Editing C. C. Li

{{Short description|Chinese-American geneticist}}
{{distinguish|C. C. Lee}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Li (surname 李)|Li]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image = <!--(filename only)October 27, 1912 – October 20, 2003-->
| birth_name = Ching Chun Li
| native_name = 李景均
| birth_date = {{birth date |1912|10|27}}
| birth_place = [[Tianjin]], [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]
| death_date = {{death date and age |2003|10|20|1912|10|27}}
| death_place = [[Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania|Mt. Lebanon]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[United States]]
| citizenship = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| fields = [[Population genetics]], [[human genetics]]
| workplaces = [[Columbia University]], [[North Carolina State University]], [[University of Nanking]], [[Peking University]], [[China Agricultural University|Beijing Agricultural University]], [[University of Pittsburgh]]
| education =  [[University of Nanking]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]]), [[Cornell University]] ([[PhD]]) 
| known_for = ''An Introduction to Population Genetics''
| awards = [[American Society of Human Genetics|Arno Motulsky–Barton Childs Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education]] (1998)
}}
'''Ching Chun Li''' ({{zh|c=李景均|p=Lǐ Jǐngjūn|w=Li3 Ching3-chün1}}; October 27, 1912 – October 20, 2003) was a [[Chinese-American]] [[population genetics|population geneticist]] and [[human genetics|human geneticist]].<ref name=":0" /> He was known for his research and the book ''An Introduction to Population Genetics''.

== Biography ==
C. C. Li was born on October 27, 1912, in [[Dagukou]] (Taku), [[Tianjin]], China. He received a [[Bachelor of Science]] in [[agronomy]] from the [[University of Nanking]] in 1936 and a PhD in plant breeding and genetics from [[Cornell University]] in 1940. He worked as post-doctoral fellow at [[Columbia University]] and [[North Carolina State University]] from 1940 to 1941.

Li returned to China at the age of 30 and became the Professor of [[Genetics]] and [[Biometry]] at University of Nanking, his alma mater, in 1943. After [[World War II]], he moved to Beijing for a Professorship and dean of Agronomy at [[Peking University]] in 1946, where he finished ''An Introduction to Population Genetics'' in 1948. The book was the first notable publication where a combination of the ideas of [[Ronald Fisher]], [[Sewall Wright]], and [[J. B. S. Haldane]] about population genetics was brought to and made understandable to the academia.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal| pmc=1181974 | pages=789–792 | volume=74 | issue=5 | journal=Am J Hum Genet | title=Ching Chun Li (1912–2003):A Personal Remembrance of a Hero of Genetics | year=2004 | doi=10.1086/420857 | last1 = Chakravarti | first1 = Aravinda}}</ref>

Li became ''[[persona non grata]]'' for studying and teaching [[genetics]] following the 1949 establishment of a [[People's Republic of China|communist government]] in [[mainland China]]. The new government took the diplomatic policy of "[[Leaning to One Side]]" and adopted Soviet thought and action, including the genetic thought of the Soviet pseudoscientist [[Trofim Lysenko]], who was standing against [[Mendelian inheritance]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/15196267 |title=Lysenkoism in China: proceedings of the 1956 Qingdao Genetics Conference |date=1987 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=0-87332-410-2 |oclc=15196267}}</ref> In 1949, Li was appointed as a professor at [[China Agricultural University|Beijing Agricultural University]] (now China Agricultural University), which had been recently founded through the merger of the Colleges of Agriculture at [[Peking University]], [[Tsinghua University]], and [[Renmin University of China|North China University]] (now the Renmin University of China). Li was persecuted by the party branch secretary of Beijing Agricultural University, Le Tianyu, because of Li's defense of genetics.<ref name=":0" /> In 1950, Li fled with his family to [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]], where he was trapped without documentation of citizenship and unable to obtain a visa. Friends and colleagues, particularly [[List of Nobel laureates|Nobel laureate]] [[Hermann Joseph Muller|H. J. Muller]] and former [[Surgeon General of the United States|US surgeon general]] [[Thomas Parran (surgeon general)|Thomas Parran]], assisted Li in emigrating to the [[United States]].<ref>[http://www.utimes.pitt.edu/?p=2258 Clara & C.C. Li establish GSPH endowment] University Times, University of Pittsburgh, March 7, 2002</ref> Li joined the newly founded [[University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health|School of Public Health]] (GSPH) at the [[University of Pittsburgh]] in 1951. He became Professor of Biometry in 1960 and later chaired the School of Public Health's Department of [[Biostatistics]] from 1969 to 1975. He also served as the president of the [[American Society of Human Genetics]] in 1960.<ref>[https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/Portals/0/HUGEN/HUGEN_C_C_Li_CV.pdf CURRICULUM VITAE of C.C. Li] The Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh</ref> Despite officially retiring in 1982, he continued to publish another 25 academic papers and go to work at his office every day until a few months before his death in 2003.<ref>[http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/human-genetics/about/history/cc-li-information-hub C.C. Li Information Hub] Department of Human Genetics, University of Pittsburgh</ref>

