Zhang Yuzhe

Zhang Yuzhe

Zhang Yuzhe (February 16, 1902 - July 21, 1986), born in Minhou, Fujian Province, is a modern Chinese astronomer, the discoverer of "Zhonghua" asteroid and the founder of modern Chinese astronomy.

In 1926, he graduated from the Department of astronomy of the University of Chicago. In 1928, he discovered asteroid 1125 and named it "Zhonghua". In 1929, he received a doctor's degree in astronomy from the University of Chicago. In 1941, he organized to take the first photo of total solar eclipse in China, In 1955, he was selected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and joined the Jiusan Society in 1956. In August 1978, the international asteroid center named asteroid 2051 Chang. On July 21, 1986, Zhang Yuzhe died at the age of 84.

Zhang Yuzhe has been devoted to the observation and orbit calculation of asteroids and comets for a long time. He has photographed and led the shooting of more than 7000 accurate positions of asteroids and comets. Together with his assistants, he has successfully observed more than 8000 asteroids and discovered more than 1000 new asteroids and three new comets named "Zijinshan". He has published nearly 60 observation and research papers.

Life of the characters

On February 16, 1902, Zhang Yuzhe was born into a family of clerks in Minhou County, Fujian Province. He lost his father at the age of two and was poor. But he studied hard and became an excellent student in both character and learning. He won the first place in the primary and middle school graduation examinations.

In 1913, Zhang Yuzhe entered middle school in Beijing.

In 1919, he graduated from the middle school affiliated to Beijing Normal University. In the same year, he was admitted to Tsinghua School, a preparatory school for studying in the United States.

In 1923, he went to the United States to study in the Department of architecture of Cornell University.

In 1925, he transferred to the Department of astronomy, University of Chicago.

In 1926, after graduating with excellent grades, he stayed at yekes observatory to do latitude measurement.

In 1927, he received a master's degree. Later, under the guidance of van biesbroeck, a famous professor at yekes Observatory, he used the 60 cm reflecting telescope to observe asteroids and comets.

On November 22, 1928, Zhang Yuzhe discovered asteroid 1125 through observation, which made him stand out in astronomy. He named the asteroid "China.".

In the summer of 1929, he received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Chicago for his thesis "on the spatial distribution of the polar axes of binary orbits". In the autumn of the same year, Zhang Yuzhe returned to his motherland and was employed as a professor in the Department of physics of Nanjing National Central University to teach astronomy, astrophysics and celestial mechanics.

In September 1932, Zhang Yuzhe, who served at Nanjing Zijinshan Observatory, was sent to Peiping by Yu Qingsong, director of the observatory, to rush four ancient astronomical instruments placed on the ancient observatory to Nanjing, so as not to fall into the hands of the Japanese.

In 1934, Zijinshan Observatory, China's first modern Observatory, was built. Zhang Yuzhe was employed as a special researcher by the Institute of astronomy, Academia Sinica.

In 1936, he and Li Heng were sent to Siberia to observe the total solar eclipse. Some of the instruments used were developed by Zhang Yuzhe. Although the observation of Tianyin was not successful, it accumulated experience for the later observation of total solar eclipse.

At the beginning of 1937, Zhang Yuzhe successfully predicted a total solar eclipse in China in four years. The eclipse belt will pass through Gansu, Shaanxi and Hubei, and finally enter the sea from the north of Fujian. Before long, the Greenwich Observatory also confirmed Zhang's prediction that the total solar eclipse was a rare astronomical spectacle at that time.

In April 1941, the Chinese solar eclipse observation team was established with Zhang Yuzhe as its leader. On September 21, under extremely difficult wartime conditions, he organized the scientific observation of the first total solar eclipse in China, and took the first photo and the first color film of the total solar eclipse in China.

In 1946, Zhang Yuzhe visited the United States, Canada and other countries. With his influence in the field of astronomy in the world and with the help of friends at home and abroad, he has successively visited and inspected Palomar Mountain Observatory, Kitt Peak Observatory, Arecibo Observatory, Oak Ridge Observatory and Victoria Observatory in Canada. In the same year, he attended the 76th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society, where he read the paper velocity curve of bd-6 ° 2376 (anew eclipsing variable), and then published it in the American Astrophysical Journal. His spectral observations and Research on eclipsing binaries are also published in the journal.

