Li, Di
Professor
Email: dili@tsinghua.edu.cn
Office: E314
Website: http://groups.bao.ac.cn/ism/english/CRAFTS/CRAFTS/
Introduction:
Dr. Li, a radio astronomer, is currently a Chair professor of Tsinghua University and the Chief Scientist of the FAST telescope operated by the NAOC. He pioneered several observing and data analysis techniques, including HI narrow self-absorption (HINSA) and a new inversion algorithm for solving the dust temperature distribution. These techniques facilitated important measurements of star forming regions. Based on HINSA Zeeman effect, he led the effort to precisely measure interstellar magnetic field, which was published on the cover of Nature. Dr. Li has led multiple significant discoveries, including the first detection of interstellar molecular oxygen, the largest set of fast radio burst (FRB) events, the slowest pulsar in globular clusters, etc. He proposed and implemented a novel high-cadence-CAL technique that multiplied the survey efficiency of FAST. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, including 6 on Nature and 2 on Science. He won the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) , the 3rd National Innovation Award, and the Marcel Grossman Award (“For his groundbreaking contributions to the scientific definition of the most sensitive radio telescope and his numerous innovations in characterizing the dynamic universe”). He took on many leading and/or advisory roles in national and international organizations, including the Steering Committee of Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), the Science and Engineering Advisory Committee of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), and the advisory panel of the Breakthrough Listen initiative.