Chinese Nobel Laureate and physicist Chen Ning Yang dies at 103

Celebrated physicist and Nobel Prize winner Chen Ning Yang has died at the age of 103, Chinese state media reported on Saturday. According to broadcaster CCTV, Yang passed away due to illness.

Yang was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957, alongside physicist Tsung-Dao Lee, for their pioneering work on the laws of parity violation — a discovery that fundamentally changed the understanding of elementary particles and quantum physics.

Born in 1922 in Anhui province, Yang grew up on the campus of Tsinghua University in Beijing, where his father was a mathematics professor. He once told his parents that he hoped to win a Nobel Prize — a dream he realized at just 35.

He received his undergraduate degree in 1942 from National Southwest Associated University in Kunming, followed by a master’s degree at Tsinghua University. After World War II, Yang traveled to the United States on a fellowship, earning his PhD from the University of Chicago under legendary physicist Enrico Fermi.

Over a long and distinguished career, Yang made significant contributions to multiple areas of physics, including statistical mechanics, quantum field theory, and symmetry principles. His research shaped the direction of modern physics in the second half of the 20th century.

In recognition of his scientific achievements, Yang received numerous honors beyond the Nobel, including the Albert Einstein Commemorative Award in 1957 and an honorary doctorate from Princeton University in 1958.

After decades working abroad, Yang returned to China and became a professor at Tsinghua University, where he also served as honorary dean of the Institute for Advanced Study.

Yang was married twice. He wed his first wife, Chih Li Tu, in 1950, and the couple had three children. After her death in 2003, Yang remarried the following year to Weng Fan, a former student more than 50 years his junior, calling her his “final blessing from God.”

Yang’s passing marks the end of an era for physics, as the scientific world mourns the loss of a visionary thinker whose legacy continues to influence generations of researchers.