Biography.guide
Home › People › Physicist › Li Tian
Portrait of Li Tian

Li Tian

1938 – 2018

Chinese physicist

Don't just read it — keep itBiographies to ownE-book · Audio · Video From $7 →

About Li Tian

Lived 1938 – 2018 (aged 79). Li Tian was a Chinese physicist.

Li Tian (; 2 October 1938 – 11 April 2018) was a Chinese physicist and aircraft designer. An expert in aerodynamics for aeronautics, he served as chief scientist of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. He was also an adjunct professor at Beihang University.

Biography Li was born in October 1938 in Jilin City, Jilin province. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1963 with a degree in fluid mechanics. He was assigned to the then 601 Institute as a technician afterwards, and was banished to western Liaoning during the Cultural Revolution.

Li was responsible for the aerodynamic projects when developing Shenyang J-8 and Shenyang J-11, he is known as one of the founders of Chinese stealth technology for aircraft. He improved Chinese fighter configurations and stealthy designs by combining electromagnetic scattering characteristics with aerodynamic theory.

Li was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005.

Li's father, Li Pengshu, taught Chinese literature at a high school. Li was the third of five children. After his mother died in 1948, his father remarried in 1950 and had two more children. Li died on 11 April 2018 in Shenyang, aged 79.

Biography shop

Don’t just read it —
keep it.

Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.

  • E-book
  • Audio
  • Video
Browse the shop — from $7

Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free

Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Education
Tsinghua University, Beihang University, Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute
Employers
Beihang University
Awards
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Also known as
Tian Li

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Li Tian's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Li Tian?

Chinese physicist (1938–2018)

When was Li Tian born?

Li Tian was born on 2 October 1938 in Jilin.

When did Li Tian die?

Li Tian died on 11 April 2018 in Shenyang.

What was Li Tian's occupation?

Li Tian was a physicist.

What nationality was Li Tian?

Li Tian was Chinese.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Li Tian

· Wikidata: Q9197909

· DBpedia: Li Tian

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Li Tian. https://biography.guide/li-tian/

MLA: "Li Tian." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/li-tian/.

Chicago: "Li Tian." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/li-tian/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Page generated 2026-09-27 05:12 UTC