Hu soon transferred into the Department of Physics, and studied under Prof. Wang Ganchang and Hsin Pei Soh.

Hu obtained PhD from the University College London (UCL) in 1948, and his advisor was Harrie Massey.

In the spring of 1955, Hu was transferred to Beijing, to establish a research institute of atomic physics.

In 1958, the institute was renamed as the Department of Technical Physics of Peking University, and Hu was its founding Chair, till 1986.

Hu was former Director-general of the Chinese Society of Nuclear Physics (中国核物理学会), the former academic director of the National Laboratory of Heavy Ion Accelerator in Lanzhou (NLHIAL, 兰州重离子加速器国家实验室), and the former academic director of the Beijing National Tandem Accelerator Laboratory (北京串列加速器核物理国家实验室).