Cai Liusheng ( Chinese: 蔡鎦生; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhòa Liû-seng; 18 September 1902 – 24 October 1983) was a Chinese physical chemist and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was one of the founders of catalytic kinetics in China. ^[1] He was a delegate to the 3rd and 5th National People's Congress.

Cai was born into a peasant family in Quanzhou, Fujian, on 18 September 1902. He studied at Peiyuan High School (培元中学). ^[1] He became fascinated by chemistry in childhood. ^[1] In 1924, he graduated from Yenching University, where he majored in the Chemistry. ^[1]

He arrived in the United States in 1929 to begin his education at the University of Chicago. ^[1] He returned to China after his graduation and worked at his alma mater. ^[1] In the spring of 1948, he was invited to the University of Washington as a visiting scholar. In 1949, he gave up the opportunity to be employed as a professor at the Graduate School of St. Louis Medical University and returned to China to become director of the Department of Chemistry at Yanjing University. ^[1]

In 1952, in response to the call of the Communist government, he went to Northeast Renmin University (later restructured as Jilin University), where he cooperated with Tang Aoqing, Guan Shizhi and Tao Weisun [ zh] to establish the Department of Chemistry. ^[2] He joined the Communist Party on 4 May 1982.

On 24 October 1983, he died of illness in Changchun, Jilin, aged 81. ^[1]

• 1957 Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

• Biography of Cai Liusheng on the official website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (in Chinese)