HomeDate: 2026-03-24
Academician Yuk Ling Yung passed away in the United States on March 16, 2026, at the age of 80.
Academician Yung was an internationally renowned scholar in atmospheric chemistry and environmental change. His research spanned planetary atmospheres, planetary evolution, atmospheric chemistry and radiation, astrobiology, and climate change, with particular emphasis on combining theoretical modeling, laboratory experiments, and observational data. The chemical models of planetary atmospheres he developed have been widely applied in interpreting data from space missions, offering new insights into the characteristics, behavior, and evolutionary history of planetary atmospheres in the solar system.
Dr. Yung received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1974. He subsequently conducted research and served as a Lecturer at Harvard University. In 1977, he joined the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology, where he was later named the Smits Family Professor. Beginning in 2014, he also served as a Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and was promoted to Senior Research Scientist the following year, co-leading multiple research projects of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He served as a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Earth Sciences of Academia Sinica in 1993, and as a member of the Academic Advisory Committees of the Institute of Earth Sciences, the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the Research Center for Environmental Changes, contributing significantly to the development of academic research at Academia Sinica.
Dr. Yung was elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His honors include the Gerard P. Kuiper Prize from the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and the Poynting Award on Radiative Transfer. He was elected an Academician of Academia Sinica in 2010.
