[2] After the end of World War II, Tang was sent to the United States in 1946 to study nuclear physics, together with Tsung-Dao Lee, who would win the Nobel Prize in 1957, and other distinguished scientists.

[2] However, Sino-American relations deteriorated after the Chinese Civil War broke out, and Tang studied chemistry at Columbia University instead of nuclear physics.

[2] After earning his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1949, Tang returned to the newly established People's Republic of China in early 1950 and became a professor of Peking University.

[2] He later made contributions to the ligand field theory and developed three graph theorems of molecular orbital.

[2][4] In 2011, the Chinese Chemical Society established the Tang Au-Chin Youth Award on Theoretical Chemistry in his memory.

[5] Asteroid 218914 Tangauchin, discovered by astronomers with the PMO NEO Survey Program at Purple Mountain Observatory in 2007, was named in his memory.