Lin Lanying facts for kids

Lin Lanying (Chinese: 林兰英; February 7, 1918 – March 4, 2003) was a brilliant Chinese electrical engineer, materials scientist, and physicist. She was also involved in politics. People in China call her the "mother of aerospace materials" and the "mother of semiconductor materials." This is because she made huge contributions to these fields.

In 1957, Lin Lanying returned to China. She became a researcher at the Institute of Physics, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Later, she moved to the Institute of Semiconductor CAS. She spent her entire research career there.

One of her biggest achievements was creating China's first monocrystalline silicon. She also designed the first machine used to make silicon crystals in China. Her work helped build the foundation for microelectronics (tiny electronic parts) and optoelectronics (electronics that use light). She developed many important materials. Her leadership helped China become a world leader in these areas.

Lin Lanying was recognized as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She also became the vice president of the China Association for Science and Technology. She won the National Science and Technology Progress Award twice. She also received the top prize from the Chinese Academy of Sciences four times. In 1998, she was given the Henry Fok Achievement Award. In politics, she was chosen to be a representative in the National People's Congress. She was also a member of its important Standing Committee.

Early Life and Education

Lin Lanying was born in Putian City, Fujian Province, in southern China. She was the first child in a large, well-known family. Her family's history went back 600 years to the Ming dynasty.

When she was young, Lin Lanying had to do a lot of housework. She washed clothes and cooked for her whole family. Her sisters were forced into child marriages or died young.

Her ancestor, Lin Run, was an important official during the Ming Dynasty. He was an "imperial censor," which meant he watched over other government officials. He helped the emperor deal with powerful people who challenged the government. Because of his help, the emperor gave him money to build a house in Putian. This house is now called the Old House of Lin Run. Lin Lanying and her family were all born and grew up in this house.

Her Fight for Education

At age six, Lin Lanying wanted to go to school. She did not want to spend her days doing housework. Her mother believed in traditional gender roles and told her she couldn't go to school. Lin Lanying locked herself in her room and refused to eat. Her mother was impressed by her strong will. Finally, she allowed Lin to attend Liqing primary school.

Lin Lanying often got the best grades in her class. Even with all her housework, she studied late into the night. She would often stay up until midnight and then wake up early to cook before school. This habit of sleeping only six hours continued throughout her life.

She had to fight again to go to Liqing middle school. Her mother said that for a girl, being able to read and write (literacy) was not important. Lin convinced her mother that she could go if she didn't need money for school. This middle school offered scholarships to students with the top three grades. Lin Lanying earned a scholarship every semester.

After middle school, she started at Putian high school. Her mother finally accepted her studies because of her success. However, Lin stayed there for only one year. Japan went to war with China, and many Chinese people were killed. Students protested, but these protests were stopped, and some students died. Lin transferred to a women's school called Hami Lton School. One of her American teachers didn't speak much Chinese. Lin helped him by translating his lessons into Chinese. Because of this, her classmates called her "little teacher."

She continued her studies at Fukien Christian University, a top university in China at the time. At 22, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Physics. She was one of the best students in her class. She worked at the university for eight years. For four of those years, she was an assistant, teaching basic courses like mechanics. She wrote her first book, Course for Experiments in Optics, and became a certified professor.

Studying in the United States

Fukien Christian University had exchange programs with New York University. Teachers who worked for more than two years could study abroad. However, Lin Lanying was not a Christian, so she was not chosen for this program. Instead, she applied to Dickinson College. She earned a full scholarship and another bachelor's degree, this time in mathematics. Her colleague, Lairong Li, helped her in 1931.

After that, she studied solid-state physics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1955, she earned her doctorate degree there in solid-state physics. She was the first Chinese person in 100 years to earn a doctorate from that university. She believed that physics was more practical and useful for China than math.

Her Amazing Career

Working in America

After finishing her studies, Lin Lanying wanted to go back to China. But the political situation in China was difficult. The United States offered many opportunities for scientists, including international students. Many Chinese students were not allowed to return home.

