新中国航空事业的先驱者--张阿舟

Professor Zhang Azhou (Chang O'Chou) was a famous scientist and educator in aeronautical engineering and solid mechanics in China. In the second half of the 20^th century, in particular, when China had a difficult time to initiate industrialization, Prof. Zhang pursued a life-long course to solve challenging problems and cultivate young talents and made outstanding achievements to meet the major needs of the nation in aeronautical engineering. This article comprehensively surveys the academic career of Prof. Zhang, focusing on his major contributions to the fields of the structural strength of aircraft, structural dynamics, and inverse problems of engineering dynamics, with a summary of his academic features in researches. The article presents his spirit of serving the nation in the aeronautical industry, demonstrates, via numerous examples, his core role in the tests of the structural strength of the first aircraft made in the People's Republic of China, his leading role in the researches on static/dynamic strength of aircraft structures in China, as well as his important role in supervising young talents in both mechanics and aeronautics.