Lin Lanying’s family did not believe in educating girls. Despite this, Lin earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Fukien Christian University. Studying abroad, she then earned another bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Dickinson College and a PhD in solid-state physics at the University of Pennsylvania. Lin was the first Chinese national in a hundred years to earn a doctorate degree there. She then worked as a senior engineer at the Sylvania Company, helping the company engineer monocrystalline silicon. Lin returned to China in 1957, where she manufactured China’s first monocrystalline silicon. She also designed China’s first monocrystal furnace used to extract silicon metal. Her research laid the foundation for the development of micro-electronics and optoelectronics in China. Her many honors include being named an Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and receiving first prize in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Science and Technology Progress Award four times.
