1920 Dr. Coching Chu, a prominent Chinese meteorologist, geologist, and educator, was invited by Bingwen Guo, the former president, to teach at Nanjing Higher Normal School, one of the predecessors of Nanjing University.

1921 Nanjing Higher Normal School was evolved into National Southeast University, where the Department of Geoscience was established. Chu, as the director, began to offer meteorologist courses.

1924 The Department established three research disciplines in Geology, Meteorology, and Geography. Among them was the earliest Meteorology Major in China and was the basis of the country's first department of Meteorology.

1928 National Central University was founded, in which the research disciplines of the Geoscience Department turned into Geological Mineral and Geographical Meteorology. The same year witnessed the establishment of Academia Sinica. and Coching Chu served as director of the Chinese Institute of Meteorology of the Academia Sinica. Academia Sinica later became the predecessor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences of the People's Republic of China.

1930 The Department of Geoscience was being divided into the Geology Department and Geography Department. Huanyong Hu worked as the dean of the Geography Department. It was comprised of the disciplines in Geography and Meteorology.

1944 The meteorology discipline was evolved into an independent department, the Department of Meteorology. It is the first department of Meteorology in China, and Xiaqian Huang is the first department head.

1949 Changwang Tu became the head of the Department of Meteorology when National Central University was renamed National Nanjing University.

1952 During the nationwide restructuring of universities and colleges, the meteorology faculties of Zhejiang University and Cheeloo University were integrated into Nanjing University. Meanwhile, China's first Climatology Major was set up at Nanjing University.

1958 The first Atmospheric Physics major was set up at Nanjing University.

1978 Department of Meteorology continued to enroll undergraduates and postgraduates when the National College Entrance Examination was officially resumed.

1983 Disciplines of Climate Dynamics and Climatology were awarded as China's national key disciplines. The doctoral degree programs of these two disciplines were set up.

1986 The Department of Meteorology was renamed the Department of Atmospheric Sciences when the first Atmospheric Environment major in the nation was established.

1988 The Meteorology Discipline of Nanjing University was awarded as China's national key disciplines.

1996 The Meteorology/Atmospheric Science program at Nanjing University established its post-doctoral research station.

1999 The Department was authorized to confer the first-level discipline Master Degree for Atmospheric Science.

2000 Key Laboratory of Mesoscale Severe Weather (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education (LMSWE), was established.

2006 Discipline of applied meteorology for undergraduates was founded. Later that year, the discipline of atmospheric science for undergraduates became Famous Brand Discipline of Jiangsu Province.

2008 The Atmospheric Science Program for undergraduates become a national base for research and education in fundamental sciences. Later that year, the Department of Meteorology was transferred to the new School of Atmospheric Sciences, which was comprised of Department of Meteorology and Department of Atmospheric physics.

2009 Institute for Climate and Global Change Research was established.

2010 The meteorological observatory was upgraded and modernized.

2012 Station for Observing Regional Processes of the Earth System(SORPES) was established.

2013 The School, collaborated with 7 universities and 4 research institutes across the nation, established Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Climate Change.

2015 The Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences was established.

2016 The CMA-NJU Joint Laboratory for Climate Prediction Studies and CMA-NJU Joint Center for Atmospheric Radar Research were established.

