Hu Mingfu came to Shanghai to study at Nanyang Public School in the 27th year of Guangxu reign (190 1), and Xuan Tong ruled for two years (19 10) to study in the United States. On the eve of graduation, he and Zhao Yuanren were elected as members of the American Academy of Science, and founded the Science Society and Science Magazine. After graduation, he entered the Harvard University Institute to specialize in mathematics and obtained a doctorate in philosophy. After returning to Shanghai, he taught at Shanghai Datong University, and concurrently served as a professor at National Southeast University and Nanyang University. He is the first mathematician in China to get a doctoral degree in mathematics thesis abroad. His doctoral thesis "Linear Integro-Differential Equation with Boundary Conditions" was published in Journal of American Mathematical Society. In the 7th year of the Republic of China (19 18), the academic circles set up a committee for examining and approving scientific terms. Together with other mathematicians, he examined and approved the terms of mathematics branches such as geometry, algebra, calculus and function theory. In the Republic of China 13, he was hired by the Commercial Press as the director of the Mathematics Correspondence Society, presided over the compilation of many popular mathematics books, and made basic work for the cause of mathematics communication in China. He also compiled textbooks on calculus and advanced analysis, and translated popular science books such as Science Outline. /kloc-June 2, 0/6, drowned. In order to commemorate him, the educational circles at that time established the Mingfu Museum (the predecessor of Shanghai Luwan Library).

In the 26th year of the Republic of China, China Academy of Sciences commemorated it in Shanghai Jianming Comprehensive Library (now Luwan District Library of South Shaanxi Road).

China was the first person to get a doctorate by studying mathematics abroad. Participated in the establishment of the earliest comprehensive scientific group China Science Society in China and the earliest comprehensive scientific magazine Science in China.