astronomy

Shi Yigong

Shi Yigong 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 Shi Yigong rather than just read about it. In short: Shi Yigong (Chinese: 施一公; born 5 May 1967) is a Chinese biophysicist who serves as founding and the current president of Westlake University since April 2018. He previously served as vice president of Tsinghua University from 2015 to 2018 and dean of Tsinghua University School of Life Sciences from 2009 to 2016.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Shi Yigong (Chinese: 施一公; born 5 May 1967) is a Chinese biophysicist who serves as founding and the current president of Westlake University since April 2018. He previously served as vice president of Tsinghua University from 2015 to 2018 and dean of Tsinghua University School of Life Sciences from 2009 to 2016.

Education Shi Yigong received a Bachelor of Science with majors in biology and mathematics from Tsinghua University in 1989 and a Doctor of Philosophy in molecular biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 1995. He studied at Iowa State University for three months in 1990, before transferring to Johns Hopkins University. During his graduate studies, he determined the crystal structure of several critical apoptotic proteins, including apaf-1, DIAP1, and the BIR3 domain of XIAP.

Career Shi Yigong was the Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor in the department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. In June 2008, he was selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. However, he rejected the award upon resigning his position at Princeton University in order to pursue his career at Tsinghua University, becoming the dean of the School of Life Sciences there. In 2003, he was appointed a Chair Professor of Tsinghua's Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology. In late 2007, He was appointed Vice Director of Tsinghua's Institute of Biomedicine and Vice Dean of Tsinghua's Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology before returning to China. He was appointed Dean of Tsinghua's School of Life Sciences (replacing the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology) in 2009. In 2018, he became the founding and the first president of Westlake University, a newly established private university in Hangzhou. Shi renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2011 in order to reclaim his Chinese citizenship.

Personal life Shi's grandfather was academic and politician Shi Ping. According to Shi, his father, Shi Huailin (施怀琳), was named after his mother Yang Lin (杨琳), who died 18 days after his birth, with 怀琳 literally meaning "remembering Lin". As a result of his grandfather's work commitments, his father was estranged from his grandfather as a child, and friends and family raised his father. Shi's father and grandfather eventually reunited later in life. His father died on 21 September 1987, at the age of 52. His grandfather died on 29 June 2024, at the age of 112 years, 241 days.

Awards 2020, the Tan Kah Kee Science Award 2018, Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist 2017, Future Science Prize in Life Sciences 2016, Ho Leung Ho Lee Award for Achievement in Science and Technology 2015, Nature Award for Mentoring in science 2014, Gregori Aminoff Prize, from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2013, foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences 2013, foreign associate of the European Molecular Biology Organization 2013, Academician Chinese Academy of Sciences, 中国科学院院士 2011, Ray Wu Award from the Chinese Biological Investigators Society 2010 Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award, from the Protein Society Searle Scholar Award Rita Allen Scholar Award 2000, Wilson S. Stone Memorial Award 1995, Paul Ehrlich Research Award in Basic Science

References

External links Dr. Shi Yigong Appointed Vice Director of Tsinghua's Institute of Biomedicine, Tsinghua University News Why coming back to China is the best choice (in Chinese) Yigong Shi bio page, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Shi Yigong

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Shi Yigong 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 Shi Yigong 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 Shi Yigong 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 Shi Yigong

In research: Shi Yigong 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 Shi Yigong 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: Shi Yigong is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 births, Academic staff of Tsinghua University, Biologists from Henan, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Shi Yigong 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Shi Yigong” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Shi Yigong in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Shi Yigong 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 Shi Yigong out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shi Yigong in simple terms?

Why does Shi Yigong 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 Shi Yigong?

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 Shi Yigong.