On May 2, when people were immersed in the joyful and festive atmosphere of celebrating Labor Day, a sad news was exposed. According to the news on the Internet, Comrade Chen Junwu, a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a master of Chinese engineering design, a well-known oil refining engineering expert in the mainland, and the founder of catalytic cracking engineering technology, passed away suddenly. After the news was exposed, countless netizens poured into the comment area and left messages to express their condolences.
It is reported that Academician Chen Junwu died on May 1, Labor Day, and after some media learned of the bad news, they immediately contacted Academician Chen Junwu's former work unit, Sinopec Luoyang Engineering Co., Ltd., to verify the matter. A staff member confirmed the bad news and said that Academician Chen Junwu was 97 years old and should be dead.
On the evening of May 2, the day after the death of Academician Chen Junwu, a number of authoritative media forwarded the obituary on the death of Academician Chen Junwu released by Sinopec Luoyang Engineering Co., Ltd. The obituary confirmed that Academician Chen Junwu died at 17:47 on May 1 in Luoyang.
The obituary said that Chen Junwu is an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China, the winner of the titles of "Model of the Times" and "The Most Beautiful Struggler", a well-known oil refining engineering technical expert in mainland China, the founder of catalytic cracking engineering technology, the consultant of the Science and Technology Committee of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, and the honorary director of the Technical Committee of Sinopec Luoyang Engineering Co., Ltd.
The obituary reviewed the main study and work experience of Academician Chen Junwu during his lifetime, and highly affirmed his outstanding contributions to the development and progress of the chemical industry in mainland China. The obituary also responded positively to the issue of the cause of death that the public is most concerned about, saying that Academician Chen Junwu died due to ineffective medical treatment, but the obituary did not explain in detail the specific cause and detailed rescue process.
Chen Junwu usually immerses himself in scientific research and rarely appears in public, and his last public appearance was in October 2019, when he was awarded the title of "Model of the Times" by the Central Propaganda Department, participated in the recording of CCTV's Model of the Times program, and took the stage to receive the award. Judging from the photos exposed at the time, although Chen Junwu, who was 92 years old at the time, looked a lot older, his body was still quite tough, and his mental state was also very good.
Later, some media reported that Chen Junwu, who is in his 90s, still went to work on time and posted a picture of him swiping his card at work.
According to insiders, although Chen Junwu died due to ineffective medical treatment, he walked calmly and serenely, and he died rightly.
According to the information obtained by public inquiry, Chen Junwu was born in Beijing in March 1927, and graduated from Peking University at the age of 21 in 1948; Chen Junwu joined the Communist Party of China in April 1956; in 1961, Chen Junwu served as the designer of China's first fluid catalytic cracking unit; in 1982, he served as the head of the catalytic cracking technology research group of China Petrochemical Corporation; and in 1991, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
According to industry experts, Chen Junwu created a number of firsts during his lifetime, he guided the design of the mainland's first set of catalytic cracking units with an annual output of 1.2 million tons, the first set of coaxial catalytic cracking industrial test units, overcame the world's problems of coal-to-olefins, and guided the design of the world's first and the world's largest methanol-to-olefins industrial plant.
On March 26, 2016, the 90-year-old academician Chen Junwu made a special trip to Zhengzhou University to donate all the 200,000 yuan salary earned from part-time work in Zhengzhou University to Zhengzhou University, and set up the Chen Junwu Graduate Student Award Foundation to reward and support outstanding young students in the field of chemical engineering of the university.