Chia-Chiao Lin

Chia-Chiao Lin studied at Tsinghua University, University of Toronto and California Institute of Technology. The recorded working language is Chinese and English. The field of work recorded is applied mathematics, hydrodynamic stability and turbulence. Employment is recorded with Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology. Positions recorded include professor. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship, Timoshenko Medal, Otto Laporte Award and Fluid Dynamics Prize (APS).

• Name — Chia Chiao Lin • Born — 7 July 1916 • Birthplace — Peking, China • Died — 13 January 2013 • Place of death — Beijing, China • Field — Applied mathematics • Workplaces — Caltech Brown University MIT • Education — California Institute of Technology University of Toronto National Tsinghua University • Thesis Title — Investigations on the Theory of Turbulence • Thesis Year — 1944 • Doctoral Advisor — Theodore von Kármán • Doctoral Students — * 1= • David Benney • Phyllis Fox • Lee Segel • Frank Shu • Linda Sugiyama • Notable Students — Elizabeth Cuthill • Known for — Hydrodynamic stability turbulent flow • Awards — Fluid Dynamics Prize (1979) Timoshenko Medal (1975) Otto Laporte Award (1973) Chia-Chiao Lin (7 July 1916 – 13 January 2013) was a Chinese-born American applied mathematician and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lin made major contributions to the theory of hydrodynamic stability, turbulent flow, mathematics, and astrophysics.

Lin was born in Beijing with ancestral roots in Fuzhou. In 1937 Lin graduated from the department of physics, Tsinghua University in Beijing. After graduation he was a teaching assistant in the Tsinghua University physics department. In 1939 Lin won a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship and was initially supported to study in the United Kingdom. However, due to World War II, Lin and several others were sent to North America by ship. Unluckily, Lin's ship was stopped in Kobe, Japan, and all students had to return to China. In 1940, Lin finally reached Canada and studied at the University of Toronto from which he earned his M.Sc. In 1941. Lin continued his studies in the United States and received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology in 1944 under Theodore von Kármán. His PhD thesis provided an analytic method to solve a problem in the stability of parallel shearing flows, which was the subject of Werner Heisenberg's PhD thesis. Lin also taught at Caltech between 1943 and 1945. He taught at Brown University between 1945 and 1947. Lin joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1947. Lin was promoted to professor at MIT in 1953 and became an Institute Professor of MIT in 1963. He was President of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics from 1972 to 1974. Lin retired from MIT in 1987. In 2002, he moved back to China and helped found the Zhou Pei-Yuan Center for Applied Mathematics (ZCAM) at Tsinghua University. He died in Beijing in 2013, aged 96.

Chia-Chiao Lin worked in applied mathematics, hydrodynamic stability, turbulence, astrophysics and mathematics. He was employed by Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University and Florida State University. Recorded position is professor. He belonged to National Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academia Sinica, American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Chia-Chiao Lin is recorded as having received Guggenheim Fellowship, Timoshenko Medal and Otto Laporte Award.