Xi Zezong
Encyclopedia
Xi Zezong (June 6, 1927, Yuanqu
Yuanqu County
Yuanqu County is a county of Shanxi, China. It is under the administration of Yuncheng city.-References:*...

, Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....

 – December 27, 2008, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

) was a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 historian. He is best known for his finding in Ancient Chinese history of the reference to Ganymede
Ganymede (moon)
Ganymede is a satellite of Jupiter and the largest moon in the Solar System. It is the seventh moon and third Galilean satellite outward from Jupiter. Completing an orbit in roughly seven days, Ganymede participates in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance with the moons Europa and Io, respectively...

 being visible to the human eye by ancient astronomer Gan De
Gan De
Gan De was a Chinese astronomer/astrologer born in the State of Qi also known as the Lord Gan . Along with Shi Shen, he is believed to be the first in history known by name to compile a star catalogue, preceded by the anonymous authors of the early Babylonian star catalogues and followed by the...

, before it was officially recognised by the west. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica, is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...

, and an Awardee of the Astronomy Prize.

Career

Xi graduated from the Astronomy Department of Zhongshan University in Zhongshan
Zhongshan
Zhongshan , also spelled Chungshan and historically known as Xiangshan or Siangshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province in southern China. Zhongshan, one of the few cities in China with an eponymous name, is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen who was...

, and began a career in the Chinese Academy of Sciences in which he has spent all of his life as a professor. He has conducted research and supervised students since 1981 at its Institute for History of Natural Science and served as the director of this Institute from 1983 to 1988. His main study has been in the study of historical supernovae, and has created 7 criteria to identify novae and 2 criteria to distinguish the novae and supernovae. He has studied ancient novae recorded in Chinese, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese annals and in 1955 rewrote it into a modern day catalogue, analysing their significance to radio astronomy. This was reprinted in 1965 in the United States and is considered an important reference work to astronomical scholars worldwide.

In the 1970s Xi undertook research for the unearthed astronomical materials at Mawangdui, and came across a valuable ancient chart which illustrated 29 types of comets.
Xi was elected member the International Academy of History of Science in 1993, and of International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 1995.

In 1996 he began studying celestial phenomenon records in an effort to accurately pinpoint dates for historical events, publishing a chronological table in November 2000. In 1997, a main-belt asteroid was named after him.

Xu is now president of Chinese Society of History of Science and Technology,and is an academic advisor to the Research Center of Ancient Civilization, and is affiliated with many of China's top universities as a professor.

External links

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