Li Wei (computer scientist)

In this Chinese name, the family name is Li.

Li Wei 李未
Born	(1943-06-08)June 8, 1943 Peking, China
Died	January 25, 2026(2026-01-25) (aged 82) Beijing, China
Alma mater	Beijing University University of Edinburgh (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields	Computer science
Workplaces	Newcastle University University of Edinburgh Saarland University Beihang University
Thesis	An operational approach to semantics and translation for programming languages (1983)
Doctoral advisor	Gordon Plotkin

Li Wei (Chinese: 李未; pinyin: Lǐ Wèi; June 8, 1943 – January 25, 2026) was a Chinese computer scientist who was a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2002, he became President of Beihang University.

Early life and education

Li was born in Peking on June 8, 1943. He graduated from the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics, Peking University in 1966. Li then studied at the University of Edinburgh obtaining a PhD in computer science in 1983 supervised by Gordon Plotkin.

Career

After graduation, he was funded by the EPSRC at Newcastle University and the University of Edinburgh as Senior Programmer. He was also a visiting professor at the Saarland University. Li was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1997.

Death

Li died on January 25, 2026, at the age of 82.

Research interests

Li was mostly engaged in the applied research of Computer Software and Theory and Internet, including programming language, software development, artificial intelligence, and integrated circuit design.

Achievements

Li did some of the first work on structural operational semantics of concurrent programming languages such as Ada and Edison, including a theory of translation between such languages with methods for proving the correctness of translations.

1992, building release logic theory solved the incompleteness of information and fallibility of knowledge and nonmonotonicity of inference.

1998, first advocated research on Data Mining Technology。