Fang Lizhi | |||||||||
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方励之 | |||||||||
Born | Beijing, China | February 12, 1936||||||||
Died | April 6, 2012 Tucson, Arizona, U.S. | (aged 76)||||||||
Alma mater | |||||||||
Occupation | Astrophysicist | ||||||||
Known for | 1986 Student Demonstrations | ||||||||
Spouse |
Li Shuxian (m. 1961) | ||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 方勵之 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 方励之 | ||||||||
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Fang Lizhi (Chinese: 方励之; pinyin: Fāng Lìzhī; February 12, 1936 – April 6, 2012) was a Chinese astrophysicist, vice-president of the University of Science and Technology of China, and activist whose liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of 1986–87 and, finally, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.[1] Fang was considered as one of the leaders of the New Enlightenment in the 1980s.[2] Because of his activism, he was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in January 1987.[3] For his work, Fang was a recipient of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1989, given each year.[4] He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980, but his position was revoked after 1989.