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Japanese Astronomical Society ex-president Shigeru Ida joins China’s Westlake University

Top planetary scientist will lead young university’s new astronomy department after decades shaping human understanding of the universe

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Shigeru Ida, president of the Japanese Society for Origins of Life and Astrobiology since 2025, is widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential planetary scientists. Photo: Handout
Shi Huang
The universe teems with planets, yet their origins and evolution remain among science’s most enduring mysteries.
Theoretical astrophysicist Shigeru Ida of the Institute of Science Tokyo has spent more than four decades in this field – and is now bringing his expertise to China.
Ida, a former president of the Astronomical Society of Japan, has led the Japanese Society for Origins of Life and Astrobiology since 2025, and is widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential planetary scientists.

On July 3, Westlake University in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou announced that Ida had joined its school of science as a distinguished fellow in the Department of Astronomy, effective April.

In a 2023 address following his inauguration as president of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Ida recalled how his early fascination with the cosmos and speculative science would go on to shape the trajectory of his academic career.

“When I was a high school student struggling to decide my future academic path, what left a profound impact on me was [American filmmaker] Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I skipped class to see alone at a cinema … and Sakyo Komatsu’s science fiction novel, The End of the Endless Flow,” he said.

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