| Birth Name: | 劉俊初 (Liu Tsun Chu) |
| Birth Date: | 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Occupation: | Astronomer |
| Citizenship: | United States |
| Fields: | Astronomy, physics |
| Workplaces: | The College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York |
| Education: | Harvard University University of Arizona |
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| Thesis1 Year: | and |
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| Awards: | AAS Fellow, 2019 AAS Education Prize, 2024 |
| Spouse: | Dr. Amy Rabb-Liu |
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| Children: | 3 |
| Father: | Fu-wen (Frank) Liu |
| Mother: | Jui-chi (Janice) Liu |
| Website: | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5xPREWOS4n-ofQsx0GzIsQ |
Charles Tsun-Chu Liu is a Taiwanese-born American astronomer and astronomy educator. His research interests include merging and colliding galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and the star formation history of the universe. He is a former director of the William E. Macaulay Honors College and The Verrazano School at the City University of New York's College of Staten Island.[1] He currently serves as a professor of physics and astronomy at the College of Staten Island, and as President of the Astronomical Society of New York. Liu is the 2024 winner of the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) prestigious Education Prize, and was named an AAS fellow in 2019.[2]
Liu was born in Taipei, Taiwan to Fu-Wen (Frank) Liu, a professor of pomology and horticulture,[3] and Jui-Chi (Janice) Liu, a nurse of obstetrics and midwifery, both of Dahu, Miaoli, Taiwan. He is the second of three children; his older sister, Grace, is a retired banker, and his younger brother, Henry, is a family physician. His family immigrated to the United States when Liu was four years old, and all of them were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1980. He attended Harvard, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and astrophysics and physics, and the University of Arizona, graduating with a Ph.D. in astronomy. He then held postdoctoral positions at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Columbia, where he conducted research on galaxy evolution and the star formation history of the universe.
In 1998, Liu joined the scientific staff of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where he helped design and develop the exhibitry and scientific content of the Rose Center for Earth and Space. During this time, with co-authors Neil deGrasse Tyson and Robert W. Irion, Liu wrote "One Universe: At Home In The Cosmos (2000)", for which Tyson, Irion, and Liu were awarded the 2001 Science Writing Award (scientist category) of the American Institute of Physics.[4]
In 2003, Liu joined the faculty of the CUNY College of Staten Island (CSI). He was subsequently appointed to the consortial faculty of the physics doctoral program of the CUNY Graduate Center.[5] [6] In 2008, Liu became director of The Verrazano School Honors Program at CSI. In 2012, he also became director of the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CSI. He served as director of both of those programs until 2018.[7]
In 2015, Liu was elected as Education Officer of the American Astronomical Society, serving also as a Councilor and Trustee of the Society until 2018.[8] He was elected as President of the Astronomical Society of New York in 2016,[9] and was named a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2019.[10]
Liu won the prestigious AAS Education Prize in 2024,[11] which celebrated “his national and international impact as an enthusiastic astronomy educator throughout his career — including his contributions to informal education via his work at the American Museum of Natural History, his numerous popular science books, and his podcast ‘The LIUniverse’; as well as his contributions to formal education as a professor and mentor. The award also recognizes his service to the astronomy education community as AAS Education Officer and inaugural Chair of the AAS Education Committee.”[12]
Liu is one of the original team members of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), the largest contiguous deep field ever observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. His work on that project has focused on faint, strongly star-forming galaxies. In 2015, he also joined the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) project of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, where he has been studying galaxies whose star formation activity has been quenched within approximately the past one billion years.[13]
Since 2016, Liu has served on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Science Advisory Committee,[14] where he is involved with galaxy evolution research.[15]
Liu has been married to the mathematician and educator Dr. Amy Rabb-Liu since 1991. They have three children: Hannah, Allen, and Isaac.
2000: One Universe: at Home in the Cosmos (with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Robert Irion)[16]
2004: The Handy Astronomy Answer Book[17]
2013: The Handy Astronomy Answer Book, Third Edition[18]
2017: StarTalk: everything you ever need to know about space travel, sci-fi, the human race, the universe, and beyond (with Neil DeGrasse Tyson)[19]
2019: 30-second universe: 50 most significant ideas, theories and events that sum up... everything (with Karen Masters and Sevil Salur)[20]
2020: The Handy Physics Answer Book[21]
2021: 30-Second Space Travel: 50 key ideas, inventions, and destinations that have inspired humanity toward the heavens (with Karen Masters and Allen Liu)[22]
2021: Intro to Physics for Babies [23]
2022: The Cosmos Explained: A history of the universe from its beginning to today and beyond[24]
2024: The Handy Quantum Physics Answer Book[25]