AWARDEE OF ASTRONOMY PRIZE

YE SHUHUA

Abstract

Prof.Ye Shuhua,female,astronomer,was born in 1927 in Guangzhou,Guangdong Province.She graduated from Zhongshan University,Department of Mathematics and Astronomy in 1949,and joined the Shanghai Observatory,Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1951.She was director of Shanghai Observatory in 1981-1993,and was elected member of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980,and was the vice president of the International Astronomical Union in 1988-1994.She is the honorary president of the Chinese Astronomical Society,vice-president of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology,and member of the Standing Committee of the National Congress of P.R.China.
In the 1950's and 1960's,she worked on Universal Time and Earth Rotation,established and developed the Joint Chinese Universal Time System in cooperated with six observatories in China.This system reached advanced level of the world in 1963 and was assigned as the National standard in 1965,and gained good success in international scientific cooperation.
In the 1970's and 1980's,she promoted the establishment of new techniques for space geodesy,i.e.,Very Long Baseline Interferometry and Satellite Laser Ranging in China.Shanghai Observatory joined the International Earth Rotation Service since 1988 and serves as world data analysis center for 3 different techniques.
In the 1990's,she proposed a major basic research project,state-supported,entitled “Investigation on Recent Crustal Motion and Geodynamics”,which is in collaboration by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,the State Bureau of Seismology,National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping and the military Bureau of surveying and Mapping.Ye Shuhua has been appointed as the chief scientist of this project.As an extension of this project,in 1994,she initiated an international project,entitled “Asia-Pacific Space Geodynamics”,which was endorsed by the International Association of Geodesy.Many institutes in the Asia-Pacific region participate in this project,and she has been elected as chairperson of the Management Board in 1996.
Ye Shuhua is the founder of Astro-geodynamics in China.Her group gained the second class Award of the National Prize of Natural Sciences in 1982,the first class Award of Progress in Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1981 and 1987,she has been responsible for several international and bilateral scientific cooperative project in China.