Inauguration of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China on May 26th
May 23, 2007
The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China at the Chinese Academy of Sciences will be inaugurated on May 26th at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The new Kavli Institute in China is part of a network of fourteen institutes in the United States and Europe dedicated to furthering scientific knowledge in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.
The Kavli Institutes are founded by the Kavli Foundation, which supports scientific research, honors scientific achievement, and promotes public understanding of scientists and their work through an international program of research institutes, prizes, professorships, and symposia.
The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China at the Chinese Academy of Sciences will have important national and international roles. Nationally, it will coordinate basic research on theoretical physics in China and facilitate interaction between theory and practice, as well as promote research in interdisciplinary areas among physics and other branches of science, such as astrophysics and cosmology, biophysics, nanoscience, mathematics, chemistry, life sciences, materials sciences, environmental sciences, space sciences, information and energy power. Internationally, it will host conferences, workshops, summer schools and guest scientist and visitor programs, which will promote the interaction of Chinese scientists with counterparts in other countries.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences will have oversight responsibility for the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. Prof. Wu Yue-liang, a theoretical physicist, is appointed as director of the Institute. He was awarded a PhD from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has worked at Dortmund University and Mainz University in Germany, and Ohio State University and Carnegie-Mellon University in the US. In 1996, he returned to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, serving as a professor. Since 2003, he has served as a vice director of CAS Institute of Theoretical Physics. Recently, he was appointed as the Director.
The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China is one of two new Kavli Institutes established by the Kavli Foundation in China. The other, the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University, will carry out fundamental research on the origin and evolution of astrophysical structures, from planetary systems to the universe as a whole and will be lead by Prof. Douglas C. Lin. Professor Lin will retain his appointment at the University of California Santa Cruz while serving as the Director of the new Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Beijing.
"Through the ages, China has contributed immensely to science and technology," says industrialist and philanthropist Fred Kavli, founder of the Kavli Foundation. "We are pleased to recognize the dedicated pursuit of excellence in China's fast growing research enterprise today and participate in its future potential. I am confident that these two institutes will make important contributions to science."
"We are extremely pleased to launch these two new institutes as part of the expanding worldwide network of Kavli Institutes," says David Auston, President of the Kavli Foundation. "As new centers of excellence in China's growing research enterprise, each will contribute in important ways in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, both in China and worldwide through the linkages with other Kavli Institutes."
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