Chen Wenxin

Chen Wenxin (23 September 1926 – 7 October 2021) was a Chinese biologist specializing in soil microorganisms and bacterial taxonomy, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Some English-language sources cite her as "Wen Xin Chen" or as "Wen-Xin Chen".

Biography A group photo of Chen and her teacher and other students before going to National No. 11 High School

Chen was born in the town of Zhentou, Liuyang County, Hunan, on 23 September 1926, to , a classmate of Mao Zedong at Hunan First Normal University and revolutionary of the Chinese Communist Party, and Mao Bingqin . Her father was killed by Kuomintang in Changsha in February 1930 when she was only three. From 1982 to 1983, she was a visiting scholar at Cornell University.

On 7 October 2021, she died from an illness in Beijing, aged 95.

Contributions Chen established the first modern bacterial molecular classification laboratory in China. 2001 Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences