He Xiantu elected foreign member of Russian Academy of Sciences
Dec 08, 2019
Peking University, Nov. 15, 2019: He Xiantu, honorary director of the Center for Applied Physics and Technology of Peking University, has been elected as a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences due to his achievements in inertial confinement fusion and high energy density physics.
He has made outstanding contributions to the research and development of national defense science and engineering. Through organizing, leading and participating in the research project of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), He laid a firm foundation for the implementation of the strategic research plan in China. In recognition of his contribution to theoretical physics, the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union named the asteroid 079286 after him on September 25, 2018. In October, the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded He Xiantu the Honorary Doctor of Sciences. On September 26, 2019, he was awarded the Edward Teller Award by the American Nuclear Society, the highest international award in the field of laser fusion, for his extraordinary contribution in the field of controllable nuclear fusion in the use of lasers and ion beams to produce high-temperature and high-density material states.
Richard Town, chair of the selection committee of Edward Teller Award, presented the award to Academician Xian-Tu He at the International Conference on Inertial Fusion Science and Application (IFSA) held in Osaka, Japan on September 26, 2019
Academician He Xiantu is now the honorary director of the Center for Applied Physics and Technology of Peking University. For more than ten years, He has led the Center for Applied Physics and Technology to carry out many applied and fundamental research, such as national defense and laser inertial confinement fusion. He also cultivated and trained a large number of talented students, and promoted the establishment of the first high energy density physics secondary discipline in China. In his decades of scientific research career, he has constantly adjusted his research direction according to the needs of the country, and made exceptional achievements in each research direction. Due to the special nature of his work, he has been incognito for decades, rarely receiving any media publicity, and so many of his contributions have remained unknown.
Written by: Cherlin Xu
Edited by: Wang Nini
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
