astronomy

Li Pei

Li Pei is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Li Pei rather than just read about it. In short: Li Pei (Chinese: 李佩; December 20, 1917 – January 12, 2017), was a Chinese linguist and professor of English. Biography Born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, She majored in economics at Peking University in 1936.

Key takeaways

Li Pei belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Li Pei to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Li Pei from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Li Pei (Chinese: 李佩; December 20, 1917 – January 12, 2017), was a Chinese linguist and professor of English.

Biography Born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, She majored in economics at Peking University in 1936. In 1947, she studied at Cornell University in the U.S. where, she met and married Guo Yonghuai who became later one of the founding fathers of China's nuclear bomb. Li and Guo returned to China from the U.S. in 1956. In 1961, Li started teaching English language at the University of Science and Technology of China. In 1978, she was transferred to the university's graduate school (Renamed to University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) and served as the dean of the English Department until her retirement at 70. In 1998, Li initiated the "Zhongguancun Lecture Hall". She organized more than 600 weekend lectures given by notable scholars from many horizons, including economist Li Yining from Peking University and historian Zi Zhongyun from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. During the Cultural Revolution, Li was isolated and placed under surveillance for years. Her husband died in an airplane crash in 1968 and her only daughter died of disease in 1997. These tragedies won her a reputation for being mentally strong. Li was also an active philanthropist in her twilight years; she gave away all her life-time savings (approx. US$90,000) to her university, to the aid of victims of natural disasters, to the education for special needs children and to the conservation of traditional performing arts. After her death, her story went viral on Chinese Internet and traditional media, she was praised by netizens as "the final aristocrat in China" in contrast to the lavish lifestyle of today's Chinese society. Eight hundred people attended her funeral service. In an editorial appeared on the day after, a liberal-oriented newspaper China Youth Daily wondered, whether "Li Pei had taken away with her life an age". According to the official obituary released by the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li dedicated her life to the education of groups of brilliant young people. In 2018, the asteroid 212797 Lipei was named in her memory.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Li Pei

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Li Pei claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Li Pei before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Li Pei ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Li Pei

In research: Li Pei appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Li Pei in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Li Pei is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1917 births, 2017 deaths, Academic staff of the University of Science and Technology of China, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Li Pei outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Li Pei in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Li Pei means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Li Pei out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Li Pei in simple terms?

Li Pei (Chinese: 李佩; December 20, 1917 – January 12, 2017), was a Chinese linguist and professor of English. Biography Born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, She majored in economics at Peking University in 1936.

Why does Li Pei matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Li Pei?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Li Pei.