History of Deanship

	Coching Chu (竺可桢) Directorship: 1921-1935 An academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, a prominent Chinese meteorologist,  geologist and educator, and the founder of China's modern geology and meteorology.
	Xiaqian Huang (黄厦千) Directorship: 1944-1948 The first Director of the Department of Meteorology. After his return from the US in 1939, he began to offer courses of meteorological measurements, weather forecast, upper atmosphere exploration, and aeronautical meteorology at National Central University.
	Changwang Tu (涂长望) Directorship: 1949-1950 A renowned meteorologist. After his return from the UK, Tu set up the Chinese Association of Scientists, and took part in the preparations for founding Jiusan Society. He once worked as the administrator of Meteorological Administration of the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the CPC, and the administrator of China Meteorological Administration.
	Binghai Zhu (朱炳海) Directorship: 1950-1958 Zhu, born in 1908, attended National Central University and studied at the department of geoscience. After his graduation, he worked in Chinese Institute of Meteorology of Academia Sinica and stayed there for five years. In 1936, he began to work as a lecturer at the department of geography of National Central University. Zhu's publications include Weather Proverbs, Meteorology Dictionary, etc.
	Er'hao Xu (徐尔灏) Directorship: 1958-1970 After his return from the UK in 1948, he worked as an associate professor at the meteorology department of National Central University. He taught courses of climate dynamics, meteorological statistics, etc.
	Shisong Huang (黄士松) Directorship: 1977-1983 Huang served as the honorary director of Chinese Meteorology Society. His mentor was Changwang Tu. Huang majored on low latitude atmospheric circulation, East Asian monsoon circulation, and the causes of severe weather and climate.
	Yu'rong Lu (陆渝蓉) Directorship: 1983-1984 Lu served as Secretary of the CPC Nanjing University Committee, and the chairperson of NJU Alumni Association. She majored on the fields of climate change, alleviation and disaster prevention, Atmospheric energy balance and water circulation. Lu's publications include Water Environment Research and Climatology.
	Rongsheng Wu (伍荣生) Directorship: 1984-1993 Wu graduated from Nanjing University in 1956. He served as an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, a professor and Ph.D. supervisor of School of Atmospheric Sciences. He also worked as the director of Chinese Meteorology Society, and later the honorary director of it.
	Yunqi Ni (倪允琪) Deanship: 1993-1997 Ni served as director of Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, and as a chief scientist in China's 973 “Rainstorm Research” Project. He has engaged in the field of climate dynamics for many years, thus making him a renowned expert and a leading role to it.
	Weimei Jiang (蒋维楣) Deanship: 1997-1998 As a professor and Ph.D. supervisor, Jiang once worked as Executive Director for the Department of Meteorology. His research fields include air pollution modeling and atmospheric environment. His publications include Fundamentals of the Prediction and Prevention of Air Pollution, A Textbook for the Meteorology of Air Pollution, and Fundamentals of Boundary-Layer Meteorology.
	Zhemin Tan (谈哲敏) Deanship: 1998-2006 Tan is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor of Nanjing University. He is a recipient of the National Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award, and the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. As an MOE Changjiang Scholar professor, Tan serves as chairperson of Advisory Committee for Atmospheric Science Education (Ministry of Education).
	Xiuqun Yang (杨修群) Deanship: 2006-2018 Yang is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor of Nanjing University; Director of Institute of Severe Weather and Climate; An MOE Trans-Century Talent; A National Nominee for the First Batch of Trans-Century Million Talents Project of China; A recipient of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars; A chief scientist of the 973 Project of China.
	Aijun Ding(丁爱军) Deanship: 2018-current Ding is a professor, a Ph.D. supervisor, and also the current dean of SAS. He is a recipient of the National & Jiangsu Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and Outstanding Youth Science Fund. He is the director of a National Key R&D Program of China. He is also a nominee for the Trans-Century Million Talents Project of China and a distinguished scholar of 'Deng Feng' Program of NJU. He has been focusing his research on Air Pollution Meteorology, Observation and Simulation of Interaction of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Secretaries of the CPC School of Atmospheric Sciences Committee

    1955 - 1958  Jiamei Wang

    1958 - 1961  Ling Bai

    1961 - 1964  Shuzhen Zhang

    1964 - 1973  Henian Yao

    1973 - 1983  Jiaji Xie

    1983 - 1991  Kewei Li

    1991 - 1993  Boping Yan

    1993 - 2011  Xiaoru Wang

    2011 - 2022  Yinong Pan

    2023 - current Shiyao Lin