Leading Chinese remote-sensing scientist Zhang Jinshui dies at 47

Zhang Jinshui, a pioneering scientist in remote sensing who led major R&D programmes in China and was instrumental in enhancing the country’s food security with satellite technologies, has died at the age of 47.

Zhang, a professor and doctoral supervisor in the faculty of geographical science at Beijing Normal University, died in Beijing on March 9 following “unsuccessful medical treatment”, according to multiple mainland media reports.

Last Wednesday the research institute where he had been based held a farewell ceremony, but his online obituary was no longer accessible. Institute staff told the mainland outlet Jimu News that the obituary had been removed from its website after the ceremony.

Several students familiar with Zhang have suggested that the scientist’s death may have been caused by a combination of illness and an accident.

Zhang and his research team developed survey technologies for crop area statistics, integrating satellite, aerial and ground-based observations. Photo: Shutterstock

A former student of Zhang’s wrote on social media last Saturday that his teacher had in recent years developed a degenerative neurological disease and died following a fall.

South China Morning Post