WANG Pinxian was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in November 1936. He obtained his first degree in geology from Moscow University of the former Russia in 1960. He is a well-known marine geologist and a professor in Marine Geology and Geophysics Department of Tongji University. He was elected Member of Chinese Academy of Science in 1991. He was vice president of the International Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR) between 1994 and 1998. He acts as vice chairman of Division of Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science, president of the Chinese Committee on Ocean Research and vice president of Oceanological and Limnological Society of China. He has been engaged in research on marine micropaleontology and evolution of its environmental pattern for decades and has made creative contributions to the development of marine geology in China. He started the research on the burial of microfossils in China and has developed the research on paleoceanography considerably. He was awarded a number of prizes including the National Natural Science Prize, He Liang and He Li Fund Scheme. His research entitled Distribution of Calcareous Microfossils in the China Seas and its Paleenvironmental Significance won the first prize for the Advancement of Science and Technology awarded by the former State Education Commission and the fourth place for the National Natural Science Award. His research on Dynamic Progression and Development Trend of the Evolution of Environment in the last 150,000 years in Drought and Semi-drought Areas won the first prize for the Advancement of Science and Technology awarded by Chinese Academy of Science in 1998.
