袁复礼教授生平简介

本文简要介绍了袁复礼教授中学、大学和赴美留学的经历,叙述了在中央地质调查所、北京大学、清华大学、西南联大、北京地质学院及武汉地质学院北京研究生部(后改名中国地质大学)所进行的教学活动,培育了几代人才;在建立中国地质学会、发展我国的考古事业中的开创作用;在西北科学考察中取得的突出成就;在进行基础地质研究和为国家找寻矿产、能源和水利工程建设中做出的重要贡献;在地层古生物学、考古学,特别是发展我国的地貌和第四纪地质学所起的开拓、奠基作用。同时也反映了他的高尚道德和优良学风。

BIOGRAPHY OF PROFESSOR YUAN FULI

Yuan Fuli was a renowned geologist, archaeologist and a teacher of geology. He was born on December 31, 1893, in Beijing, and his ancestral home was Xushui County, Hebei Province. He studied in the senior department of Tsinghua College （predecessor of Tsinghua University） from 1913 to 1915. He went abroad to study in the United States in 1915 and took courses in education, biology, archaeology and geology in Brown University and Columbia University. He received a Master's degree in 1920. After coming back to China in 1921, he became a technician in the Beijing Geological Survey Institute. Beginning in 1922, he did teaching at the Geology Department of Peking University as a concurrent job. He became a professor at the Geoscience Department of Tsinghua University and was also the Chairman of the department during 1932—1937. Then in 1938—1946 he was a professor at the Department of Geology, Geography and Meteorology of the Southwest Associated University in Kunming. After returning to Beijing （Peiping then） in 1946, he continued to work as a professor and the Chairman of the Geoscience Department of Tsinghua Univ（?）rsity. After 1952, he was a professor of the Beijing Geological College and Wuhan Geological College. He was a deputy to the Third National People's Congress and the Honorary President of the Society for the Study of Li Siguang in addition to other honorary titles. Professor Yuan Fuli was one of the pioneers of China's archaeological work. He discovered the famous "Yangshao Culture" with Swedish geologist Andersson in Henan Province in 1921. The discovery raised the curtain on the study of China's pre-history society and discredited the theory about non-existence of Stone Age culture in China. Between the winter of 1925 and summer of 1926, Professor Yuan Fuli and Li Ji started an archaeological excavation in Xiaxian County, Shanxi Province, which was the first such excavation sponsored by Chinese scientists themselves. He also made important archaeological findings in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang. He joined in the preparatory work for establishment of the China Geological Society between November, 1921—January, 1922, and was one of its founding members. During May, 1923—August, 1924, he collected large amounts of Productus and coral fossils of new species. The latter was named yuanophyllum after him. The fossils have enabled geologists to confirm that the geological strata of the late stage of the Early Carboniferous Period existed in China. The confirmation laid the basis for the study of the geological strata of the Carboniferous in northern and southern China, and for comparative palaeontological and palaeogeographical studies. He joined in the China Northwest Scientific Expedition from May, 1927—May, 1932, and was acting as the leader of the expedition in the last three years. During the five-year period, he had found and collected 72 skeletons of fossil reptiles, discovering for the first time in China Lystrosaurus and Dicynodon before the Cretaceous. The fairly complete skeletons of new species of fossil reptiles he found there included: Dicynodon sinkiangensis （P₂）, Lystrosaurus broomi （T₁）, Lystrosaurus hedini （T₁）, Lystrosaurus weidenreicni （T₁）, Chasmatosaurus yuani （T）, Santaisaurus yuani （T）, Tianshansaurus chitaiensis （K₁）, and Pinacosaurus ninghsiaensis （K）. Thus he had made special contributions to the study of geological strata of continental facies of the Permian and Triassic and the study of palaeovertebrates. The discoveries are also important for the study of the distribution of theromorphs in the early period and the centers of their evolution, for ascertaining the relative locations and the reconstruction of old continents. His contributions had attracted great attention among geologists at home and abroad and he was awarded a "Polaris medal" by the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences. Professor Yuan Fuli had carried out extensive basic geological survey and mineral explorations in north, east, central-south, northwest and southwest China, and discovered and appraised minerals, including coal, iron, gold and zinc in Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Hebei Provinces. The most important contribution of Professor Yuan Fuli was that he had trained generations of earth scientists in his teaching career which lasted more than 60 years. Many of his students have become outstanding geologists. Professor Yuan taught courses in geology, topography, geological survey, tectonics, economic geology, petrology and China's geology. He was the first who opened a course in physiographic geology in Peking University （1924） and the first who gave courses in geomorphology and Quaternary geology （1952） in Beijing Geological College. He had compiled "Quaternary Geology of China" which was the first textbook of its kind in China. He was also the first who described the characteristics and distribution of China's Quaternary strata. He was the founder of geomorphology and Quaternary geology in China. After the founding of New China although he was over 60 years old, in addition to teaching, he was invited to participate in many important geological conferences and give guidance to the geological works in many parts of the country. He took part in the comprehensive survey of water resources along the Yangtze River, the selection of dam sites for the Three-Gorge Multiple-Purpose Water Conservancy Project, a survey of water resources along the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River and the selection of the dam site for the Liujia Gorge Project. In the 1980s, although he was in his eighties, he tutored many post-graduate students and took part in compiling the "Modern Scientific and Technical Dictionary" and the voluminous "English-Chinese Dictionary". During this period he had also compiled and published his memoir of the Northwest Scientific Expedition 1927—1932. Professor Yuan died in Beijing on May 22, 1987, at the age of 94.