Nanjing University

Nanjing University (NJU) is a public research university located in Nanjing and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, China, affiliated and sponsored by the Ministry of Education, a Double First-Class A university, a former Project 985 and Project 211 institution, and a member of the C9 League.南京大学是位于中国江苏省南京市与苏州市的公立研究型大学，由中华人民共和国教育部主管，为双一流 A 类高校、原 985 工程与原 211 工程重点建设高校，也是九校联盟成员。

It was established in 1902 as Sanjiang Normal School and passed through the names Liangjiang Normal School, Nanjing Higher Normal School, National Southeastern University, National Fourth Sun Yat-sen University, Jiangsu University and National Central University before becoming Nanjing University in 1950.学校 1902 年以三江师范学堂创办，其后历经两江师范学堂、南京高等师范学校、国立东南大学、国立第四中山大学、江苏大学与国立中央大学等校名，1950 年定名南京大学。

Its four campuses are Gulou in the city centre, Xianlin in the northeast suburbs, Pukou across the Yangtze and Suzhou in Jiangsu, and in August 2022 it had 40,053 full-time students, including 13,350 undergraduates, 17,201 master's students and 8,385 doctoral students.学校现有鼓楼、仙林、浦口与苏州四个校区，截至 2022 年 8 月有全日制在校生 40 053 人，其中本科生 13 350 人、硕士生 17 201 人、博士生 8 385 人。

History

• The university traces its foundation to 1902, the twenty-eighth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, when Sanjiang Normal School was opened, one of the starting points of modern higher education in China.学校以清光绪二十八年即 1902 年创办的三江师范学堂为源头，是中国近代高等教育的发端之一。

• In 1906, the thirty-second year of Guangxu, the school was reorganised as Liangjiang Normal School, which was suspended for three years after 1911.1906 年即光绪三十二年，学校改组为两江师范学堂，辛亥革命后曾停办三年。

• Nanjing Higher Normal School opened in 1915, the fourth year of the Republic of China, with classes beginning on 10 September and an opening ceremony held on 18 September.南京高等师范学校于民国四年即 1915 年创办，9 月 10 日开学，9 月 18 日举行开校典礼。

• The university song was composed around 1916 for Nanjing Higher Normal School, with the lyrics written by Jiang Qian, the school's first principal, and the music scored by Li Shutong, later known as Hong Yi.学校最早的校歌创作于 1916 年前后，原为南京高等师范学校校歌，由首任校长江谦作词、李叔同制谱，李叔同后出家号弘一。

• In 1921, the tenth year of the Republic, National Southeastern University was founded on the basis of Nanjing Higher Normal School, its constitution being adopted on 6 June, and Nanjing Higher Normal School was absorbed into it in 1923.民国十年即 1921 年，学校在南京高等师范学校基础上成立国立东南大学，6 月 6 日通过组织大纲，1923 年南京高师并入该校。

• On 9 June 1927, in the sixteenth year of the Republic, it was reorganised with National Southeastern University as its main basis into National Fourth Sun Yat-sen University, and in 1928 it became Jiangsu University and then National Central University after a dispute over whether the name should carry the National prefix.民国十六年即 1927 年 6 月 9 日，以国立东南大学为主要基础改组为国立第四中山大学，1928 年先后改名江苏大学与国立中央大学，中间曾因校名是否冠以国立二字引发争议。

• After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 the university moved inland to Chongqing as National Central University, continuing to teach through the wartime years before returning to Nanjing in 1946.1937 年抗日战争爆发后，国立中央大学西迁重庆，在大后方持续办学，1946 年迁回南京。

• In the last year of the Republic of China, in 1949, the school was renamed National Nanjing University, and from 1950 the National prefix was dropped and the name Nanjing University came into use.民国三十八年即 1949 年，学校更名为国立南京大学，1950 年去掉国立二字，径称南京大学并沿用至今。

