Remembering Chi Yuan

 

Chi Yuan, age 71, Emeritus Professor of Physics, CCNY passed away July 24, 2008

 

Chi Yuan, born in Nanjing, China, and educated in Taiwan, was a 1966 Ph.D. graduate from University of Michigan.    He joined CCNY in 1969 as Assistant Professor, after a post-doctoral sojourn at MIT, where he worked under Prof C.C. Lin, a world leader in fluid dynamics.    He was a valued member of our department, contributing both to the teaching of the popular astronomy course and to establishing CCNY stature in astrophysics through his research in the formation of spiral arms of galaxies, including the birth and migration of stars.    For this record, he was promoted to Associate in 1975 and to Full Professor in 1981.   He took early retirement in 1994 to return to Taiwan as Founding Director of the Academia Sinica Institute of Astrophysics in Taipei.    He remained there until his retirement in 2007 as Distinguished Research Fellow and joint Professor of Physics at National Taiwan University.

Those of us who had the privilege of knowing him will remember him not only as a colleague, but also as a trusted and compassionate friend.   In the early years of influx of students from China, he took personal part in helping to gather used furniture for the new arrivals.   When a visiting scholar fell ill, he helped arrange for emergency admission into a hospital.   His concern for others well-being, his good humor and his kindness will be missed by one and all.