Zhang Wenyu (9 January 1910 – 5 November 1992) was a Chinese physicist who served as director of the Institute of High Energy Physics from 1973 to 1984.

He was one of the founders of cosmic ray research and high energy experimental physics in China.

Zhang was born into a peasant family in the town of Tuzhai [zh], in Hui'an County, Fujian, on 9 January 1910.

[3] In 1934, he pursued advanced studies in the United Kingdom on Boxer Indemnities, earning a doctor's degree from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Ernest Rutherford in 1938.

[2] He concurrently served as director of the Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China between 1978 and 1984.

Zhang married Wang Chengshu, who was also a physicist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.