• It absorbed the University of Nanking in 1952 during the nationwide reorganisation of higher education, which also brought the university's Gulou site into its present shape.1952 年院系调整中，金陵大学并入南京大学，鼓楼校区的格局也由此奠定。

• The university fixed 20 May as its anniversary in 1954 to commemorate the anti-hunger, anti-civil-war and anti-persecution student movement of 1947, whose main participants came from National Central University and the University of Nanking, and the date is now also read as a homophone for I love you.学校 1954 年将 5 月 20 日定为校庆日，以纪念 1947 年爆发的反饥饿、反内战、反迫害学生运动，主体为国立中央大学与金陵大学学生，此后五二〇又被赋予谐音「吾爱您」「我爱你」的含义。

• Presidents have included Liang Xi from 1949 to 1951, Pan Shu from 1951 to 1957, Guo Yingqiu from 1957 to 1963, and Kuang Yaming, who served twice, from 1963 to 1966 and again from 1978 to 1982.历任校长有 1949 至 1951 年的梁希、1951 至 1957 年的潘菽、1957 至 1963 年的郭影秋，以及两度任职的匡亚明，任期为 1963 至 1966 年与 1978 至 1982 年。

• Further presidents include Qu Qinyue from 1984 to 1997, Jiang Shusheng from 1997 to 2006, Chen Jun from 2006 to 2018, Lü Jian from 2018 to 2023 and Tan Zhemin since April 2023.其后历任校长还包括 1984 至 1997 年的曲钦岳、1997 至 2006 年的蒋树声、2006 至 2018 年的陈骏、2018 至 2023 年的吕建，以及 2023 年 4 月起的谈哲敏。

• In the first national civil service examination of the Republic of China in 1931, 25 of the hundred successful candidates were graduates of the school, including the top scorer, while Peking University supplied only eight.民国二十年即 1931 年首届全国高等公务员考试前一百名中，本校毕业者有 25 人，人数居各校之首，状元亦出其中，而北京大学只有 8 人。

• Zhu Kezhen, Li Siguang, Wu Youxun and Tong Dizhou, all of whom either taught or studied at the university, were the four natural scientists who led the Chinese Academy of Sciences when it was founded.竺可楨、李四光、吴有训与童第周或执教或就读于南京大学，是中国科学院建院时四位执掌院务的自然科学领导者。

• The university was reconstituted in 1998 through the merger of the former Nanjing University with the former National Southeastern University, Nanjing Industrial Institute and Nanjing Normal University, a reorganisation that reshaped the higher education map of Jiangsu.1998 年，原南京大学与原国立东南大学、南京工业学院、南京师范大学合并组建新的南京大学，这次重组重塑了江苏高等教育的格局。

• In 2004 the Tang Zhongying Foundation donated 50 million yuan to what became the Nanjing National Laboratory of Microstructure, the first national laboratory to be funded partly by private money, and the laboratory was prepared from 2006 in microelectronics, optoelectronics, nanomaterials and quantum information.2004 年唐仲英基金会捐赠 5000 万元，用于筹建南京微结构国家实验室，这是首个含民间捐助资金来源的国家实验室，该实验室自 2006 年起筹建，研究涵盖微电子、光电子、纳米与量子信息。

• In 2006 Min Nai-ben and colleagues Zhu Yongyuan, Zhu Shining, Lu Yalin and Lu Yanqing completed work on the design, fabrication, properties and application of dielectric superlattice materials that won the National Natural Science Award first prize, the first such prize won independently by a mainland university since 1999.2006 年，闵乃本院士与朱永元、祝世宁、陆亚林、陆延青等教授完成的《介电体超晶格材料的设计、制备、性能和应用》获国家自然科学一等奖，这是 1999 年以来内地高校独立完成的第一个国家自然科学奖一等奖。

