Dr. Shi Shaoxi, the first Chinese Ph. D. in the field of internal combustion engines, founded and pioneered the discipline of Internal Combustion Engines and Engineering Thermal Physics in China. Dr. Shi was among the first group of Doctoral Supervisors appointed by the State Council, and was elected as the Academician of the Chinese Academy of Science. Dr. Shi, born in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, graduated with his Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Mechanics at Peiyang University in 1939. He earned his Ph. D from the University of Manchester, UK, in 1947 and worked as a research fellow at the University of Wales Swansea College. After returning to China, Dr. Shi assumed a professorship at Tianjin University, serving as Director of the National Key Laboratory for Internal Combustion Engines, and made great achievements in his field. He invented the compound combustion system, derived the equation for the particle trajectory in a vortex flow, and proposed the principle of mixed flows. Dr. Shi put forward the theory of mix combustion for diesel engine, created the equation for the velocity distribution of the periodically fluctuating turbulent flow, and found the solution to the dimensionless equation influenced by its frequency, thus overcoming the theoretical and technical difficulties in the designing of laminar flowmeter. Dr. Shi invented and developed the first high speed diesel engine (with speed higher than 3000r/min) in China, and the first two-level free-piston gas generator in China.