by Xuan Chen (2010/5/6)

On May 4th, more than 100 astronomers, PKU alumni, officers, and students gathered at the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation of astronomy major at PKU, and also to participate the astroid naming ceremony in honor of former PKU president Prof. Zhihong Xu's support to Chinese astronomy.Astronomy courses were set up in PKU as early as in the 1920's while Chancellor Yuanpei Cai was in position, but at that time the condition of building an astronomy department did not ripe. In 1958, astronomers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Chinese Academy of Science (NAOC), such as Maolan Cheng, suggested PKU to endow an astrophysics major, which effectuated the foundation of the astrophysics major in the department of geophysics in 1960. After several generations, the astronomy major in PKU has achieved fruitful establishments: a mature teaching and research team was built, hundreds of outstanding astronomers were trained, and many national large-scale astronomical projects were successfully carried out, which were recognized and praised by peers both at home a abroad.In June 2000, the astronomy department was officially founded on the base of the expanded astronomy major, and Prof. Jiansheng Chen, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Science, was hired as the department chair. In 2006, PKU and the Kavli Foundation (US) signed the agreement to build the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at PKU (KIAA-PKU), which was opened in 2008. Now the astronomy department and KIAA-PKU are becoming a platform for global scientific exchange and has already attracted a group of internationally-recognized young astronomers.The action of building astronomy department and KIAA in PKU had received tremendous support from the former president Prof. Zhihong Xu. As the former Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Science, he also effectively supported the development of the Chinese astronomy. In honor of Prof. Xu's remarkable contribution, the International Astronomy Union approved NAOC's application and named the asteroid No. 90826 after Prof. Zhihong Xu's name."I'm grateful to the encouragement and kindness from the colleagues and seniors of the astronomy community," Prof. Xu said, "... this honor also belongs to the astronomers at NAOC and PKU."During the one-day celebration, the attendees also held a forum to discuss the recent progress in the astronomical facilities in China.