• In 2015 the School of Modern Engineering and Applied Science was selected for the national programme promoting model international colleges, and the Xianlin campus, first planned in 2006 and completed in phases from 2009, is the main campus for undergraduates.2015 年，现代工程与应用科学学院入选高校国际化示范学院推动计划，仙林校区于 2006 年开始筹建、2009 年起分期建成，是本科生主校区。

• The Suzhou campus admitted its first undergraduate intake in the autumn of 2022, and those students spent a year of orientation at the Jianxiong College on the Gulou campus before moving in during July 2023.苏州校区于 2022 年秋季招收首批本科新生，这些新生先在鼓楼校区健雄书院接受一年新生教育，2023 年 7 月正式进驻苏州校区。

Academics

• The university runs more than twenty independent schools grouped by discipline, covering literature, history, geography and oceanography, earth sciences, atmospheric science, astronomy and space science, environmental studies, philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry and chemical engineering, biology, medicine, political science, law, business, sociology, information management, journalism and communication, foreign languages, engineering management, architecture and planning, electronics, computer science and engineering and applied science.学校设有二十多个独立的学科类学院，涵盖文学、历史、地理与海洋、地球、大气、天文空间、环境、哲学、数学、物理、化学化工、生物、医学、政治、法、商、社会、信息管理、新闻传播、外国语、工程管理、建筑与规划、电子、计算机以及工程与应用科学等门类。

• According to official figures in 2024 it had 40 departments and schools and 91 undergraduate majors, and it is a Double First-Class university in 15 academic disciplines.据官方口径，2024 年学校共有 40 个院系、91 个本科专业，并在 15 个学科入选双一流建设名单。

• It created the first school of science and the first school of business in Chinese history and established the country's earliest departments of biology, geology, meteorology, psychology, Western literature, architecture, aeronautical engineering, physical education and arts.学校创办了中国历史上第一个文理学院与第一个商学院，并设立了国内最早的生物学系、地学系、气象学系、心理学系、西洋文学系、建筑系、航空工程系、体育科与艺术科。

• In August 2022 it had 40,053 full-time students, made up of 13,350 undergraduates, 17,201 master's students, 8,385 doctoral students and 1,117 international students, and it recruits about 3,000 undergraduates a year, with roughly 30% of them from Jiangsu.截至 2022 年 8 月，学校有全日制在校生 40 053 人，其中本科生 13 350 人、硕士生 17 201 人、博士生 8 385 人、留学生 1117 人，本科招生每年约 3000 人，其中江苏生源约占三成。

• The university employed 2,228 faculty in 2013 and about 4,600 staff in 2011, and as of November 2019 it counted 29 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4 of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and one foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.学校 2013 年有教师 2228 人，2011 年教职员工约 4600 人，截至 2019 年 11 月拥有中国科学院院士 29 人、中国工程院院士 4 人、中国科学院外籍院士 1 人。

• Its talent portfolio included 100 distinguished Changjiang Scholars, 25 Changjiang Scholar lecture professors, 14 young Changjiang Scholars, 133 holders of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 91 of the Excellent Young Scientists Fund and 98 chief scientists of major national programmes.学校人才队伍中有长江学者奖励计划特聘教授 100 人、讲座教授 25 人、青年长江学者 14 人，国家杰出青年基金获得者 133 人、优秀青年科学基金获得者 91 人，担任国家科技重大专项等重大项目首席科学家 98 人次。

• Its research infrastructure comprises one national laboratory in preparation, seven state key laboratories, 15 ministry and provincial key laboratories, 21 national and ministerial engineering centres, 27 key humanities and social science bases and more than 200 research institutes in all.学校现有 1 个国家实验室（筹）、7 个国家重点实验室、15 个部省重点实验室、21 个国家和部省工程中心、人文社会科学领域 27 个各类重点研究基地，全校另设有 200 多个研究机构。

