14 Facts About Chen-Lu Tsou

Zou Chenglu, better known as Chen-Lu Tsou, was a Chinese biochemist.

Chen-Lu Tsou was a professor of the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and later a professor and Deputy Director of the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Chen-Lu Tsou made important contributions to the synthesis of insulin, and was elected an academician of the CAS and The World Academy of Sciences.

Chen-Lu Tsou won the TWAS Prize in Biology in 1992 for his pioneering study of enzyme inhibition kinetics, and was a six-time laureate of the State Natural Science Award.

Chen-Lu Tsou's wife, physicist Li Lin, was an academician of the CAS.

Chen-Lu Tsou was born on 17 May 1923 in Qingdao, Shandong province, with his ancestral home in Wuxi, Jiangsu.

In 1970, Chen-Lu Tsou moved to Beijing to help look after his ailing father-in-law Li Siguang, and transferred to the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Chen-Lu Tsou pioneered the study of enzyme inhibition kinetics, for which he was awarded the TWAS Prize in Biology in 1992.

Chen-Lu Tsou was a strong advocate against academic fraud and pseudoscience, and led a public campaign against what he called "unhealthy practices" such as administrators' interference in scientific research.

At the Institute of Biophysics, Chen-Lu Tsou raised objections to Director Bei Shizhang's display of his achievement in cell formation.

The criticism poisoned his relationship with Bei, making Chen-Lu Tsou feel "uneasy" at the institute.

In 1948, Chen-Lu Tsou married Li Lin, a fellow Chinese student at the Department of Metallurgy of Cambridge.

Chen-Lu Tsou later recalled the Cambridge years as the best time for his family.

Chen-Lu Tsou died in Beijing on 23 November 2006, at the age of 83.