Zhao Jiuzhang

Zhao Jiuzhang was a Chinese meteorologist and physicist regarded as a founding father of China's satellite program and a pioneer of Chinese space technology. He held senior academic leadership positions within the Chinese Academy of Sciences, including directorship of its Institute of Geophysics and its Institute of Applied Geophysics, using those posts to help organize and advocate for a national Chinese effort in space science and satellite research in the early 1960s. His scientific background in meteorology and geophysics informed the atmospheric and upper-space research priorities that shaped China's early satellite planning as the country worked to develop an independent space capability during the 1960s.