• The Solid State Microstructure Physics Laboratory was named by Nature in 1997 as one of two East Asian laboratories outside Japan approaching world-class standing, and it ranked first on the Science magazine list of China's first-class laboratories.南京大学固体微结构物理实验室曾于 1997 年被英国《自然》杂志列为除日本外东亚地区最接近世界级水平的两个实验室之一，并在《科学》杂志依据美国科学情报研究所资料所做的中国一流实验室排名中位居第一。

• Named facilities include the National Genetically Engineered Mouse Resource, the largest of its kind in China and the largest gene knockout technology service centre in Asia, and the Nanjing University solar telescope, the only one of its type in China.学校拥有具名设施包括国家遗传工程小鼠资源库，为国内规模最大的同类资源中心与亚洲最大的基因剔除技术服务中心，以及全国唯一的太阳塔望远镜南京大学太阳塔。

• The Herbarium was built on the work of China's first generation botanists, including Hu Xiansu, Qian Chongshu, Chen Huanyong, Qin Renchang, Zheng Wanjun and Zhang Zhaoqian, and the university also operates a meteorological observatory rebuilt on the site of China's first modern one.南京大学植物标本室奠基胡先驌、钱崇澍、陈焕镛、秦仁昌、郑万钧、张肇骞等中国现代第一代植物学家的工作，学校还在中国现代第一个气象测候站的历史渊源上复建了气象台。

• The Nanjing University and Johns Hopkins University Sino-American Cultural Research Centre, founded in the 1980s, has run for more than forty years as one of the earliest long-term higher education cooperation programmes after reform and opening, and further joint institutes exist with Göttingen, Southampton, Cambridge, Paris and Helsinki.始建于二十世纪八十年代的南京大学与约翰斯·霍普金斯大学中美文化研究中心已成功举办四十余年，是中国改革开放后最早实施的高等教育国际合作长期项目，学校还与哥廷根、南安普顿、剑桥、巴黎与赫尔辛基各大学设有联合研究机构。

• The Advanced Science Forum is co-hosted with National Taiwan University, joined by the National University of Singapore in 2002 and National Central University in Taiwan in 2009, and a tripartite forum in humanities and social sciences is run with National Central University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.尖端科学研讨会由南京大学与台湾大学合作主办，2002 年新加坡国立大学加入主办方，2009 年台湾中央大学加入，另与台湾中央大学、香港中文大学合办两岸三地人文社会科学论坛。

• In 2009 Qiu Jinyi received a doctorate in history at the age of 73, the oldest person ever awarded a doctoral degree in the university's history, and the School of Philosophy, the School of Mathematics and the School of Computer Science were all converted to school status in July 2024.2009 年邱进益以 73 岁高龄获得历史学博士学位，成为校史上被授予博士学位的最年长者，哲学系、数学系与计算机系于 2024 年 7 月统一改称学院。

• The medical side runs affiliated hospitals including Gulou Hospital, Jinling Hospital, which is Nanjing General Hospital, and the Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, and the university also maintains an affiliated high school and Dingjiaqiao Primary School.医学院设有附属鼓楼医院、金陵医院（南京总医院）与南京市口腔医院等附属医院，学校另设有附属中学与丁家桥小学。

• The current motto was adopted at the centenary celebrations in 2002 under the leadership of the president Jiang Shusheng, following wide consultation among faculty and students, and earlier mottos had included one that could be made of vegetable roots and great deeds, sincerity, aiming at the highest good, and sincerity with aspiration.现行校训于 2002 年百年校庆期间在蒋树声校长主导下，经广泛征求师生意见后确定，此前学校先后用过嚼得菜根做得大事、诚、止于至善与诚朴雄伟等校训。

Campus

• The Gulou campus stands at 22 Hankou Road in the Gulou District at the centre of Nanjing, where Hankou Road divides the site into a south garden used for student residences and a north garden used for teaching and research, and it covers nearly 800 mu and is served by metro lines 1 and 2.鼓楼校区位于南京市中心鼓楼区汉口路 22 号，汉口路把校区分为南园与北园，南园为学生宿舍生活区，北园为教学科研区，面积近 800 亩，可乘地铁一号线与二号线到达。

