Chen Chuangtian

Chen Chuangtian (; 18 February 1937 – 31 October 2018), also known as Chuang-Tian Chen, was a Chinese materials scientist and physical chemist who specialized in crystals used in lasers. He discovered the nonlinear optical crystals BBO, LBO and KBBF, which have important uses in areas including superconductor research, semiconductor photolithography, and the medical industry. He was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the TWAS Prize in Chemistry, the State Technological Invention Award (First Class), and the Laudise Prize.

Biography Chen was born on 18 February 1937 in Fenghua, Zhejiang, China. He studied at Shenyang No. 2 High School, and was accepted by the Department of Physics of Peking University in August 1956. After graduating in 1962, he entered the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter in Fuzhou on the recommendation of Hu Ning, and studied under physical chemist Lu Jiaxi for three years. In the late 1970s and the 1980s, Chen and his team discovered the new nonlinear optical crystals BaB2O4 (BBO) and LiB3O5 (LBO). The crystal is important in superconductor research and can allow the replacement of excimer laser with solid-state ones in photolithography used in the semiconductor and the medical industries.

Chen died on 31 October 2018 in Beijing, at the age of 81.

Honors and recognition Chen was elected a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in 1990 and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2003. He won a Special Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1986 for his discovery of BBO and the State Technological Invention Award (First Class) in 1991 for LBO. In 2013, he was awarded the Laudise Prize by the International Organization for Crystal Growth.