An outspoken member of Beijing’s international research community, Richard de Grijs is based at the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University. Richard’s research has evolved from studies of galactic structure to stellar and star cluster population synthesis (and anything related to star clusters near and far). He has placed more recent emphasis on aspects of astronomical distance scale, and he is currently also engaged in a number of research projects related to the history of astronomy, with special emphasis on the 17th Century. His research group at Peking University is popular with both undergraduate and graduate students. He considers interactions with students among the highlights of his professional life. Richard de Grijs obtained his PhD from the University of Groningen (Netherlands) in 1997. He joined the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics as a full professor in 2009. He has been one of the main organizers of monthly science cafés in English for a number of years.
