Li Siguang (1889-1991), a native of Huanggang, Hubei Province, studied in Japan and Britain when he was young. He was a professor at Beijing University and a member of the Central Research Academy of the Kuomintang government. In 1948 he went to Europe, returning to China in 1949. In 1958 he joined the Communist Party. He served successively as Director of the Institute of Paleontology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Vice-President of the Academy, Minister of Geology and Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology. He was also a member of the Ninth CPC Central Committee. Li devoted his life to research and teaching in the fields of paleontology, glaciology, seismology and geomechanics and, as a pioneer in geomechanics, he made outstanding contributions to China's petroleum prospecting.