Chen Ning Yang, Nobel laureate and one of the world's most influential physicists, has died at the age of 103, according to Chinese state media.
An obituary released by CCTV cited illness as the cause of death.
Yang and fellow theoretical physicist, Lee Tsung-Dao, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957 for their work in parity laws, which led to important discoveries regarding elementary particles—the building blocks of matter.
Yang was also a professor at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University and an honorary dean of the Institute for Advanced Study at the institution.
Born in 1922 in China's eastern Anhui province, he was raised on the campus of Tsinghua University where his father was a professor of mathematics. As a teenager, Yang expressed his aspiration to win a Nobel Prize, a dream he achieved at the age of 35.
His career was marked by significant achievements, including the Albert Einstein Commemorative Award in 1957 and an honorary doctorate from Princeton University in 1958.
Yang's marriage to Chih Li Tu in 1950 brought three children, and after her death in 2003, he married Weng Fan, a partner he described as his 'final blessing from God.'
