Zhou Xiuji was born in Danyang, Jiangsu Province on September 24, 1932. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991. His grandfather was a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. He died in Japanese artillery fire in 1937. His maternal grandfather was a calligrapher and painter who made a living by art and was an honest and upright man. His father, Zhou Rucheng, worked diligently to start a business. He went from being an apprentice to a clerk to a businessman, and started operating the silk and cotton industry in 1946. Mother is kind and virtuous. The moral character of ancestors and parents had a great influence on Zhou Xiuji's thoughts and character. Zhou Xiuji is the eldest among five siblings and has received a good education since childhood. Married Ma Jin in 1962 and had two daughters. Ma Jin is a researcher and structural geologist at the Institute of Geology of the State Seismological Administration. In 1988, he was awarded the national title of "Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions". In 1997, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

After graduating from Shanghai Sino-French Middle School (now Guangming Middle School) in 1950, Zhou Xiuji, with the ambition to devote himself to science, went to the Institute of Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing in April of the following year. As a trainee, he worked diligently to learn meteorological knowledge by himself while collecting meteorological data. His enterprising spirit was appreciated and trained by the director, Professor Zhao Jiuzhang, who was good at recognizing talents. In 1952, he was sent to the Department of Physics of Peking University to participate in a scientific research cooperation project. He carried out observation and analysis of atmospheric ozone, transparency and extinction coefficient, and has since been involved in the work of pioneering modern atmospheric physics in my country. This world-famous academic institution provided him with good conditions for self-study. He made full use of all his spare time to attend basic courses in the Department of Physics, and achieved excellent results in his undergraduate major in just three and a half years. In September 1956, upon the recommendation of Director Zhao Jiuzhang, he was sent to the Institute of Applied Geophysics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences to pursue graduate studies. He studied under the famous atmospheric physicist, Academician Fedorov, Secretary-General of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and engaged in warm cloud precipitation experiments and theory. Research. In 1962, he received an associate doctorate in mathematics and science from the Soviet Union. His thesis was "Study on the influence of electric charge on the collision of cloud droplets in warm clouds."

In the late 1950s, he first developed the concept that the fluctuations caused by turbulent motion in clouds would accelerate the collision and growth of water droplets of different scales, and then proposed the fluctuation and growth theory of warm cloud precipitation. In 1963, due to his outstanding achievements in theoretical research on warm cloud precipitation, he was promoted to associate researcher at the Institute of Geophysics, where he led and engaged in physical research on cloud precipitation. Together with Professor Gu Zhenchao, he perfected the theory of fluctuations in warm cloud precipitation. In 1964, the Chinese Academy of Sciences awarded him the honorable title of Advanced Worker of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in recognition of his outstanding achievements and rigorous and modest academic spirit in establishing the "Warm Cloud Precipitation Fluctuation Growth Theory" and was hailed as a "new generation". His representative work "Research on the Microphysical Mechanism of Warm Cloud Precipitation" has reached the international advanced level. This theoretical research result won the National Science Conference Award in 1978 and the fourth prize of the National Natural Science Award in 1987.

At the same time, Zhou Xiuji was responsible for the creation of atmospheric electricity in our country. In 1963, in order to explore the need for real-time forecasting of strong convective weather and prevention of forest fires, he chose thundercloud physics as a new breakthrough and began to study He conducted research on the mutual constraints between lightning and precipitation, the thundercloud lightning mechanism and its influencing methods, and the electromagnetic radiation effect of thunderclouds. He proposed a new theoretical scheme for single-station lightning measurement, and led the completion of the comprehensive thundercloud detection system. and the Lightning Physics Simulation Laboratory. This played an important role in introducing modern scientific and technological means and mathematical physics achievements into atmospheric physics research. This academic thought formed an important basis for his atmospheric remote sensing research in the mid-to-late 1960s.

In 1964, according to the needs of military meteorological development, he was responsible for presiding over the research on laser atmospheric remote sensing, and organized the development of laser meteorological radar in 1966. Thus began the theoretical and experimental research on atmospheric remote sensing.

From 1966 to 1981, he served as the director of the First Research Office of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, and was promoted to researcher in 1979. While serving as deputy director and director of the institute from 1981 to 1984, he made important contributions to the development and application experiments of laser, atmospheric remote sensing, atmospheric optical remote sensing, microwave remote sensing theory and technology. In 1982, he edited The book "Principles of Atmospheric Microwave Radiation and Remote Sensing". The book clearly embodies his academic thought of consistently advocating the combination of physical principles, new technology development and the characteristics of the earth's atmosphere. It comprehensively and systematically summarizes his application of atmospheric microwave radiation theory, and proposes the vertical relationship between atmospheric temperature, water vapor, wind and turbulence intensity. Achievements in the principles and inversion schemes of profiles, theories in the fields of microwave remote sensing of clouds and precipitation, and related instrument development and application research. Among them, the research results of laser atmospheric remote sensing won the second prize of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Major Achievement Award in 1981, and the research on atmospheric microwave radiation and remote sensing principles won the third prize of the National Natural Science Award in 1989. During this period, he also began working on the nonlinear dynamics of the atmosphere.

In 1979, the Chinese Academy of Sciences approved the construction of the stratospheric scientific balloon project. Zhou Xiuji successively served as a member of the project leading group and the overall project leader. The first phase of the project was completed in 1984, establishing my country's first high-altitude scientific balloon project. The balloon technology system enables our country to have a balloon distribution capacity of 20x104m3, provides 5-10 scientific test opportunities every year, and provides a very convenient space vehicle for carrying out space astronomy, atmospheric detection, earth remote sensing and technical experiments. This project won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 1995.