{{short description|Chinese physicist (1921–2000)}} {{family name hatnote|Xie|lang=Chinese}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Professor | name = Xie Xide | image = Xie Xide.jpg | native_name = 谢希德 | native_name_lang = cn | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|03|19}} | birth_place = Quanzhou, Fujian, China | death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|03|04|1921|03|19}} | other_names = Hsi-teh Hsieh<br />Hilda Hsieh | education = Xiamen University (B.S.)<br />Smith College (M.S.)<br />Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) | alma_mater = | occupation = Politician<br />President of Fudan University<br />Physics Academic | employer = Fudan University | known_for = Physics<br />University Administrator<br>CPCC delegate | spouse = Cao Tianqin | honours = Fellow of the American Physical Society, Academician of The World Academy of Sciences, Distinguished Scholar of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with The People's Republic of China }}
'''Xie Xide''' ({{lang-zh|s=谢希德|t=謝希德|poj=Chiā Hi-tek|p=Xiè Xīdé}}; 19 March 1921 – 4 March 2000), also known as '''Hsi-teh Hsieh''' and as '''Hilda Hsieh''', was a Chinese physicist. She was president of Fudan University from 1983 to 1989, and remained as advisor to the university from 1989 until her death. She helped to set up the university's Centre for American Studies<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.cas.fudan.edu.cn/intro-1.en.php | title = Centre for American Studies, Fudan University | access-date = 2007-03-20 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070319012921/http://www.cas.fudan.edu.cn/intro-1.en.php <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-03-19 }}</ref> and founded its Modern Physics Institute in 1977.
Xie also served as a member in the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party from 1982 to 1992.<ref name="cwp">{{cite web |url = http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/Phase2/Xie,_Xide_%28Hsieh,_Hsi-teh%29@931234567.html | title = Xie, Xide | publisher = CWP at physics.ucla.edu | access-date = 2007-03-20 }}</ref>
== Biography == Xie Xide was born March 19, 1921, in the port city of Quanzhou in Fujian, southeastern China.<ref name="hay">{{cite book |author = Ruth Hayhoe |title = Portraits of Influential Chinese Educators | publisher= Springer |year = 2006 |page = 172 |isbn = 9789628093403 }}</ref><ref name="int">{{cite web |title= A Brief Introduction to Xie Xide |url= http://www.physics.fudan.edu.cn/tps/branch/surface/xiexide_en.htm |publisher= Fudan University |access-date= 2014-05-28 |archive-date= 2014-05-29 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140529052425/http://www.physics.fudan.edu.cn/tps/branch/surface/xiexide_en.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref> She was born into a family that valued education. Her father Xie Yuming had a Ph.D. from University of Chicago and taught at Yenching University in Beijing. Xie Yuming precisely measured the spectrum of hydrogen atom during his study in the US. The famous theoretical physicist, Yang Chen-Ning referred to Xie Yuming as the person that the Nobel Prize missed.
Xide spent part of her childhood in Beijing. She attended Yenching Elementary School and was a top student in school. She met Cao Tianqin when Cao transferred to Yenching. Cao constantly beat Xie in school performance and the two became good friends. When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, Xie when to Hunan University to study physics; but she had to withdraw from school due to illness of bone tuberculosis. Different hospitals diagnosed that her illness is not treatable so she returned home to fight the illness with her family's help. Cao started sending her numerous letters in the name of academic discussions, which helped Xie cheer up and continue her studies. In 1942, not only did Xie survive, through her self-study at home, she was also admitted to Xiamen University to study physics and mathematics. Xie graduated in 1946. She taught at University of Shanghai for a year, and then was able to get a scholarship to study for a master's degree in physics at Smith College in the United States,<ref name="hay" /> graduating in 1949. <ref name="smith college">{{cite web | url = http://www.smith.edu/about_alumnae.php | title = Notable Alumnae | publisher = smith.edu | access-date = 2008-12-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081225084053/http://www.smith.edu/about_alumnae.php | archive-date = 2008-12-25 | url-status = dead }}</ref> She continued her studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1951.<ref name="cwp"/>
In 1950, many Chinese science scholars were detained in the United States as political hostage against China arising from the Korean War, including the famous Chinese aerodynamicist, cyberneticist and politician Qian Xuesen. Xie was detained in the US despite her strong willingness to return to her motherland. From 1951 to 1952 she worked on the research staff at MIT.<ref name="cwp"/> In 1952, Cao Tianqin, who was studying in United Kingdom at that time, obtained a "special certificate" to pledge for her release in order to have their wedding in UK. Xide was released. Cao Tianqin (Tien-chin Tsao) and Xie Xide were married in UK; their son, Cao Weizheng, was born in 1956.<ref name="hay"/><ref name="chr"/>
After marriage, Xie returned to China and became a lecturer in the Department of Physics at Fudan University in Shanghai, one of China's top universities. She served in this position from 1952 to 1956.<ref name="int"/> She became an associate professor at Fudan and served in that capacity from 1956 to 1962. From 1958 to 1966 she served as adjunct director, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1962 she was appointed Professor of Physics, Fudan University and continued in that capacity.