• On the eastern side of the north garden are the former site of the University of Nanking, listed in 2006 as a national key cultural heritage site in the sixth batch, and within the Jinling Gardens stands the Beida Building, now the university's best known landmark.北园东部为金陵大学旧址，2006 年列为第六批全国重点文物保护单位，北园内金陵苑一带的中式建筑群中，北大楼已成为南京大学的标志性建筑。

• Other named places on the Gulou campus include the former residence of Sun Yat-sen in the south garden, the John Rabe Residence with its International Safety Zone memorial hall, the Pearl S. Buck residence, the He Yingqin residence, and the university's archaeology and art museum, earth science museum and university history museum.鼓楼校区其他具名场所包括南园的孙中山就任中华民国临时大总统时的旧居、设有拉贝国际安全区纪念馆的拉贝故居、赛珍珠故居、何应钦故居，以及南京大学考古与艺术博物馆、地球科学博物馆与校史博物馆。

• The Xianlin campus is at 163 Xianlin Avenue in the Qixia District, 18 kilometres from Gulou and served by the metro station on line 2, and it was first planned in 2006 with 3,000 mu of land acquired of which about 1,000 mu forms the first phase construction land, its Du Xia Library holding 5 million volumes.仙林校区位于栖霞区仙林大道 163 号，距鼓楼校区 18 公里，地铁二号线设有南大仙林校区站，2006 年开始筹建，先期征地 3000 亩，其中一期建设用地约 1000 亩，校内杜厦图书馆藏书 500 万册。

• The Pukou campus opened in 1993 at 8 Xuefu Road on the north bank of the Yangtze, covers 2,848 mu and is backed by Longwang Mountain, and it became the campus of Jinling University in 2009 before serving again since 2022 as graduate accommodation for schools such as mathematics.浦口校区 1993 年启用，位于长江北岸浦口区学府路 8 号，占地 2848 亩，背靠龙王山，2009 年曾作为金陵学院校园，2022 年起重新作为数学学院等院系研究生的宿舍。

• The Suzhou campus lies in the Suzhou High-Tech Zone along Taifu Boulevard, covers about 2,000 mu, and received its first undergraduate intake in 2022 with the eastern section opening first while the western section is still under construction.苏州校区位于苏州高新区太湖大道一带，占地约 2000 亩，2022 年迎来第一批本科新生，目前仅有东区开放，西区仍在建设中。

• In total the university operates four campuses, with Gulou and Xianlin reachable on metro lines 1 and 2, Pukou requiring a bus connection because it has no nearby metro station, and Suzhou far enough away to require travel across municipalities.学校共设四个校区，鼓楼与仙林可乘地铁一号线与二号线换乘抵达，浦口校区附近没有地铁站需转乘公交，苏州校区距主校区较远需跨市交通。

• The university holds more than 300,000 thread-bound volumes of ancient books, including over 500 titles and more than 10,000 copies entered in the national list of rare books, together with more than 4,000 local gazetteers in about 40,000 volumes.学校图书馆藏古籍线装书 30 余万册，其中列入全国善本书目的有 500 多种、1 万余册，另收藏地方志 4000 余种约 4 万册。

Reputation

• In the 2027 QS World University Rankings Nanjing University is placed 90th in the world.在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中，南京大学位列世界第 90 位。

• In the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings it is placed 59th, which was seventh in China and thirteenth in Asia, and in the 2024 edition of that ranking it had stood at 73rd.在 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名中，南京大学位列世界第 59 位，为中国第 7、亚洲第 13，该校在 2024 年版排名中曾位列第 73 位。

• In the 2026 to 2027 U.S. News and World Report Best Global Universities ranking it is placed 77th.在 2026 至 2027 年度《美国新闻与世界报道》全球最佳大学排名中，南京大学位列世界第 77 位。

