Chien was from
Hangzhou,
Zhejiang. After graduating from
Tianjin Nankai High School, he matriculated at
Tsinghua University Department of Chemistry in 1927. He won the
Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program in 1931 and went to the United States together with
Wu Ta-You. Chien continued his study in chemistry at the
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) where he obtained a
M.S. in 1932 and
Ph.D. in 1934. Chien returned to China after obtaining PhD and joined the
Peking University Department of Chemistry. Chien was a professor and the head of the department. In 1949, Chien went to
Taipei, and was recruited professor of chemistry and the provost of the
National Taiwan University, by its then-president
Fu Sinian. From 1951 until 1970, Chien was the President of the National Taiwan University. In 1964, Chien was elected Academician of the
Academia Sinica division of physical and mathematical sciences. From 1970 to 1983, Chien served the President of Academia Sinica. In 1983, Chien received honorary doctoral degree from his
alma mater UIUC. From 1971 to 1981, Chien also served the director of the
Atomic Energy Council of the
Executive Yuan. In 2016, Chien was honored with a postal stamp in his likeness by
Chunghwa Post, the national postal service of Taiwan. ==Family==