Xie Xide was an outstanding educational leader, and also a key figure in the development of China's educational relations with the international community.<ref name="hay"/> She was a joint-author of one of the most widely used physics textbooks in China, "Semiconductor Physics". In 1958, she passed out in her lab due to overworking and was diagnosed with late-stage kidney stone and heart disease when she was sent to hospital. She resumed teaching after several big surgeries. In 1966, as numerous Cultural Revolution victims among China's educated scholars, Xide was sent to do hard labor choirs despite her illness; she was later diagnosed with breast cancer. She did not give up and still dedicated herself fully to education. In 1978, National Science Conference in Beijing was held and Xide resumed her occupation.<ref>History of science and technology in the People's Republic of China#1977-84: Rehabilitation and rethinking</ref>{{Circular reference|date=August 2019}} From 1978 to 1983 she served as Director of the Institute of Modern Physics of Fudan University. She was appointed vice president of Fudan in 1978, and President in 1983, serving in that capacity until 1988. During her tenure, she founded Center for American Studies<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.cas.fudan.edu.cn/index.en.php | title=网络维护中 | Under Maintenance | access-date=2019-06-27 | archive-date=2019-06-27 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627184153/http://www.cas.fudan.edu.cn/index.en.php | url-status=dead }}</ref> in Fudan to encourage students to learn about world leading research and international relations. She was the first woman president of a major comprehensive university in the PRC.<ref name="hay"/> From 1985 she also served as Director of the Center for American Studies of Fudan University, and in 1988 she was appointed Advisor to Fudan University.<ref name="cwp"/> Despite her health, she actively encouraged and recommended her students to study abroad.
Xie Xide pursued a distinguished career as a scientist, making important contributions in the field of solid-state physics.<ref name="hay"/> Her research work was concentrated in solid state physics, semiconductor physics, and surface physics.<ref>{{cite web |title= Xie Xide" A talented female physicist |url= http://ice.xmu.edu.cn/english/showletter.aspx?news_id=3171 |publisher= Xiamen University |date= 2012 |access-date= 2017-11-18 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180814103837/http://ice.xmu.edu.cn/english/showletter.aspx?news_id=3171 |archive-date= 2018-08-14 |url-status= dead }}</ref>
Xie Xide was appointed to the Communist Party's Central Committee in 1982 and served as one of 210 full members.<ref name="cwp" /><ref name="chr">{{cite web |title = Xie Xide - The gentle president of China's Fudan University |url = https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0326/032608.html/(page)/2 |author= Takashi Oka |publisher= The Christian Science Monitor |year = 1984 }}</ref>
Xie Xide's husband, Cao Tianqin suffered a coma in 1987 when he was attending a global biology and ecology conference in Israel. He was since paralyzed in bed and suffered memory loss. Despite her own illness, Xide took care of Cao by planning his meal and helping him on physical therapy. She continued doing so for 8 years until Cao died in 1995. Xie continued her work in hospital as she fought with cancer. She died on March 4, 2000<ref name="int"/> and donated her whole body to China's medical research.
