Robert Peichung Lin (; January 24, 1942 – November 17, 2012) was Chinese-born American astrophysicist. He was a professor and director of the

Space Sciences Laboratory The Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) is an Organized Research Unit (ORU) of the University of California, Berkeley. Founded in 1959, the laboratory is located in the Berkeley Hills above the university campus. It has developed and continues t ...

(1998–2008) at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. As a pioneer of gamma-ray astronomy and of particle detection in space, his research was fundamental to the development of our knowledge in

solar physics Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It deals with detailed measurements that are possible only for our closest star. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics, astrophysics, and compu ...

, the physics of the

solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sola ...

and of the

magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dynam ...

. He was the principal investigator for the

Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI, originally High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager or HESSI or Explorer 81) was a NASA solar flare observatory. It was the sixth mission in the Small Explorer program (SMEX), selected ...

Early life and education

Robert Lin was the son of Tung Hua Lin. He was born in

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

, China on January 24, 1942, and moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as a child and then to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 1962 and a Ph.D. from the

in 1967.

Career

Lin remained at his PhD institution, the

, for his entire career, and was a main contributor to the success of its

, becoming its director. His research focused on experimental space physics and high-energy astrophysics. He made major contributions to topics involving solar flares, plasma phenomena in the Earth's magnetosphere, lunar and planetary geology, heliospheric physics, and high-energy astrophysics. In 2006, Lin was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

for his contributions to the "behavior of electrons and ions accelerated by the sun, and detected the accompanying x-ray and gamma-ray emissions."

Personal life

Lin suffered a sudden stroke on November 17, 2012, and died at Alta Bates Medical Center, aged 70.

References

1942 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American physicists American astrophysicists American people of Chinese descent California Institute of Technology alumni Educators from Guangxi Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Physicists from Guangxi Tsien family University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni {{US-physicist-stub