Chinese President Xi Jinping offered condolences to the family of rocket scientist Liang Sili, who died of illness at the age of 91 in Beijing on Thursday, reflecting the significance attached to intellectuals who have served the country's development of science and national defense, observers said.
In his message, Xi deeply mourned the loss of Liang, who returned to China after the founding of the People's Republic of China and devoted himself tirelessly to the nation's aerospace program.
"He made important contributions to China's aerospace cause," Xi was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency. "His patriotism, dedication and rigorous scholarship deserve our respect."
Liang, born in August 1924, was one of the founders of China's aerospace field and a renowned missile and rocket control expert. He was a member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the International Academy of Astronautics.
Liang led the development and tests of several types of missiles and launch vehicle control systems, and he made great contributions to the development of the Long March 2 rocket, media reported.
"Xi's eulogy for Liang shows that the Communist Party of China (CPC) thinks highly of experts in the significant areas of science and national defense, who determine the direction of scientific research and cutting-edge national defense technology development in China," Zhang Xixian, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times.
Liang graduated from Purdue University in the US in 1945 and received a doctorate degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1949. In 1950, Liang began serving at the Institute of Telecommunications Technology under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China, news website gmw.cn reported.
Liang was the youngest son of Liang Qichao, an ideologist, educator, scholar and one of China's first democrats. Liang Sili's elder brothers Liang Sicheng, a famous architect and scholar, and Liang Siyong, an archaeologist, were both members of the CAS.
"Liang Qichao's patriotic education makes his family a model for modern intellectual families in China," Zhang said.