Linhua Shan was a 26-year-old research investigator in physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa and had earned his Ph.D. there in May 1991. His dissertation on the structure of Saturn’s ring system won the D.C. Spriestersbach Dissertation Award, and he lived in Iowa City with his wife.

On the afternoon of Friday, November 1, 1991, Shan was attending a weekly seminar on the third floor of Van Allen Hall when a former graduate student, Gang Lu, stood up and began shooting with a .38-caliber revolver. Shan was one of the first people shot and killed in the room. Lu then went to another campus building, where he killed an administrator, wounded a student employee, and died by suicide. Investigators recovered five letters Lu had written in advance that described his plans and motives, supporting that the attack was premeditated.

If anyone knew Linhua Shan, his work or his time at the university, please share memories or information that might help others remember him.