# Charles Liu

Charles Tsun-chu Liu (simplified Chinese: 刘俊初; traditional Chinese: 劉俊初; pinyin: Liú Jùn-chū) is a Taiwanese-born American astronomer and astronomy educator. His research interests include merging and colliding galaxies, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and the star formation history of the universe. He is a former director of the William E. Macaulay Honors College and The Verrazzano School at the City University of New York's College of Staten Island. He currently serves as a professor of physics and astronomy at the College of Staten Island, and as President of the Astronomical Society of New York. Liu is the 2024 recipient of the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Education Prize, and was named an AAS Legacy Fellow in 2020.

## Biography
### Early life

Liu was born in Taipei, Taiwan to Fu-wen (Frank) Liu, a professor of pomology and horticulture, and Jui-chi (Janice) Liu, a nurse of obstetrics and midwifery, both of Dahu Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. He is the second of three children; his older sister, Grace, is a retired banker, and his younger brother, Henry, is a family physician. His family immigrated to the United States when Liu was four years old, and all of them were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1980. He attended Harvard University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and astrophysics and physics, and the University of Arizona, graduating with a Ph.D. in astronomy. He then held postdoctoral positions at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Columbia, where he conducted research on galaxy evolution and the star formation history of the universe.

### Career

In 1998, Liu joined the scientific staff of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where he helped design and develop the exhibitry and scientific content of the Rose Center for Earth and Space. During this time, with co-authors Neil deGrasse Tyson and Robert W. Irion, Liu wrote "One Universe: At Home In The Cosmos (2000)", for which Tyson, Irion, and Liu were awarded the 2001 Science Writing Award (scientist category) of the American Institute of Physics.
In 2003, Liu joined the faculty of the CUNY College of Staten Island (CSI). He was subsequently appointed to the consortial faculty of the physics doctoral program of the CUNY Graduate Center. In 2008, Liu became director of The Verrazzano School Honors Program at CSI. In 2012, he also became director of the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CSI. He served as director of both of those programs until 2018.
In 2015, Liu was elected as Education Officer of the American Astronomical Society, serving also as a Councilor and Trustee of the Society until 2018. He was elected as President of the Astronomical Society of New York in 2016, and was named a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020.
Liu was awarded the AAS Education Prize in 2024, which celebrated “his national and international impact as an enthusiastic astronomy educator throughout his career — including his contributions to informal education via his work at the American Museum of Natural History, his numerous popular science books, and his podcast ‘The LIUniverse’; as well as his contributions to formal education as a professor and mentor. The award also recognizes his service to the astronomy education community as AAS Education Officer and inaugural Chair of the AAS Education Committee.”

### Research

Liu is one of the original team members of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), the largest contiguous deep field ever observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. His work on that project has focused on faint, strongly star-forming galaxies. In 2015, he also joined the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) project of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, where he has been studying galaxies whose star formation activity has been quenched within approximately the past one billion years.
Since 2016, Liu has served on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Science Advisory Committee, where he is involved with galaxy evolution research.

### Personal life

Liu has been married to the mathematician and educator Dr. Amy Rabb-Liu since 1991. They have three children.

### Selected bibliography

2000: One Universe: at Home in the Cosmos (with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Robert Irion)
2004: The Handy Astronomy Answer Book
2013: The Handy Astronomy Answer Book, Third Edition
2017: StarTalk: everything you ever need to know about space travel, sci-fi, the human race, the universe, and beyond (with Neil DeGrasse Tyson)
2019: 30-second universe: 50 most significant ideas, theories and events that sum up... everything (with Karen Masters and Sevil Salur)
2020: The Handy Physics Answer Book
2021: 30-Second Space Travel: 50 key ideas, inventions, and destinations that have inspired humanity toward the heavens (with Karen Masters and Allen Liu)
2021: Intro to Physics for Babies
2022: The Cosmos Explained: A history of the universe from its beginning to today and beyond
2024: The Handy Quantum Physics Answer Book