Lee Tsung-dao was born in Shanghai in 1926, and his originally family home was in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He once studied in Zhejiang University and the National Southwest Associated University during the Anti-Japanese War. In1946, he went to the USA to study toward a Doctor's Degree under the guidance of the distinguished physicist Prof. Fermi in Chicago University. In 1957, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Yang Zhenning for their discovery of parity non-conservation law. Having made great contributions in physics and received many awards, he still works on the leading-edge topics in physics, actively advocates attaching importance to basic research in China, promotes Sino-US cooperation in high energy physics, and helps to establish the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC).

He has established a number of academic organizations such as China Center of Advanced Science and Technology etc., suggested to establish a post-doctoral system and improve the natural science funding system, and set up the China-United States Physics Examination and Application Program, made important contributions to promoting scientific and educational development in China.

He is now a professor of Columbia University (US), member of National Academy of Sciences, foreign member of Chinese Academy of Sciences; honorary professor of a dozen universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, China Science and Technology University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University etc.; honorary doctor of Princeton University, Rockefeller University, the City University of New York, Columbia University, University of Bologna (Italy), Peking University (China) etc.