Her professor at the University of Pennsylvania recommended her for a job. She decided to work as a senior engineer at the Sylvania Company. This company made semiconductors, which are materials used in electronic devices. At the time, the company was struggling to make monocrystalline silicon. Lin Lanying quickly found the problems and helped the company successfully create this important silicon technology.

Returning to China

Lin Lanying worked in America for a year. In 1956, China signed a treaty during the Geneva Conference that allowed international students to return home. On January 6, 1957, Lin returned to China after eight years away. Just before she boarded her ship, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tried to stop her. They threatened to keep her earnings of US$6,800 if she left. Lin Lanying accepted this loss and boarded the ship anyway.

Life in China was tough. Her family remained poor because her salary was only 207 RMB (about 20 US dollars) a month. Her workplace also had very little money. But she never gave up.

In 1957, her workplace, the Institute of Semiconductor CAS, successfully made China's first monocrystalline germanium. Because of her experience at Sylvania Company, she knew how to make monocrystalline silicon. However, China could not get the right equipment due to embargoes (trade restrictions) from other countries. Lin Lanying found a different way to do it. In 1958, she made China's first monocrystalline silicon. This made China the third country in the world to achieve this!

In 1962, she designed the "mono-crystal furnace." This special furnace was so good that many countries bought licenses to use her design. In the same year, she also made China's first monocrystalline gallium arsenide. Her gallium arsenide had the highest "mobility" (how easily electrons can move through it) at that time.

Challenges and Later Work

From 1966 to 1976, China went through the Cultural Revolution. During this time, many educators and scientists faced difficulties. Lin Lanying was not allowed to do her research. She had to stay in her room under watch by authorities. Her father, who was an educator, died after being attacked by young people during this period.

Despite these tragedies, Lin Lanying returned to work at age 60 after the Cultural Revolution ended. She discovered that the existing gallium arsenide had too many "dislocations" (flaws in the crystal structure) because of gravity. This made it not good enough for use. So, she decided to try making it in artificial satellites in space, where there is very little gravity. This was a risky experiment because gallium arsenide melts at 1,238 degrees Celsius. However, she succeeded! She was the first person in the world to grow gallium arsenide crystals in space. Because of her work with gallium arsenide, the Chinese government named a gallium arsenide company after her in 2001.

At age 78, in 1996, Lin Lanying was diagnosed with cancer. She had been working on building a semiconductor base in southern China. When she received her diagnosis, she famously asked, "Can someone give me another ten years? In ten years, I can definitely finish what I am doing, and I can die with no regrets!" She wanted those extra years to make up for the ten years she lost during the Cultural Revolution. Lin Lanying passed away on March 4, 2003.

Views on Gender Equality

Throughout her life, Lin Lanying faced challenges because she was a woman. After returning from the US, she joined the All-China Women's Federation. She gave many talks about gender issues. As a woman, she never accepted traditional gender roles and always fought for herself. She believed that in science, women and men are equal. She thought that fewer women were in science because women might be more easily distracted by other things, making it harder to focus on their work.

Family and Relationships

Her Family

Lin Lanying's family was very large, with more than 20 people. Her mother and father influenced her the most. Her father, Jianhua Li, was an educator. He often wrote letters to her and bought books for her, guiding her towards studying. Lin Lanying's mother, Shuixian Zhou, was a strong woman who managed the whole family. Lin Lanying learned persistence from her mother. Even though her mother believed in traditional gender roles, her persistence helped Lin Lanying overcome many difficulties in her life. Lin Lanying had two brothers. After she came back from America, she helped raise two nieces because she did not have children of her own.

Her Loves

Lin Lanying never married, but she loved two men. The first was Qichang Guan. They were in different classes at the same middle school. After graduation, Qichang moved away with his parents, but they kept in touch through letters. Qichang told Lanying he wanted to marry her and work as teachers. However, Lanying had bigger dreams. They slowly stopped writing to each other. Qichang died at age 17 from leukemia.

