In the 1960s Zhang Zongye discovered, together with her research partners, the atomic nucleus coherent structure and coherent structure fluctuate model theory and thus successfully explained the main characteristics of low excitation state of atomic nucleus near 16O. In 1976, she theoretically predicted that the super symmetry state exists in super nucleus and thisprediction was later proved by laboratory tests carried out by foreign scientists in 1980.
Since the 1980s, Zhang has systematically researched the Quark Model Theory of nuclear force and educed transferring force that generate positive/negative quark pair via a single gluon exchange, and thus obtained a reasonable nucleon-baryton apex angle function, which paved the way for the research of baryton exchange mechanism of nuclear force from the point of view of quarks. She proposed the theory of error function-type quark confinement forces which includes the shield-effect of quark sea thereby resolving the problem of an unreasonable long tail of Sefanvaers Force.
Zhang Zongye was named an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999.