Wang Pinxian, male, Han nationality, is a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He graduated from the Geology Department of Moscow University in 1960. Wang spent two years, from 1981 to 1982, conducting research at Kiel University in Germany and won a Humboldt Scholarship award. He is considered an expert on marine geology.
Wang has led research on paleo-oceanography, paleontology of oceanic microbiology and environmental macro-evolvement. He analyzed the distribution and control factors of calcareous microfossils in offshore deposits and discovered the scale effects of the South Sea regarding environmental signals during glaciation cycles.
He is credited with promoting international cooperative efforts concerning abyssal research in marine geology. Wang then presided over deep sea drilling for the first time in sea areas of China.
Wang is an honorary member of the London Geology Society and served as the vice-chairman of the International Ocean Research Committee. He also was chairman of the Chinese Ocean Research Committee. In 1991, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.