Researcher, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences (IEAS), and former President of the Botanical Society of China. She graduated from the Department of Soil and Agricultural Chemistry, Beijing Agricultural University in 1956, and obtained her doctoral degree from Moscow State University of the former Soviet Union in 1962. After returning to China, she started working at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. From 1980 to 1981, she served as a visiting scholar at the Plant Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Michigan State University (USA), and was awarded the "Distinguished Visiting Scholar" certificate by the university. She pioneered the research field of photosynthetic membrane pigment proteins in China. She once held positions as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for Photosynthesis Research (ISPR) and Deputy Director of the Biology Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Kuang Tingyun has long been engaged in photosynthesis research. She has won the Second Class Award of the National Natural Science Award of China three times, along with multiple other awards such as the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and provincial/municipal-level awards. Together with her collaborators, she has made major breakthroughs in this field on multiple occasions. The achievements of Academician Kuang Tingyun and her collaborative team were respectively selected into "Top 10 Progresses in Chinese Science 2019", "Top 10 News of Chinese Science Progress 2019", "Top 10 Marine Science and Technology Progresses in China", and "Top 10 Progresses in Chinese Life Sciences 2015/2019" (twice). These achievements have enabled China to occupy an important position in the international research field of photosynthetic membrane structure and function. Academician Kuang Tingyun has served as a judge and deputy director for various national and Beijing municipal science and technology award ceremonies for teenagers, and has participated in the evaluation of the Beijing Mayor's Award for Middle School Students on multiple occasions. She has delivered more than 100 popular science lectures to people from all walks of life and teenagers, and has written popular science books and articles. She has been honored with titles such as "Popular Science Image Ambassador" at the Popular Science into Communities Conference, "Beijing Advanced Worker in Popular Science", "National Advanced Worker in Popular Science", and "2021 Science Popularization China Annual Figure in Scientific Research and Popular Science". In 2019, she won the "Outstanding Achievement Award" at the International Conference on Sustainable Development of Photosynthesis and Hydrogen Energy Research, and the "Outstanding Contribution Award" from the Asia-Oceania Society for Photobiology (AOSP). In 2020, she received the "Lifetime Contribution Award" from the Chinese Society for Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology. In 2023, she was awarded the "Outstanding Merit Award" by the Botanical Society of China.