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Professor Sun Kwok, Dean of HKU Science and Chair Professor of Physics, was elected as the President of International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission on Astrobiology

Professor Sun Kwok, Dean of Science and Chair Professor of Physics of the University of Hong Kong, was elected President of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission on Astrobiology today during the General Assembly of the IAU in Honolulu. He will help the Union to organize world-wide research and education activities in astrobiology. The commissions of the IAU represent research domains at the frontier of astronomical science.  The President serves a term of 3 years until the next election in 2018. 

Astrobiology is a subject of high current interest, covering the topics of origin of life on Earth and the search for evidence for extraterrestrial life.  Professor Kwok is widely acknowledged as the world-leading expert in the study of stellar synthesis of organic compounds.  His discovery of stellar organics has generated world-wide interest on the possibility of stellar organics enriching the early Earth and therefore having influenced the origin of life on Earth.

At the current General Assembly, Professor Kwok has organized a focus meeting on “search for water and life's building blocks in the universe”, held on August 3-5, 2015.  Experts from all over the world gave presentations at this meeting on topics of how water and organics compounds in the Universe influenced the emergence of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere.

The IAU is the international organization for research and education in astronomy and has over 10,000 members worldwide. It was founded in 1919. It is the official international body for astronomy and is funded through annual contributions by national governments of countries. Its goal is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. Led by Professor Kwok, HKU Science organized the first international astronomical symposium in Hong Kong in 2008.  The symposium, entitled “Organic Matter in Space”, was a great scientific success.

The IAU is also the internationally recognized authority for the official naming of all celestial objects in the sky. In August 2006 at the IAU Assembly held in Prague, an official definition of planet was passed, resulting in the removal of Pluto (冥王星) as a major planet of the solar system. The IAU is also responsible for naming all the asteroids of our solar system, including China (1125, 中國), the first asteroid discovered by a Chinese astronomer.

For press enquiry, please contact Ms Cindy Chan, Senior Communication Manager of Faculty of Science, at 3917-5286 or by email at cindycst@hku.hk