The family of a leading Chinese materials scientist appears to have called for more attention to the health of the research community after the death of their relative aged 47 from what they say was an “insane” workload.
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Liu Yongfeng, a distinguished professor from Zhejiang University, suffered a cerebral haemorrhage on January 21 during a conference in the city of Xian in northwest China’s Shaanxi province, according to an obituary posted on Chinese social media by the university’s school of materials science and engineering on Monday. He died on March 5.
“Professor Liu [was] a hardworking, dedicated and rigorous mentor who supervised more than 40 postdoctoral, doctoral and master’s students and made significant contributions to the training of talent in the field of new energy materials,” the school said in the notice.
“The tragic death of Professor Liu is a great loss to the university and the materials science community, and we are deeply saddened by the loss of such a mentor and friend.”
On Sunday, an open letter posted on social media and purportedly written by Liu’s wife sought to reconstruct his “shocking, almost insane” working hours.
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