She also loved Cheng Lin. They met at Fukien Christian University. They shared similar interests and were both ambitious. After graduating, they both stayed at the university as teachers. But Lin Lanying wanted to learn more and decided to go to America, so they separated. Cheng Lin married after Lin went to America. Their story is told in the novel The Second Handshake.

Achievements and Recognition

Lin Lanying was honored for her many contributions:

• 1957: Created China's first monocrystalline germanium (N-style and P-style). This laid the groundwork for transistor radios.
• 1958: Made monocrystalline gallium antimonide.
• 1958: In November, she made the first monocrystalline silicon.
• 1959: Made monocrystalline cadmium sulfide.
• 1960: Developed many materials for silicon.
• 1962: Designed China's first mono-crystal furnace, called TDK.
• 1962: Made the first monocrystalline silicon in China with no flaws.
• 1962: Made the first monocrystalline indium antimonide with very high purity.
• 1962: Made the first monocrystalline gallium arsenide.
• 1963: Created China's first semiconductor laser.
• 1963: Developed high-purity silicon and won the second prize in a national science and technology award.
• 1964: Designed a process for making silicon with few flaws, earning another second prize in a national award.
• 1974: Made the first monocrystalline gallium arsenide with no flaws.
• 1978: Received the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) Important Achievements of Science and Technology Award.
• 1981: Developed the integrated circuit and received another CAS Important Achievements of Science and Technology Award.
• 1986: Made the SOS-CMOS integrated circuit, winning a third prize in a national award.
• 1989: Researched GaInAsSb/InP materials, receiving a second prize in a national award.
• 1989: Successfully conducted the experiment of melting gallium arsenide in artificial satellites, earning a third prize in a national award.
• 1990-1991: Received the third prize of The Achievements of National Science and Technology Award four times.
• 1991: Built a satellite using five different SOS-CMOS integrated circuits.
• 1992: Made monocrystalline indium phosphide.
• 1998: Developed effective gallium arsenide solar cells using liquid materials.
• 1990-2000: Led research on SiC and GaN materials. She also developed new ways to grow high-temperature materials.

Social and Political Involvement

Lin Lanying was active in many social and political groups:

• 1959: Visited the Soviet Academy of Sciences for one month.
• 1963: Attended the International Semiconductor Conference in Moscow, Soviet Union.
• 1963: Participated in the International Semiconductor Material Conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
• 1971: Visited Thailand with a Chinese political leader.
• 1972: Met with famous woman scientist JianXiong Wu and Prime Minister Zhou Enlai.
• 1978: Visited France and Germany with colleagues from CAS. She also went to Japan for a conference on thin film materials.
• 1980: Gave presentations in North Korea and met with its president, Kim Il-Sung.
• 1985: Visited America with a group from the National People's Congress.
• 1986: In August, she attended scientific seminars on aerospace materials in Germany.
• 1987: Joined the International Conference of Women Parliamentarians.
• 1987: Visited America with the National Association for Science and Technology and joined the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
• 1988: From September 27–30, she joined the "World Material—Space Processing Conference" in Chicago.
• 1988: From October 3–7, she joined the "Women’s Influence on the Development of the Third World Science" conference in Italy.
• 1989: From August 20–26, she joined the Aerospace Material Conference held by NASA.
• 1989: In October, she joined the Thirteenth International Conference on Amorphous Semiconductor in America.
• 1990: Visited Sweden and then Moscow State University.
• 1994: In October, she gave a report about growing gallium arsenide in space at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
• 1995: Joined the Thirty-first United Nation's World Conference on Women with the Chinese government's group.
• 1996: Joined the Conference of Committee for Space Research in Bremen, Germany.

