Xu Jinghua, distinguished Professor, male, born in Nanjing in 1929, is the son of Professor Xu Xinwu, the former President of Henan University. He is an internationally renowned geologist, oceanographer and environmentalist, a foreign member of the American Academy of Sciences (1986), a foreign member of the Third World Academy of Sciences (1986), and a member of the Mediterranean Academy of Sciences (1988). He was awarded honorary professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1985), academician of academia Sinica (1990), and honorary Doctor of Science of Nanjing University for his contributions to Geology in China.
In 1944, Professor Xu was admitted to the Department of Geology of Central University (renamed Nanjing University in 1949), and graduated with a bachelor's degree in July 1948.He received his master's degree from Ohio State University in 1950 and his doctor's degree from University of California, Los Angeles, in 1953.
Professor Xu joined the Shell Oil Company in 1954 before he taught at the State University of New York and the University of California from 1963 to 1967.Since 1967, he has moved to Switzerland, where he teaches at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Dean of the Earth Sciences. He was President of the International Sedimentary Society, Chairman of the International Commission on Marine Geology, board member of the Executive Committee of the International Oceanographic Commission, and first President of the European Geophysical Association. At the same time, he is also a representative of UNESCO in Switzerland, an expert of the UN Expert Group on seabed disposal of nuclear waste, a technical advisor to the Chinese and Maltese Governments of the United Nations, and a former advisor to the Ministry of Geology, Ministry of Petroleum Geology and Ministry of Chemical Industry of China. Professor Xu has been employed as chief editor or editorial board member by more than 20 world-class authoritative academic journals such as Journal of Sedimentation and Research in Marine Geophysics. He has led many international scientific cooperation projects, such as The JOIDES Offshore Drilling project, the Upper Mantle Project, the Lithosphere Project, the Global Change Project, and the Inner Mongolia Xinjiang Tibet International expedition project.
So far, Professor Xu has published 450 papers and more than 20 books.
Professor Xu has served as a visiting professor or fellow of all continents in the world. He is a famous Guggenheim Scholar (1971), Queen Elizabeth Senior Scholar in Marine Geology (1981), Professor Fairchild (1990). He was one of the few scientists to receive both the Wollaston Prize (1984) and the Penrose Prize (2001). The Wollaston Prize, considered the Nobel Prize in natural science, was once awarded to William·Smith( the founder of geology), Charles·Lyell and Charles .Darwin (the father of evolutionary biology) and Thomas·Hector.
In addition, he is an inventor with several patented technologies. For example, the "filter-water converter" invented by him is a revolutionary technology for sewage treatment, "capillary irrigation" will transform the wasteland from water shortage to oasis, and "oil recovery technology" will alleviate the oil energy crisis. He recognized the relationship between nitrite pollution and cancer and made a clear statement based on his experimental observations. Therefore, he was hired as the director of the Environment and Health Center of Henan University.
