Zhou Mingzhen

Zhou Mingzhen or Chow Min-chen (Chinese周 明 镇, Pinyin Zhou Mingzhen; * 1918, † 1996) was a Chinese vertebrate paleontologist and geologist.

Zhou graduated in 1943 at the University of Chongqing, and made in 1948 at the University of Miami his master's degree. In 1950 he received his doctorate at Lehigh University. After he returned to China, he conducted research at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and curator at the Natural History Museum in Beijing.

Zhou specialized in the early mammalian fauna of the Tertiary and discovered the first mammalian remains from the Paleocene in China. He worked alongside his paleontological work well with the history of paleontology in China; he wrote about over the course of the exploration of Homo erectus from Zhoukoudian.

He was since 1980 a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was the 1993 recipient of the Romer -Simpson Medal, a prestigious award in the vertebrate paleontology. In 1979 he was elected director of the breast logical Society of China, the promotion of Mammalogy ( Mammalogy ) is dedicated to China. In 1979 he became an honorary member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

He was married to Chai Meichen (1917-1993), the couple had two children.