Tan Kah Kee Award in Earth Sciences
Tu Chuanyi
Tu Chuanyi (1940- ) is a native of Beijing. Tu is a space physicist. He graduated from Geophysics Department, Peking University in 1964. He had some research experiences in Catholic University of America and German Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy from1980 to 1981 and from 1988 to 1990 respectively. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001. He is also an academician of The Third World Academy of Sciences. Currently, he is a professor of School of Earth and Space, Peking University.
Tu made systematic contributions to the solar wind turbulence study. His papers have been widely quoted and highly evaluated in the related academic community. Tu made major contributions to reveal the nature of solar wind turbulence, and explained a series of observed phenomena, which could not be understood previously. Tu identified for the first time the origin of the solar wind flow in the solar atmosphere by analyzing ultraviolet lines emitted from the solar chromospheres and the solar magnetic field data. It was established that the solar wind starts flowing out of the corona at heights above the photosphere between 5 mega-meters and 20 mega-meters in magnetic funnels. Based on these results, it suggested a new idea that the initial mass supply for the solar wind flow in the funnels is from the side loops with medium scale. So the solar wind is suggested to originate in a 3-D structure other than in the well belied 1-D fluid tube. He developed a new energy transfer theory, which can self-consistently describe the Alfven wave propagation and MHD turbulence energy cascade. This theory is called as "WBK like turbulence theory". Based on this theory, he developed a model to describe the heating of the solar wind protons by turbulence cascade energy. This theory is evaluated as "opening the way for more complete treatment of the turbulence". In a series of collaboration work, he also made major contribution to develop an extended intermittence theory to explain the nature of high order structure function in the solar wind. In recognition of his contributions, Tu Chuanyi received the following awards: State Education Committee Sci-Tech Award, First Award in 1988, National Natural Sciences Award, Second Class both in 1989 and 2002, Wong Dan-Peng Science Prize in 1992, VIKRAM SARABHAI medal of COSPAR, and Ho Leung Ho Lee Award for Science and Technology Advancement in 2002.
Tu made systematic contributions to the solar wind turbulence study. His papers have been widely quoted and highly evaluated in the related academic community. Tu made major contributions to reveal the nature of solar wind turbulence, and explained a series of observed phenomena, which could not be understood previously. Tu identified for the first time the origin of the solar wind flow in the solar atmosphere by analyzing ultraviolet lines emitted from the solar chromospheres and the solar magnetic field data. It was established that the solar wind starts flowing out of the corona at heights above the photosphere between 5 mega-meters and 20 mega-meters in magnetic funnels. Based on these results, it suggested a new idea that the initial mass supply for the solar wind flow in the funnels is from the side loops with medium scale. So the solar wind is suggested to originate in a 3-D structure other than in the well belied 1-D fluid tube. He developed a new energy transfer theory, which can self-consistently describe the Alfven wave propagation and MHD turbulence energy cascade. This theory is called as "WBK like turbulence theory". Based on this theory, he developed a model to describe the heating of the solar wind protons by turbulence cascade energy. This theory is evaluated as "opening the way for more complete treatment of the turbulence". In a series of collaboration work, he also made major contribution to develop an extended intermittence theory to explain the nature of high order structure function in the solar wind. In recognition of his contributions, Tu Chuanyi received the following awards: State Education Committee Sci-Tech Award, First Award in 1988, National Natural Sciences Award, Second Class both in 1989 and 2002, Wong Dan-Peng Science Prize in 1992, VIKRAM SARABHAI medal of COSPAR, and Ho Leung Ho Lee Award for Science and Technology Advancement in 2002.