'Academician of steel' reveals softer side

Faculty members at Huazhong University of Science and Technology were deeply moved when one of their colleagues set up a scholarship in 2013 for students in financial hardship.

Cui Kun, 92, a professor at the university in Wuhan, Hubei province, and an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, donated his life savings of 4.2 million yuan ($637,650) to set up the fund.

Cui is known as the "academician of steel" for his contribution to the Chinese steel industry.

"After being elected as an academician, I was eager to write a book on the development of steel in China, because there was still a gap between the quality of the product in China and the West. And finally I did it," he told the People's Daily.

He started writing the book in 2006 when he was 81, and finished it six years later. He is planning to publish a revised version soon.

"I started learning to use computers at the age of 70, and I did the typing and graphic design all by myself," Cui told the People's Daily.

Cui was involved in the study of steel when he became a professor in 1948 at Wuhan University, which he had just graduated from.

In 1949, the newly-founded People's Republic of China was badly in need of people with knowledge of the steel industry to bolster its development, but Wuhan University had no such majors.

In 1958, the young professor was sent to Moscow State University to study metallurgy and heat treatment, and put what he learned into practice upon returning to China in 1960.

From 1981 to 1991, Cui won three National Invention Awards and 15 awards at provincial level and above.

"Based on prices at the time, the economic benefits accruing from his research surpassed 200 million yuan," said Mei Shiyan, former deputy secretary of the Party committee at the university.