rhys-Faktor}} and the Huang–Zhu model.

He was awarded the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award (the highest science award in China) by President Jiang Zemin in 2001.

== Life == 300px|right|thumb|Bronze bust of Huang Kun at Physics department, Peking University Born in Jiaxing, China, in September 1919.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Mackerras |first=Colin |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_New_Cambridge_Handbook_of_Contempora/LIdA7f94X_EC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=huang+kun+1919+physics&pg=PA115&printsec=frontcover |title=The New Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China |date=2001-10-15 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-78674-4 |language=en}}</ref> He got a bachelor degree from Yenching University in physics.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> He enrolled as a graduate student at National Southwestern Associated University, other students with him included C.N. Yang. There Ta-You Wu gave Huang and Yang courses on classical and quantum mechanics. Huang carried out a thesis on atomic and molecular problems in astrophysics, supervised by professor Wu.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Chen-Ning |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Selected_Papers_Of_Kun_Huang_With_Commen/vl7VCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Zhang+Shou-Lien&pg=PR10&printsec=frontcover |title=Selected Papers Of Kun Huang (With Commentary) |date=2000-04-19 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-4493-53-6 |editor-last=Zhu |editor-first=Bang-fen |language=en |chapter=Modern Physics and a Warm Friendship}}</ref>

In 1948, he earned his PhD from the H. H. Wills Physics Lab of Bristol University in England. His supervisor was Nevill Mott. In his thesis, he worked on the effect of dissolved solute atoms to X-ray diffraction in dilute solid solution.<ref name=":0" /> His research was confirmed 20 years later. His theory became known as Huang diffusive scattering (HDS).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dederichs |first=P H |date=1973 |title=The theory of diffuse X-ray scattering and its application to the study of point defects and their clusters |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0305-4608/3/2/010 |journal=Journal of Physics F: Metal Physics |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=471–496 |doi=10.1088/0305-4608/3/2/010 |issn=0305-4608}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

He continued his postdoctoral studies at Liverpool University, where he coauthored the book ''Dynamical Theory of Crystal Lattices'' with Max Born between 1949 and 1951. The book has become a classic work of modern physics. The Born–Huang approximation is named after them.<ref name=":0" />

During his studies he also was influenced by Herbert Fröhlich. In 1950, Huang published a theory for the interaction of a crystal lattice and electrons. Later his equation led to the concept of phonon polaritons, described partially by Huang equation. The same year, with his secretary Avril Rhys,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hyland |first=G. J. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Herbert_Fr%C3%B6hlich/Zl51CQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Herbert Fröhlich: A Physicist Ahead of His Time |date=2015-05-18 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-14851-9 |page=146 |language=en}}</ref> he calculated the average emitted phonons in a electronic transition in crystallographic defect. The formula they developed is known as the {{Interlanguage link|Huang–Rhys factor|de|Huang-Rhys-Faktor}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Böer |first=Karl W. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Semiconductor_Physics/V8KrEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=semiconductors+huang+rhys+factor+1950&pg=PA710&printsec=frontcover |title=Semiconductor Physics |last2=Pohl |first2=Udo W. |date=2023-02-02 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-031-18286-0 |language=en}}</ref> A year later, he would marry Rhys.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Xia |first=Jianbai |date=2019-09-01 |title=Major scientific accomplishments of Prof. Kun Huang |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1674-4926/40/9/090301 |journal=Journal of Semiconductors |volume=40 |issue=9 |article-number=090301 |doi=10.1088/1674-4926/40/9/090301 |issn=1674-4926}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lam |first=Lui |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/All_About_Science_Philosophy_History_Soc/WSy7CgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=biography+huang+kun&pg=PA268&printsec=frontcover |title=All About Science: Philosophy, History, Sociology & Communication |last2=Burguete |first2=Maria |date=2014-10-15 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-4472-94-4 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1951, Huang returned to China to teach, and became a professor of physics at Peking University.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

During the Cultural Revolution, Huang was one of the scientists to still write in the political journal ''Red Flag''.<ref name=":1" />

In 1955, he became a founding member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).<ref>{{Cite web |title=黄昆----中国科学院学部 |url=http://casad.cas.cn/sourcedb_ad_cas/zw2/ysxx/ygysmd/200906/t20090624_1810058.html |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=casad.cas.cn}}</ref> Huang and Xie Xide started the research of semiconductors in China, and established the solid state physics major at Peking University.<ref name=":0" /> In 1977, Huang became the director of the Institute of Semiconductors at CAS.<ref name=":1" />

In 1988, he and Bangfen Zhu published a paper on optical vibrations. Their theory became known as the Huang–Zhu model.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Huang |first=Kun |last2=Zhu |first2=Bang-Fen |date=1988-07-15 |title=Long-wavelength optic vibrations in a superlattice |url=https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.38.2183 |journal=Physical Review B |language=en-US |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=2183–2186 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevB.38.2183 |issn=0163-1829 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240829115927/https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.38.2183 |archive-date=2024-08-29}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

=== Retirement === After his retirement in 1983, Huang remained active in the research of semiconductors and was selected as the chairman of the Chinese Society of Physics between 1987 and 1991. He served as Director of the Institute of Semiconductors of the CAS.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}

== Honors and awards == Huang was elected member of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) in 1955. He was elected Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1980.<ref name=":2" /> Elected fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in 1985.<ref name=":2" /> He received the Tan Kah Kee Award from the CAS in 1996.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Huang Kun--Tan Kah Kee Science Award Foundation |url=https://tsaf.cas.cn/en/hj/kxj/year/1995/201006/t20100607_4954661.html |access-date=2026-05-21 |website=tsaf.cas.cn}}</ref> In 2001, Huang and Wang Xuan received the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award by President Jiang Zemin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Scientist for Science's Sake: Huang Kun |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/27507.htm |access-date=2026-05-21 |website=www.china.org.cn}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}{{Founding members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences}} {{Highest Science and Technology Award}} {{Touching the Heart of China}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Kun}} Category:1919 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol Category:Educators from Beijing Category:Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Category:Academic staff of Peking University Category:Physicists from Beijing Category:Yenching University alumni Category:Chinese expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Category:Presidents of the Chinese Physical Society Category:Highest Science and Technology Award winners