Li Siguang (1889-1971) was a Chinese geologist who contributed to the sciences of paleontology (study of fossils), glaciology (study of glaciers), and seismology (study of earthquakes). Li Siguang founded geological mechanics, the branch of geology that deals with stresses and strains. His theories of geological mechanics played a vital part in the discovery of several large oil fields in China. His main works included Quaternary Glaciation in the Lushan Area, Central China (1947), and Introduction to Geomechanics (1962).
Li Siguang was born in Huanggang County, Hubei province. He studied science in Japan and the United Kingdom. In 1920, he became a professor in the geology department of Beijing University. In 1927, he was appointed director of the Institute of Geology of Academia Sinica, a research institution then in Nanjing. After the Communists established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he became minister of geology in the new government.
