Leroy L. Chang (Chinese: 張立綱; 20 January 1936 – 10 August 2008) was a Taiwanese-American experimental physicist and solid state electronics researcher and engineer.
In 1993, Chang moved from New York to Hong Kong, switching from industrial research into academia in anticipation of the 1997 transfer of the British colony to China.
After Manchuria was occupied by Imperial Japan in 1931, his family escaped to inland China and Chang was born on 20 January 1936 in Kaifeng, Henan province.
[5] Between 1963 and 1992, with the exception of a sabbatical year, Chang worked at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York, USA.
[5] One of the key results from Chang's work in this period was using molecular beam epitaxy to grow superlattice structures in semiconductors.
[11] The impact of the research carried out in the 1970s by Chang and his colleagues, including Nobel Prize-winning Leo Esaki and Ray Tsu, was highlighted by IBM researchers Theis and Coufal in 2004: Leo Esaki, Ray Tsu, and Leroy Chang began to envision and investigate designed quantum structures — which are based on interfaces between lattice-matched compound semiconductors — early in the 1970s.
[8] Chang's departure from New York and arrival in Hong Kong in 1993 was part of a wider influx that saw many leading scientists and researchers taking up positions at universities and institutions in the British colony to be able to advantage of the opportunities presented by the 1997 transfer to Chinese control.
[15]In addition to his work at HKUST, Chang also supported other science and technology institutions in Hong Kong and the wider region.
[6] In 1998, Chang played a key role in the founding and establishment of the Research Center for Applied Sciences (RCAS) of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, serving on its advisory committee.
[23] At the time of his death, tributes were paid to Chang by his HKUST colleagues, including the university's founding president Chia-Wei Woo: Leroy was always exuberant and high-spirited, logical and sensible, forceful and clear, efficient and effective – and always full of wit and humor.