• The Academic Ranking of World Universities 2026 does not list the university, so no position is recorded for it in that ranking here.上海软科世界大学学术排名 2026 版未收录该校，故此处不记录其在该榜单中的位次。

• The Nature Index Annual Table 2025 placed it seventh in the world and sixth in China and the Asia-Pacific region, while the 2017 tables had it twelfth in the world, second in China after Peking University and third in the Asia-Pacific, ahead of institutions such as Caltech and Nanyang Technological University.2025 年自然指数年度榜单中，南京大学位居全球第 7、中国与亚太第 6，2017 年榜单中则列全球第 12、中国第 2、全国仅次北京大学、亚太第 3，排在加州理工学院、南洋理工大学等校之前。

• More than twenty Nobel laureates hold honorary professorships at the university, and the former German chancellor Angela Merkel was awarded an honorary doctorate by it.南京大学有超过二十位诺贝尔奖得主担任荣誉教授，德国前总理默克尔也曾获该校授予名誉博士学位。

• Its Chinese literature department has kept a top two national position, level with or just behind Peking University, and it supervised the country's first doctorate in Chinese literature, awarded to the professor Mo Lifeng.南京大学中文系长期保持全国前两名，与北京大学并列第一或仅次于北京大学，该系还培养出全国第一位中文博士莫砺锋教授。

• In the OpenAlex database the university is recorded under the identifier I881766915 with 207,940 works and 18,713,015 citations attributed to its authors.在 OpenAlex 数据库中，学校登记标识为 I881766915，收录论文 207 940 篇，作者累计被引 18 713 015 次。

• Of the 53 natural scientists first elected as academicians of the Academia Sinica, 28 were graduates or members of staff of this university, and by 2007, 210 of the 1,107 academicians elected by the Chinese Academy of Sciences were its alumni.中央研究院首届选出的 53 位科学领域院士中，28 位曾毕业或执教于南京大学，到 2007 年中国科学院 1107 名院士中，南京大学校友有 210 人。

• Since the restoration of the national entrance examination in 1977, its undergraduate alumni have led Chinese universities in the number elected as academicians, and the university has been a Double First-Class A institution throughout the scheme that replaced Projects 985 and 211.1977 年恢复高考以来，南大本科毕业生当选院士数在国内高校中名列第一；在取代 985 与 211 工程的新一轮布局中，学校一直是双一流 A 类高校。

Student life

• The motto of the university is expressed in Chinese as cheng pu xiong wei, li xue dun xing, rendered in English as sincerity with aspiration, perseverance with integrity, with the first half taken from the National Central University period.学校校训以中文写作诚朴雄伟、励学敦行，英文释义为 sincerity with aspiration 与 perseverance with integrity，其中前半句取自国立中央大学时期的办学传统。

• Students are generally resident on campus in rooms of two to twelve, with about 1,200 yuan of accommodation fee a year, and the university's affiliated high school and Dingjiaqiao Primary School sit close to the Gulou campus.学生一般住校，宿舍每间 2 至 12 人，年住宿费约 1200 元，南京大学附属中学与丁家桥小学也紧邻鼓楼校区。

• The university operates the Jianxiong College on the Gulou campus, which delivered a year of root-seeking orientation to the students admitted to the Suzhou campus in 2022 before they moved across province.学校在鼓楼校区设有健雄学院，2022 年入读苏州校区的新生先在此接受一年的「寻根」教育，之后才跨省迁入苏州校区。

• Campus life is described by a long list of recurring events, including spring and autumn sports meetings, a Chinese drama festival, a foreign language drama festival, symphony concerts, a singing competition, debates, painting exhibitions and photography exhibitions.校园生活以众多周期性活动著称，包括春季运动会、秋季运动会、中文戏剧节、外语戏剧节、交响音乐会、十大歌星赛、辩论赛、绘画展与摄影展等。