== Published works == Xie Xide published more than eighty papers and several books and monographs.<ref name="int" />
Some of Xie's published work include: * {{cite journal | last1=Hsieh | first1=Hsi-Teh | last2=Goldey | first2=James M. | last3=Brown | first3=Sanborn C. | title=A Resonant Cavity Study of Semiconductors | journal=Journal of Applied Physics | publisher=AIP Publishing | volume=25 | issue=3 | year=1954 | issn=0021-8979 | doi=10.1063/1.1721630 | pages=302–307| bibcode=1954JAP....25..302H }} * {{cite journal | last1=Xide | first1=Xie | last2=Kaiming | first2=Zhang | title=Electronic properties of metals chemisorbed on semiconductor surface and metal/semiconductor interfaces | journal=Progress in Surface Science | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=28 | issue=2 | year=1988 | issn=0079-6816 | doi=10.1016/0079-6816(88)90009-3 | pages=71–179| bibcode=1988PrSS...28...71X }} * "Overview of Metal/Semiconductor Interfaces," ''The Structure of Surfaces''. Springer Series in Surface Sciences 24. Berlin: Springer, 1991, p. 576. * {{cite journal | last1=Xie | first1=Xide | last2=Zhang | first2=Kaiming | title=Recent developments in some metal/semiconductor and superlattice interfaces | journal=Materials Chemistry and Physics | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=38 | issue=1 | year=1994 | issn=0254-0584 | doi=10.1016/0254-0584(94)90139-2 | pages=1–13}} * {{cite journal | last1=Zi | first1=Jian | last2=Zhang | first2=Kaiming | last3=Xie | first3=Xide | title=Vibrational properties of SiGe superlattices | journal=Progress in Surface Science | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=54 | issue=1 | year=1997 | issn=0079-6816 | doi=10.1016/s0079-6816(97)00002-6 | pages=69–113}} * {{cite journal | last1=Shen | first1=Jianhua | last2=Zi | first2=Jian | last3=Xie | first3=Xide | last4=Jiang | first4=Ping | title=Ab initiocalculation of the structure of the random alloys Sn<sub>x</sub>Ge<sub>1−x</sub> | journal=Physical Review B | publisher=American Physical Society (APS) | volume=56 | issue=19 | date=1997-11-15 | issn=0163-1829 | doi=10.1103/physrevb.56.12084 | pages=12084–12087| bibcode=1997PhRvB..5612084S }}
Xie also published the following books:<ref name="cwp" /> * ''Semiconductor Physics''. Science Press, 1958, with K. Huang. * ''Group Theory and Its Applications''. China: Science Publisher, 1986.
== Honors == Xie Xide had received honorary doctorates from twelve universities worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong and China.<ref name="int" /> Xie Xide was a Fellow of the American Physical Society, an Academician of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and a Distinguished Scholar of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with The People's Republic of China.<ref name="int" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite book | last1 = Shearer | first1 = Benjamin F | last2 = Shearer | first2 = Barbara Smith | title = Notable women in the physical sciences : a biographical dictionary | year = 1997 | publisher = Greenwood Press | location = Westport, Conn. | isbn = 9780313293030 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313293030 | url-access = registration }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Xie, Xide}} Category:1921 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century Chinese physicists Category:20th-century Chinese women scientists Category:20th-century Chinese scientists Category:Chinese expatriates in the United States Category:Chinese women physicists Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Fujian Category:Educators from Fujian Category:Women heads of universities and colleges Category:Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Category:Hokkien scientists Category:Kansai University alumni Category:MIT School of Science alumni Category:Physicists from Fujian Category:Political office-holders in Shanghai Category:Politicians from Quanzhou Category:Presidents of Fudan University Category:Smith College alumni Category:Fellows of The World Academy of Sciences Category:Xiamen University alumni Category:Chairpersons of the CPPCC Shanghai Municipal Committee Category:Standing members of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Category:20th-century women physicists