Liu Gang (born 30 January 1961) is a Chinese scientist and revolutionary who founded the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation. He was a prominent student leader at the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Liu holds a M.A. in physics from Peking University and a M.A. in computer science from Columbia University. After his exile to the United States in 1996, Liu studied technology and physics at Bell Labs in New Jersey. Liu was employed at Morgan Stanley as a Wall Street IT analyst. Student activist As an undergraduate student at University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Liu met Fang Lizhi, a pro-democracy activist. Then, at Peking University, Liu organized "Democracy Salons". Wang Dan later held a position there. Liu was a 28-year-old graduate when the 1989 demonstrations began. He organized the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation and joined the movement's organizing body. As a result, he was sixth on a list of twenty-one activists whose arrests were ordered by the government. Liu went into hiding as a fugitive, but on 15 June 1989, Liu was arrested and charged with attempted subversion of the Communist Party of China. In 1991, he was convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment at Qincheng Prison. After his release from prison in 1996, Liu continued to advocate for human rights in China and organized an underground democracy movement. After moving to the United States, Liu continued his studies at Columbia University in New York City. From there, he continued to support the Chinese democracy movement and in 2011, initiated further pro-democracy protests. Scientific research China In 1982, Liu received a bachelor's degree in modern mechanics from the University of Science and Technology of China. He was employed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China in Shenyang in the field of aerodynamics. He worked in partnership with Luo Yang, and was promoted to head of aircraft design. Liu's field of research was the theory of air resistance, and he worked on problems of double-sided entry and radar technology. In 1984, Liu received a master's degree in optics from the Department of Physics at Peking University in Beijing. While there, he was an assistant teacher. Liu returned to work at the China Soft Science Research Institute but was also acting assistant director at the University of Science and Technology of China. In 1988, Liu became an assistant and associate researcher at the Wear-Resistant Materials Development Company