| You-Hua Chu | |
| Birth Name: | You-Hua Chu |
| Birth Date: | 1953 |
| Birth Place: | Taiwan |
| Citizenship: | United States |
| Nationality: | Taiwan |
| Fields: | Astronomy |
| Workplaces: | Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica
|
| Alma Mater: | National Taiwan University (1975), University of California at Berkeley (1981) |
| Website: | https://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/people/cv.php?i=yhchu |
You-Hua Chu (朱有花, born in 1953) is a Taiwanese astronomer.[1] She has served as the director of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica and the chair of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her main research areas are interactions between the interstellar medium and stars and observations of planetary systems in the post main sequence stages.
You-Hua Chu graduated from Taipei First Girls' High School in 1971 and from the Physics Department of National Taiwan University in 1975. In 1981, she obtained a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley.[2]
From 2005 to 2011, she served as chair of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,[3] where she is currently a professor emeritus.[4]
In September 2014, You-Hua Chu became the director of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica. She was the first female astronomer to fill this position.[5]
You-Hua Chu has two daughters and a son.
Between 2009 and 2012, You-Hua Chu was president of Division VI (Interstellar Matter) of the International Astronomical Union.[6] She received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Department of Physics in the National Taiwan University in 2016.[7] In February 2021, You-Hua Chu was elected as American Astronomical Society (AAS) Fellow.[8] [9] On 16 June 2021, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 461981 "You-Hua Chu" in recognition of her astronomical achievements.[10] During the 2022 Scientific Assembly Meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on October 2, the Society presented the 6th Heaven Quest Award to You-Hua Chu. On that occasion, the National Central University presented her the asteroid inscription for her outstanding contributions to astronomical research.[11] In December 2022, You-Hua Chu was elected Fellow of the Physical Society of Taiwan.[12] [13] In April 2023, the Canadian Astronomical Society choose her as the 2023 R.M. Petrie Prize Lecturer in view of her strong leadership and expertise.[14]
You-Hua Chu studies interactions between stars and the interstellar medium, using multi-wavelength observations from radio to gamma rays. For example, stars of different types (massive O-type stars, evolved Wolf-Rayet stars, young white dwarfs) blow a strong wind able to carve bubbles in the interstellar medium. Such bubbles can appear around single (or a few stars) but also around clusters where the collective stellar action creates large structures called "superbubbles" or "supershells". You-Hua Chu has pioneered the studies of such features in several ways. She notably helped identifying them,[15] derived their kinematics with optical spectra to constrain the energy feedback and physics at the interfaces,[16] and analyzed in detail their X-ray emission.[17] In this context, she was the first to report on the presence of X-rays from the central star as well as hot (1.7 MK), diffuse gas associated to Cat's eye planetary nebula.[18]
Her work was publicized in several press releases.[18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]
You-Hua Chu studies the origins of Type Ia supernovae. It is not clear whether Type Ia supernovae originate from the single degenerate scenario or the double degenerate scenario. If a surviving companion or the circumstellar medium from the progenitor’s mass loss is detected, the origin of single degenerate scenario for a Type Ia supernova can be affirmed. You-Hua Chu organized a team to use the Hubble Space Telescope to search for a surviving companion star within Type Ia supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud.[24] [25] The results show that the single degenerate scenario for Type Ia supernovae can be more prevalent than people previously thought in the Milky Way.