Published : 2025-06-14
On June 14, 2013, Gao Hong(高鴻), one of the founding fathers of modern instrumental analysis in China, a renowned chemist, and a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, passed away in Nanjing due to illness at the age of 95.
Gao Hong was born in Jingyang, Shaanxi. He graduated from the former National Central University in 1943.
In February 1945, Gao Hong went to the University of Illinois in the United States to specialize in analytical chemistry, and after obtaining his PhD in Chemistry, he stayed on to work at the university.
By 1948, Gao Hong returned to China to serve as an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the former National Central University.
After the founding of New China, he served as an associate professor, professor, and lifelong professor in the Department of Chemistry at Nanjing University and became one of the first PhD supervisors in China.
In November 1980, Gao Hong was elected as a member (academician) of the Chemistry Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In 1992, Gao Hong returned to his hometown and was appointed as a lifelong professor at Northwest University, where he held various positions such as Chairman of the Degree Evaluation Committee of Northwest University, Honorary Director of the Institute of Analytical Science at Northwest University, and Director of the Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry of Shaanxi Province.
Throughout his life, Gao Hong dedicated himself to teaching and research in analytical chemistry.
He participated multiple times in the formulation of scientific planning for basic disciplines in China, making significant contributions to the development of the analytical chemistry discipline in China.
As early as the mid-1950s, in response to the urgent need for talent in analytical chemistry and instrumental analysis textbooks in the country, Gao Hong devoted himself to compiling China's first textbook on instrumental analysis, pioneering education in instrumental analysis in China.
The "Theory of Polarographic Currents" written by Gao Hong was the first monograph on polarography in China and won the first prize at the National Excellent Books Awards in 1988.
His works Oscillographic Polarographic Titration, Oscillographic Titration, and Oscillographic Drug Analysis were among the first monographs in the world in the field of oscillographic analysis, with Oscillographic Titration winning the Special Prize for Excellent Academic Works in Higher Education.
Gao Hong's outstanding contributions in the field of fundamental theories and applied research of electrochemical and electroanalytical chemistry in China are renowned worldwide.
He published over 300 scientific papers, and his research achievement "Fundamental Research of Modern Polarographic Analysis" won the National Science Conference Award in 1978 and the National Natural Science Third Prize in 1982.
Gao Hong pioneered the electroanalytical technology "oscillographic analysis," opening up a new field of analysis. This technology has been widely applied in chemical analysis, pharmaceutical analysis, and other areas, achieving great success.
Gao Hong's research achievements related to oscillographic titration successively won the Second Prize of the National Education Commission's Science and Technology Progress Award in 1986 and the Third Prize of the National Natural Science Award in 1991.
He also received the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation’s Science and Technology Progress Award in 2002.