In November 1948, some institutions of the Academia Sinica withdrew to Taiwan, and Zhang Yuzhe and some personnel of the Institute of astronomy moved to Shanghai temporarily to welcome the liberation.

In September 1949, he returned to Nanjing and actively participated in the reconstruction of the Zijinshan observatory.

In 1950, Zhang Yuzhe was appointed director of the Zijinshan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he worked until 1984. He has been a researcher, director and honorary director. During these 35 years, Zijinshan Observatory has made great contributions to China's astronomy and become a world-famous observatory. Here is Zhang Yuzhe's hard work and dedication.

In 1953, during the partial solar eclipse of the Spring Festival, Zhang Yuzhe also took the lead in a national radio speech, which was the first national science popularization activity in New China.

In 1954, he carried out asteroid orbit determination, perturbation calculation and improved orbit direction calculation, which was pioneering in China at that time.

In 1957, he published China's first paper on the orbit of man-made satellites, and made a pioneering research on the orbit of man-made satellites by applying the basic theory of celestial mechanics. He initiated and led the research in many fields of astronomy, made many important achievements, and did a lot of work in the research of the history of astronomy, the development of astronomical instruments, and the popularization of astronomy.

In 1965, he led relevant personnel to participate in the orbit design and scheme demonstration of China's first man-made satellite, contributing to the successful launch of China's first man-made satellite.

In 1978, the international asteroid bulletin announced that in memory of Zhang Yuzhe's outstanding contribution to astronomy, the observatory of Harvard University named an asteroid discovered on October 23, 1976 as "Zhang" and numbered 2051.

In 1980, the Spring Festival total solar eclipse was the first large-scale observation and science popularization activity in New China. Although Zhang Yuzhe was old, he also actively participated in it. As for the appearance of comets many times, Zhang Yuzhe also participated in science popularization. His book Halley's comet (1982, Knowledge Publishing) is not only a scientific work, but also a popular science work. It is well-known both at home and abroad, and it is also common in foreign countries.

In 1980, Zhang Yuzhe, who was nearly 80 years old, went to the Qinghai Plateau and ascended the Kunlun Pass, 4800 meters away from Shanghai, to select the site for the first millimeter wave radio telescope in Golmud. Three years later, he went to the Urumqi satellite observation station, which was set up in 1958 according to his proposal.

From the discovery of "Zhonghua star" by Zhang Yuzhe in 1928 to his death in 1986, more than 400 new stars, such as "Zhonghua star", "Zijinshan No.1" and "Zijinshan No.2", have been discovered one after another in more than half a century. Among them, 81 have been numbered and named by the international planetary center. Zhang Yuzhe wrote many works in his life, published 101 papers and 10 monographs and translations. In memory of him, the international astronomical community named a new star named "Zhang Yuzhe" discovered by Harvard University Observatory on October 23, 1976.

In 1984, at the age of 82, he was invited to visit the United States again to give an academic report on "China Observatory today" at the Harvard astrophysics center.

On July 21, 1986, Zhang Yuzhe died at the age of 84.

Main achievements

Achievements in scientific research

Zhang Yuzhe's scientific research involves asteroids, comets, solar eclipses, stellar astronomy, aerospace and the history of Chinese astronomy. He has published more than 90 papers, reports and monographs, making outstanding contributions to the development of modern astronomy in China.

The research and exploration of asteroids, comets and other special celestial bodies in the solar system can provide important clues to reveal the laws of celestial material movement and the origin and evolution of the solar system, enrich human understanding of natural phenomena, especially some near earth asteroids have broad prospects for exploration, research and development. After nearly 40 years of observation and research, Zhang Yuzhe's exploration of asteroids and comets has achieved fruitful results. He and the planet room of Zijinshan Observatory led by him took more than 8600 negative films of asteroids and comets, obtained more than 9300 valuable accurate position data, discovered more than 1000 new asteroids, and calculated their orbits. There are more than 100 of them

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Yu Zhe