Political Roles

Lin Lanying also held many political positions:

• 1962: Became vice-chairman of the All-China Youth Federation.
• 1964: In December, she became a representative to the Third National People's Congress and a member of its Standing Committee.
• 1975: In January, she became a representative to the Fourth National People's Congress.
• 1978: In February, she became a representative to the Fifth National People's Congress.
• 1978-1983: Became a member of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF).
• 1978: Became a committee member of the Chinese Institute of Electronics (CIE).
• 1979: In July, she became the managing director of the Chinese Institute of Electronics (CIE).
• 1980: In April, she became the second vice-president of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).
• 1981: In May, she became the managing director of the technology department of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS).
• 1982: In September, she was a delegate to the Twelfth National People's Conference held by the Communist Party of China (CCP).
• 1983: In May, she became a representative to the Sixth National People's Congress.
• 1986: Became the third vice-president of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).
• 1988: In March, she became a representative to the Seventh National People's Congress and a member of its Standing Committee.
• 1988: Became the honorary director of the Chinese Institute of Electronics (CIE).
• 1991: Became the fourth vice-president of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).
• 1993: In March, she became a representative to the Eighth National People's Congress and a member of its Standing Committee.
• 1996: Became the director of the National Key Laboratory of Microgravity.

Selected Publications

Here are some of the important papers Lin Lanying published:

• Dislocations and Precipitates in Semi-Insulating Gallium Arsenide Revealed by Ultrasonic Abrahams-Buiocchi Etching
• Stoichiometric Defects in Semi-Insulating GaAs
• Interface Roughness Scattering in GaAs-AlGaAs Modulation-Doped Heterostructures
• Growth of GaAs Single Crystals at High Gravity
• Improvement of Stoichiometry in Semi-Insulating Gallium Arsenide Grown under Microgravity
• Magnetospectroscopy of Bound Phonons in High Purity GaAs
• Influence of DX centers in the AlxGa12xAs barrier on the low-temperature density and mobility of the two-dimensional electron gas in GaAs/AlGaAs modulation-doped heterostructure
• Influence of the semi-insulating GaAs Schottky pad on the Schottky barrier in the active layer
• Backgating and Light Sensitivity in GaAs Metal-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors
• Photon Energy Dependence of SW Effect in α-Si:H Films
• Neutron Irradiation-Infrared Based Measurement Method for Interstitial Oxygen in Heavily Boron-Doped Silicon
• Properties and Applications of GaAs Single Crystal Grown under Microgravity Conditions
• Preliminary Results of GaAs Single Crystal Growth under High Gravity Conditions
• Spatial Distributions of Impurities and Defects in Te-and Si-doped GaAs Grown in a Reduced Gravity Environment
• Microdefects and electrical uniformity of InP annealed in phosphorus and iron phosphide ambiances
• Formation, structure and fluorescence of CdS clusters in a mesoporous zeolite
• Fabrication of novel double-hetero-epitaxial SOI structure Si/γ-Al₂O₃/Si
• Photostimulated luminescence of silver clusters in zeolite-Y
• Characterization of defects and whole wafer uniformity of annealed undoped semi-insulating InP wafers
• Very low-pressure VLP-CVD growth of high quality γ-Al₂O₃films on silicon by multi-step process
• Some new observation on the formation and optical properties of CdS clusters in zeolite-Y
• Absorption spectra of Se₈-ring clusters in zeolite 5A
• Growth of GaSb and GaAsSb in the single phase region by MOVPE
• Growth and properties of high purity LPE-GaAs
• New color centers and photostimulated luminescence of BaFCl:Eu²⁺
• Channeling analysis of self-implanted and recrystallized silicon on sapphire
• Semi-insulating GaAs grown in outer space
• Neutron irradiation induced photoluminescence from silicon crystal grown in ambient hydrogen
• The influence of thickness on properties of GaN buffer layer and heavily Si-doped GaN grown by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy
• The dependence of growth rate of GaN buffer layer on growth parameters by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy
• Self-organization of the InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots superlattice
• Thermoluminescence of CdS clusters in zeolite-Y

See also

In Spanish: Lanying Lin para niños

• Timeline of women in science