From gravitation, black holes and their applications to creating a better scientific publication service, Yu Tian, Crypto Commonwealth
Interesting interview with Yu Tian, an interdisciplinary professor including theoretical physics and computational physics, gravity and blockholes, as well as now working with Crypto Commonwealth.
What is your own background briefly?
I graduated from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, majoring in physics and minoring in computer science. Then I got my PhD in theoretical physics at Peking University. After that, I worked as a postdoc at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and as an associate professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, doing research in theoretical physics.
Currently I am a full professor and doctoral supervisor in the University of Chinese Academy of Science (UCAS), and visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). My specific research field is gravitation, black holes and their applications. My interest in computer science also lasts, which leads me to an interdisciplinary research area of theoretical physics and computational physics in recent years, and which makes me keep in touch with what is happening in the IT field.
Does it seem like a logical background to what you do now?
Yes, definitely. My background of theoretical physics, being a most fundamental science, enables me to analyze problems deep and rationally, not only those related to physics but also in other fields, including social science problems. As an active researcher in theoretical physics, I have published more than 70 research papers, most of which are in major international physics journals, including Physical Review Letters and the Physical Review series of American Physical Society (APS).
I have also been invited to peer review many papers by various physics journals. So I am familiar with how the system of scientific publication runs. At the same time, I have had more than 15 years of experience dealing with online distribution services like arXiv.org, which has long been a tradition in the field of theoretical physics. So, as an advisor in the team, I can use my experience/expertise to help Crypto Commonwealth with a better scientific publication service.
How was the last 12 months?
Nearly a year ago, I came to the United States as a visiting scholar at the Center for Theoretical Physics at MIT, collaborating with my hosting professor here on some novel approaches (known as applied AdS/CFT) to study superfluid physics theoretically. It has been a very exciting and impressive experience for me. A couple of months ago, we finished a project related to the instability of superfluids that had been working on for years, which resulted in a beautiful paper in Physical Review Letters.
After that, we have been working on an even more interesting new project about superfluid instability and turbulence. Alongside the fruitful academic collaboration I met Wayne Yee by coincidence, the founder of Crypto Commonwealth, who introduced me to the idea of pioneering the scientific publishing industry with blockchain technology, which struck me deeply.
No comments: