On the afternoon of April 24, 2026, at the invitation of the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Professor Lin Gu delivered an academic lecture titled “Structure-Property Relationships of Materials in Real Space” in an offline session (Room 224, Huaxing Building). Faculty members and graduate students from the School attended the lecture.

Professor Lin Gu is a professor at Tsinghua University. He received his bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University in 2002, where he was mentored by Academician Zhu Jing, a renowned expert in electron microscopy in China. He earned his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 2005. Subsequently, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany, and Tohoku University in Japan. From 2010 to 2022, he served as a professor at the Beijing Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2022, he returned to work at the Beijing Electron Microscopy Center, Tsinghua University. His main research directions include: developing advanced electron microscopy methods, focusing on the regulation of atomic energy levels by local symmetry starting from the atomic energy scale, to obtain local charge, orbital, and spin information of materials, establish structure-property relationships of materials in real space, and reveal the functional origins of functional materials. His honors include the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and the Special Award of the 16th China Youth Science and Technology Award. He has published over 1000 SCI papers (including more than 20 in Nature and Science, and over 120 in their sister journals), with over 120,000 citations, an h-factor >190, and has been consecutively named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in the fields of Materials Science and Chemistry.

The lecture focused on “Analyzing Structure-Property Relationships of Materials in Real Space”. Professor Lin Gu began by systematically elucidating the origins of physical properties in materials from the atomic scale. Through the lens of symmetry, he revealed the intrinsic correlations between atomic interactions and structural and electronic characteristics, breaking the traditional cognitive limitations centered around “phases”. Subsequently, he shared a series of cutting-edge research achievements: in the field of solid-state physics, he explored the special behaviors of fractional-dimensional structures, amorphous electronic structures, and novel cluster nodes like tetrahedra; in the realm of functional materials, he analyzed key scientific issues such as 5d electron characteristics, ferroelastic domain switching mechanisms, and defect-induced property regulation, and showcased innovative research on systems like zirconium ferroelectric metastable phases and battery electrode materials. He also proposed a new approach to deduce atomic structures from real-space electronic structures, discussed the potential of reductionism in the quantitative description of materials science, and envisioned a new paradigm for cross-scale materials design in the AI era. Professor Gu engaged in in-depth discussions with the attending faculty and students, meticulously answering their questions, which greatly benefited everyone present. The lecture concluded successfully.