Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics (WIPM) of Chinese Academy of Sciences has a history of over 50 years. As the predecessors of WIPM, Wuhan Institute of Physics was founded in 1958, and Wuhan Institute of Mathematical Physics and Computing Technology was founded in 1957. In 1996, the two institutes merged, and thus gained the current name. WIPM conducts cutting-edge cross-disciplinary research that focuses on magnetic resonance in life sciences, atomic molecular and optical (AMO) physics, atomic frequency standards and precision measurement physics.  

During her history, WIPM has been honored with nearly 300 scientific and technological awards, including the First-class National Science and Technology Progress Award, the First-class Major Achievement in National Defense Science Award, the Second-class National Natural Science Award and the Second-class National Technology Invention Award. WIPM has published nearly 3000 SCI papers in international journals including Science, PNAS, JACS and PRL. WIPM has filed more than 170 national invention patents, of which 130 have been granted. WIPM also boasts many technological “firsts” in China, including the first practical rubidium excitation frequency standard, the first Calcium optical clock, the first Mercury microwave ion clock, the first miniaturized CPT atomic clock, the first high-field NMR spectrometer, the first digital ultrasonic flaw detector, and many more.  

WIPM is the host institute for State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan National Center for Magnetic Resonance, CAS Key Laboratory of Atomic Frequency Standards, and CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems. WIPM is also a member institute of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and Wuhan Regional Instrumental Center in Life Science. WIPM has over 1,000 sets of state-of-the-art equipment with a total value over ¥ 300,000,000. Large equipment includes a 850-MHz and a 800-MHz NMR spectrometers, a 7-Tesla MRI equipment for small animal imaging, a 1.5-Tesla MRI equipment for human imaging, single-molecular fluorescence imaging system, two-photon laser confocal microscopy, 10M-spraying atom interferometer, ion-electron interrelation momentum spectrometer, single-atom trapping/cooling device, and many more.  

Over the years, Profs Jun Li, Xiaqi Ding and Chaohui Ye, the three distinguished scientists, have been elected to the member of Chinese National Academy of Sciences. WIPM now has 414 staff members, of which more than 100 are senior scientists and advanced technicians. It is worth mentioning that the institute has four chief-scientists in charge of the National Basic Research Program (“973” Program) and one recipient of International Early Career Award of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Nine scientists have been awarded as Distinguished Young Scholars by the National Science Fund, and one scientist received support in the National High-Level Talent Special Program. More than 20 scientists have been recruited to the WIPM via the National Thousand Talent Program and CAS Hundred Talent Program. WIPM also has one National Innovation Research Team with the support form the National Natural Science Foundation, two innovation teams sponsored by the CAS & SAFEA International Partnership Program, and two CAS S&T Innovation Cross-disciplinary Collaboration Teams.  

The international cooperation and academic exchange between WIPM and the peer institutes around the world are frequent, and long-term cooperative relationship has been developed between WIPM and institutes from over 20 countries and regions. Many foreign scholars have visited WIPM as enrollees in the Einstein Professorship Program of CAS, the Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists Program of CAS, and the Fellowship for Young International Scientists Program of CAS. A number of WIPM scientists also serve on the editorial boards or chairing committees of international academic association or journals.