Jinnian Liu

Jinnian Liu ( born in January, 1904, Tianjin–died in May, 1968) was mathematician professor of Nankai University and director of Mathematical Analysis, Different Equations, Computation Mathematics. He held the post of deputy director of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the China Association for promoting democracy, chairman of the Tianjin branch of the Chinese Mathematical Society, the representative of National People’s Congress of Tianjin for six times, the CPPCC National Committee for three times.  

Liu graduated from the Mathematical department of Nankai University with a master’s degree in 1924. In 1930, Liu received a doctor’s degree for mathematics from Harvard University. In that year, he came to Nankai University and started his career at teaching in Nankai.  

Liu devoted all his life to the teaching and research work of Mathematical and Physics. His vigorous scholarship and serious teaching accelerated the development of the department of mathematics in Nankai University and urged a large number of talents. He has been teaching theoretical machanics during 1930s. He translated the course of Geometry, Algebra and Different Equations independently. In every course, he designed teaching material and composed his speech on his own. In class, he spoke fluently, expressed accurately and attached importance to improving students’ logical thinking ability. At Liu’s request, Zhida Yan went back to teaching at Nankai University from France, which added strength to the mathematics department. Liu set up a team of Computational Mathematics to cultivate reserve forces. He held a series of lectures for math teachers in Tianjin middle schools, which received a good result.