Trinh Xuan Thuan

Country:USA
Major: Astronomy
Department: Astronomy
Institution: University of Virginia
Homepage: http://www.trinhxuanthuan.com | http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~txt/
Biography:

Childhood and Studies
Trinh Xuan Thuan was born on 20th August, 1948 in Hanoi (Vietnam). He left Hanoi at the age of 6, when Vietnam was divided into two parts at the 17th parallel by the Geneva treaty, signed in 1954. His family then moved to Sàigon, capital of South Vietnam. He pursued his studies in Saigon, at the French high-school Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It is during that period that he acquired the French style that allowed him to write in French such great popular books on astrophysics and cosmology, that are famous not only for their scientific accuracy, but also for their poetic language. He passes with high honors the baccalaureate degree in 1966.

He then went abroad for his higher education. After one year in Switzerland (1966-1967), at the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, he continued his studies in well-known American universities. He obtained his Bachelor of Physics at the California Institute off Technology (Caltech) in 1970, then his PhD in Astrophysics at Princeton University in 1974, under the guidance of the eminent astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer, father of the Hubble space Telescope and one of the pioneers of the physics of the interstellar medium and of plasmas.

Research and Teaching
Since 1976, he has been a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and divides his time between the United States and France. As an invited professor at the University of Paris 7, at the observatory of Paris-Meudon, at the department of astrophysics of Saclay and at the IAP (Institute of astrophysics of Paris) of the CNRS, he collaborates regularly with French scientists.

An astrophysicist internationally recognized for his research in extragalactic astronomy (concerning objects beyond the Milky Way), he is the author of more than 230 articles on the formation and evolution of galaxies, in particular of dwarf galaxies, and on the synthesis of light elements in the Big-bang. His articles are widely referred to in the world.

For his astronomical research, he makes use of the largest telescopes on the ground (Kitt Peak, Hawaii, Chile...) and in space (Hubble, Spitzer...). At the end of 2004, thanks to observations made with Hubble, he discovered the youngest known galaxy in the universe (I Zwicky 18) – a discoverery that was amply discussed in the international press.

In addition to his research, he teaches a course at the University of Virginia which is called "Astronomy for Poets". In this course, students with a non-scientitific background have the pleasure of discovering the wonders of the Universe in a non-technical language.

Writings and talks
In addition to his research, he teaches a course at the University of Virginia which is called
"Astronomy for Poets". In this course, students with a non-scientitific background have the pleasure of discovering the wonders of the Universe in a non-technical language.

• The Secret Melody (Hardback Version: Oxford University Press, 2001; Paperback Version: Templeton Foundation Press, 2005), a panorama of modern cosmology and its philosophical implications
• An astrophysicist (written in French, Beauchesne-Fayard, 1992, Champs-Flammarion, 1995), an autobiography
• Birth of the Universe - The Big-bang and after (Discoveries, Abrams, 1993), an illustrated history of the Big Bang
• Chaos and Harmony (Hardback Version: Oxford University Press, 2000; Paperback Version: Templeton Foundation Press, 2006), a synthesis of the perspectives of scientific revolutions in the 20th century and of their philosophical implications
• The Quantum and the Lotus (Hardback Version: Crown, 2001; Paperback Version: Three Rivers Press, 2004), a dialogue with the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard on convergences and divergences of science and of Buddhism in their descriptions of reality
• Origins (written in French, Hardback Version, Fayard, Paris, 2003; Paperback Version, Folio-Gallimard 2005), a coffee-table book, illustrated with splendid photographs of the cosmos, which tells the 14 billion years history of the universe, from the Big-bang to the emergence of the life and consciousness
• The Ways of Light (written in French, Fayard, 2007), his latest book, explains the Universe through the signals it sends us: Light. It has been awarded the 2007 Grand Prix Moron by the Academie Francaise

All his books have originally been written in French. They have all met the favor of a large audience and have been translated in some 20 languages, including English.

Trinh Xuan Thuan is regularly invited on television and radio emissions in the US, France and other countries.

He is also a frequent guest lecturer in many countries over the world.