By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

A meeting was held April 29 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discipline of gas turbines under the Department of Thermal Engineering, bringing together alumni from all over the country.

Professor Chen Xi, Chairman of the University Council, and Tsinghua Vice President He Jiankun attended the meeting.

The teaching group for gas turbines (now the Institute of Power Mechanics and Engineering) was established in 1956 by eminent scientist Professor Wu Zhonghua. Tsinghua was the first university in China to offer a course of study on gas turbines.

Over the years, the discipline has cultivated many outstanding alumni, including seven academicians and a number of government leaders and chief engineers.