Regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on theoretical astrophysics and star formation, Academician Frank Shu has been named the 2009 Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medalist by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP). In September, a ceremony will be held to bestow the award in California.
Founded in 1889, San Francisco, the ASP is a worldwide organization that brings together research scientists, teachers, amateur astronomers, and “armchair astronomers” to “advance the Science of Astronomy, and to diffuse information concerning it.” The Bruce Gold Medal is the society’s highest honor and is given for lifetime contributions to astronomy. It has been awarded most years since 1898 and can be awarded to citizens of any country. Past recipients of the Bruce Gold Medal have included Nobel physicist Hans Bethe (2001), astronomer Edwin Hubble (1938), who gave his name to the Hubble space telescope, and astrophysicist Arthur Eddington (1924) namesake of the Eddington Limit, the limit of the natural luminosity of the stars.
Academician Shu received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1968 and went on to make a distinguished career in astrophysics. He became a Professor at Berkeley, California and later president of Taiwan’s National Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities in Taiwan, and President of the American Astronomical Society (1994-1996). He is currently a Distinguished Professor, at the University of California, San Diego, USA. Dr. Shu also is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992). In addition to being an Academia Sinica academician, on May 1st 2009, Dr. Shu was made a Distinguished Research Fellow of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
