Han Zhenxiang

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Han Zhenxiang (韩祯祥; 24 May 1930 – 4 May 2024) was a Chinese electrical engineer who helped build China’s power networks. He served as president of Zhejiang University from 1984 to 1988 and led the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering. He was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

Born in Hangzhou, he studied at Zhejiang University, earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1951. He then studied in the Soviet Union at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, where he earned his doctorate in 1961. He returned to Zhejiang University, becoming a full professor in 1978 and a doctoral supervisor in 1981. He was director of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1979 to 1980 and served as a visiting professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Bonneville Power Administration from 1980 to 1982. He was Zhejiang University’s president from February 1984 to February 1988 and was a delegate to the 7th National People’s Congress in 1988. He also served as the 3rd and 4th president of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering and was an honorary member.

Han’s work focused on fault diagnosis, control and stability of power systems, and the optimal design of electrical networks. He was a pioneer of large-scale electrical grids in China and was among the first to combine computer artificial intelligence with power networks, developing software widely used in China for controlling and estimating power systems. He died in Hangzhou at age 93.