Chien Shih-Liang aka S. L. Chien (Traditional Chinese: 錢思亮) 1908-1983, was a notable Chinese chemist and educator.
Chien was from Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Chien graduated from the prestigious Tianjin Nankai High School. Chien matriculated at Tsinghua University Department of Chemistry in 1927. He won the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program in 1931 and went to the United States together with Ta-You Wu. Chien continued his study in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) where he obtained M.Sc. in 1932 and Ph.D. in 1934.
Chien went back to China after obtaining PhD and joined the Peking University Department of Chemistry. Chien was a professor and the head of the department.
In 1949, Chien went to Taipei, and was recruited professor of chemistry and the provost of the National Taiwan University, by its then-president Fu Sinian. From 1951 till 1970, Chien was the President of the National Taiwan University.
In 1964, Chien was elected Academician of the Academia Sinica division of physical and mathematical sciences. From 1970 to 1983, Chien served the President of Academia Sinica. In 1983, Chien received honorary doctoral degree from his alma mater UIUC.
From 1971 to 1981, Chien also served the director of Atomic Energy Commission of the Executive Yuan.
Chien's father Chien Hong-ye (錢鴻業) was a Chief Justice in the Supreme Court of the Republic of China, and was assassinated in Shanghai in 1940. Chien had three sons, the oldest Robert Chien (錢純) was former Minister of Finance of Taiwan, and former Secretary-general of Executive Yuan. His second son Shu Chien (錢煦), is a world-renowned bio-scientist and engineer. His youngest son Frederick Foo Chien (錢復) is a politician in Taiwan.
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Shen Kang-po (acting) |
President of the National Taiwan University 1951-1970 |
Succeeded by Yen Cheng-hsing |
| Preceded by Wang Shijie |
President of Academia Sinica 1970-1983 |
Succeeded by Ta-You Wu |