== Bibliography ==

=== Original reports ===
* {{cite journal | last1 = Li | first1 = C.C. | year = 1953 | title = On an equation specifying equilibrium populations | journal = Science | volume = 117 | issue = 3041| pages = 378–379 | doi=10.1126/science.117.3041.378| pmid = 13048687 | bibcode = 1953Sci...117..378L }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Li | first1 = C.C. | year = 1953 | title = Some general properties of recessive inheritance | pmc = 1716474 | journal = Am J Hum Genet | volume = 5 | issue = 3| pages = 269–279 | pmid=13080252}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Li | first1 = C.C. | year = 1958 | title = An introduction to genetic statistics |     pmc = 1931876 | journal = Am J Hum Genet | volume = 10 | issue = 1| pages = 72–75 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last1 = Li | first1 = C.C. | year = 1960 | encyclopedia = McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology | title = Biometrics | volume = 1 | pages = 223–232 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Li | first1 = C.C. | year = 1962 | title = Methodology in human genetics | journal = Science | volume = 138 | pages = 807–808 | doi=10.1126/science.138.3542.807-a}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Li | first1 = C.C. | title = Environment changes: The implications for health from the viewpoint of a geneticist | journal = National Health Forum | volume = 1964 | pages = 79–83 }}

=== Books ===
* Li, C.C.: ''Introduction to Population Genetics'' National Peking University Press. 1948.
* Li, C.C.:  "Heredity and its Variability (by T.D. Lysenko)" Chinese translation, New China Book Co. 1949.
* Li, C.C.:  "Soviet Genetics and World Science (by Julian Huxley)" Chinese translation, Taipei, Taiwan. 1953.
* Li, C.C.: ''Population Genetics'' University of Chicago Press. 1955. 7th Impression 1972.
* Li, C.C.:  "Numbers from Experiments" Boxwood Press. 1959.
* Li, C.C.: ''Human Genetics'' Principles and Methods McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1961.
* Li, C.C.:  "Introduction to Experimental Statistics" McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1964.
* Li, C.C.:  "Path Analysis: A Primer" Boxwood Press. 1975. 2nd printing with corrections 1977. 3rd printing with corrections 1981.
* Li, C.C.:  "First Course in Population Genetics" Boxwood Press. 1976.
* Li, C.C.:  "Analysis of unbalanced data: A pre-program introduction" Cambridge University Press. 1982.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.ias.ac.in/jgenet/Vol83No1/101.pdf Partha P. Majumder, "C. C. Li (1912–2003): his science and his spirit", in Journal of Genetics, Vol. 83, No. 1, April 2004, pp. 101–105.]
* [http://www.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20031024liobit2p2.asp Pittsburgh Gazette obituary]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Ching Chun}}
[[Category:Population geneticists]]
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Pittsburgh faculty]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Statistical Association]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Sinica]]
[[Category:University of Nanking alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Nanking]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Peking University]]
[[Category:Chinese Civil War refugees]]
[[Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American geneticists]]
[[Category:Chinese geneticists]]
[[Category:Biologists from Tianjin]]
[[Category:Educators from Tianjin]]