Zhao Yufen (simplified Chinese: 赵玉芬; traditional Chinese: 趙玉芬; pinyin: Zhào Yùfēn; born 1948) is a Chinese chemist at the college of chemistry and chemical engineering at Xiamen University.[1] She has been an outspoken critic of chemical plants.[2] She was the youngest female member elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.[3]
Zhao was born in Qi County, Hebi, Henan, and moved to Taiwan in 1949 with her parents.[4] Zhao graduated from National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) in 1971, and received her Ph.D from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1975.[3] In 1979, she went on to become a researcher at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.[4] She became a professor at Tsinghua University (Beijing) in 1988 and in 1991, was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, then the youngest female academician.[4]
In March 2007, Zhao created a petition to halt the construction of a chemical plant in Xiamen.[5][6] Zhao was against the plant, which was going to produce paraxylene (PX), a carcinogenic petrochemical, due to health risks and pollution of the environment.[7] She said that "As a project with a high risk of poisonous emissions and explosions, the project should not be located close to a city."[8] She also started writing letters to propose a relocation of the plant to He Lefeng, the Party chief of Xiamen.[8] Months later, protesters used text messages to spread the word of a demonstration against the plant.[5] Xiamen lawmakers voted overwhelmingly against the plant, which was located to Gulei Peninsula.[7]
June 15, 2014, Zhao, as the head of the Academy Zhao Yufen of Xiamen University, along with BIOasis, signed on for the construction of a Phosphorus & Marine Science Research Center to be built at the Shandong International Biotechnology Park.[9]
Zhao has work published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal of Organic Chemistry,[10] Angewandte Chemie,[11] Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry,[12] Chemical Communications,[13] Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis,[14] and other journals.