U.S. Scientists and the Chinese Reception of Relativity

Li Fangbai (1890-1959) was the first Chinese physicist who introduced relativity in China. Although Li was educated in Japan, his introduction was based completely on his reading of Western physics works, especially those by U.S. scientists Gilbert N. Lewis and Richard C. Tolman. Since then U.S. scientists had an increasingly significant influence on the Chinese reception and research of relativity. For example, two leading Chinese theoretical physicists, who carried on researches in general relativity in the 1930s and 1940s, graduated from Caltech and MIT respectively. There were many other connections between U.S. physicists and China's reception of relativity. This paper presents findings of the historical investigation on such connections, which will also reveal the U.S. contributions to the rise of theoretical physics in China.