Southwest Jiaotong University
Lin was born in Chungking in May 1911. His grandfather was head of the local telegraph agency. In 1914, his family moved to Beijing. He enrolled in Huiwen High School in 1924, graduating in 1928. After graduation, he entered Yenching University, majoring in physics, but the following year transferred to Chiaotung University's Tangshan, Hebei campus (present-day Southwest Jiaotong University), graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1933. He then won a Chinese National Fellowship to study in the United States in 1933. He completed his master of science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936. He returned to teach at Tsing Hua University in 1937. His cousin Tung-Yen Lin was also one of the outstanding structural engineers of the 20th century.