• Nearly one hundred student societies are active, among them the National Studies Society, the Ningmou Literature Society, the traditional orchestra, the guqin club, the kunqu club, the astronomy enthusiasts association, the debating association and the martial arts association.学校活跃着近百个学生社团，包括国学社、凝眸文学社、民乐团、古琴社、昆曲社、天文爱好者协会、辩论协会与武术协会等。

• Historically influential societies included the history and geography society, the literature society, the Qian Society, the Plum Society, the White Snow national music society, the Purple Cloud qu Society and the student self-government association, though few of them were carried forward.历史上颇具影响的社团包括史地研究会、文学研究会、潜社、梅社、白雪国乐社、紫霞曲社与学生自治会，但大多未能长期延续。

• The student community also runs the Xiaobaili BBS forum, which became one of the best known online venues of Chinese university life.学生社群还运营小百合 BBS 论坛，一度成为中国大学生活中最具影响力的网络空间之一。

Notable people

• Chien-Shiung Wu, an alumna of the university, was an experimental physicist known as the queen of nuclear physics and received the first Wolf Prize in Physics in 1975.吴健雄是该校女校友中的物理学家，被称为物理界第一夫人，1975 年获颁首届沃尔夫物理学奖。

• Li Shengjiao, an alumnus, was a diplomat and international lawyer who was the principal drafter of the Chinese text of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.厉声教是该校校友，外交家与国际法学家，是《联合国海洋法公约》中文本的主要起草人。

• Wu Youxun, a member of faculty, verified the Compton effect in experiments and was a founding figure of modern Chinese physics research.吴有训在校执教，他以实验验证了艾克斯射线散射效应即康普顿效应，是中国现代物理研究的开创者之一。

• Zhao Zhongyao, an alumnus, made the earliest observation of electron and positron annihilation and is known as the father of Chinese atomic energy.赵忠尧是该校校友，最早观测到正负电子湮灭现象，被称为中国原子能之父。

• Zhu Kezhen and Tong Dizhou, who taught or studied at the university, were among the four natural scientists who led the Chinese Academy of Sciences at its foundation, alongside its first directors.竺可楨与童第周或执教或就读于南京大学，与吴有训等同为中国科学院建院时四位执掌院务的自然科学领导者。

• Min Nai-ben, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a member of faculty, led the team whose work on dielectric superlattice materials won the National Natural Science Award first prize in 2006.闵乃本是中国科学院院士并长期在校任教，他主持完成的介电体超晶格材料研究获 2006 年国家自然科学一等奖。

• Feng Kang, an alumnus, was a computational mathematician who founded the finite element method, and one of six recipients or lead recipients of the National Natural Science Award first prize who had studied at the university.冯康是该校校友，计算数学家，有限元方法的创始人，也是国家自然科学一等奖得主或第一得奖人中曾就读于南京大学的六人之一。

• Zeng Liansong, an alumnus, designed the Five-star Red Flag that has been the national flag of the People's Republic of China since 1949.曾联松是该校校友，五星红旗的设计者，该旗自 1949 年起为中华人民共和国国旗。

• Jiang Zemin, an alumnus, served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of the People's Republic of China.江泽民是该校校友，曾任中国共产党中央总书记与中华人民共和国主席。

• Other alumni include Zhu Guangya, the nuclear physicist and first president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Lu Xiaotong, chief design engineer of the Apollo programme, Li Guoding, the architect of Taiwan's economic miracle, Jin Shanbao, founder of modern Chinese wheat science, Xia Peisu, pioneer of Chinese computer science, Zhang Disheng, father of plastic surgery in China, and Luo Fuxin, China's first blind university student.其他知名校友包括核物理学家与中国工程院首任院长朱光亚、美国阿波罗计划工程技术总设计师陆孝同、缔造台湾经济奇迹的李国鼎、中国现代小麦科学奠基人金善宝、中国计算机科学先行者夏培肃、中国整复外科之父张涤生，以及中国第一位盲人大学生罗福鑫。