Fang LizhiBorn 12 Feb 1936.Chinese astrophysicist and dissident who graduated from university in 1956, and was soon expelled from Communist Party for expressing his beliefs in intellectual freedom and reforms. In 1972, he published a paper on the Big Bang theory, previously a forbidden topic in China, which met condemnation from the Communists; the Marxists claimed that the universe was infinite. As a human rights activist in China, he is often compared to Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov. Lizhi was blamed for student unrest and resulting rebellion in Tiananmen Square (1987). Since 1990, Lizhi has lived in exile in England and the U.S. He does theoretical work in cosmology, extracting the history of the universe from the remaining physical evidence, such as the cosmic background radiation, and the existence of antimatter.« |
