Zhao Gang is an astronomer who has long been engaged in observational astrophysics research, making significant academic contributions in the fields of stellar abundances, galactic formation and evolution, exoplanets, and laboratory astrophysics. He is Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and researcher and doctoral supervisor of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). He previously served as the Chairman of the Chinese Astronomical Society and the Beijing Astronomical Society, and currently holds the position of Chair of the LAMOST Scientific Committee, as well as serving as a SOC member of Commission " the Local Universe" of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

He established a large-sample, high-resolution spectroscopic observation dataset of metal-poor dwarf stars and conducted a systematic quantitative analysis of their chemical abundances. He developed a new formula for the influence of neutral hydrogen atom collisions on spectral lines and achieved breakthroughs in major scientific challenges, such as searching for the first generation of supermassive stars and extremely metal-poor stars, reconstructing the Galactic merger history, and uncovering the origin and evolution of lithium. He pioneered the search and observation of exoplanets in China and collaborated with optical physicists to establish the new research direction of laboratory astrophysics in China. His research achievements have been selected in the Top 10 Scientific Advances in China and been selected multiple times for the Annual Top 10 Astronomical and Technological Advances in China.

He has led projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for Distinguished Young Scholars, the Innovative Research Group Project, the Major Program, and the National Key Research and Development Program of China. Currently, he serves as the PI of the Excellent Research Group Project of NSFC. He has received numerous awards, including the China Young Scientist Award, the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award (as the first contributor), the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress, the Huang Runqian Prize for Fundamental Research in Astrophysics, the Qiu Shi Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Award (as part of a team), the CAS Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Award, and the Tan Kah Kee Science Award.

1. Xing, Qian-Fan; Zhao, Gang*; Liu, Zheng-Wei; Heger, Alexander; Han, Zhan-Wen; Aoki, Wako; Chen, Yu-Qin; Ishigaki, Miho N.; Li, Hai-Ning; Zhao, Jing-Kun, A metal-poor star with abundances from a pair-instability supernova, Nature, 2023, 618, 7966, 712

2. Zhao, Gang*; Chen, Yuqin, Low-α metal-rich stars with sausage kinematics in the LAMOST survey: Are they from the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus galaxy? Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy, 2021, 64, 3, 239562

3. Alexeeva, Sofya; Zhao, Gang*; Gao, Dong-Yang; Du, Junju; Li, Aigen; Li, Kai; Hu, Shaoming, Spectroscopic evidence for a large spot on the dimming Betelgeuse, Nature Communications, 2021, 12, 4719

4. Yan, Hong-Liang; Zhou, Yu-Tao; Zhang, Xianfei; Li, Yaguang; Gao, Qi; Shi, Jian-Rong*; Zhao, Gang*; Aoki, Wako; Matsuno, Tadafumi; Li, Yan; Xu, Xiao-Dong; Li, Haining; Wu, Ya-Qian; Jin, Meng-Qi; Mosser, Benoit; Bi, Shao-Lan; Fu, Jian-Ning; Pan, Kaike; Suda, Takuma; Liu, Yu-Juan Zhao, Jing-Kun; Liang, Xi-Long, Most lithium-rich low-mass evolved stars revealed as red clump stars by asteroseismology and spectroscopy, Nature Astronomy, 2021, 5, 86-93

5. Kumar, Yerra Bharat*; Reddy, Bacham E.; Campbell, Simon W.; Maben, Sunayana; Zhao, Gang*; Ting, Yuan-Sen., Discovery of ubiquitous lithium production in low-mass stars, Nature Astronomy, 2020, 4, 1059-1063

6. Xing, Qian-Fan*; Zhao, Gang*; Aoki, Wako; Honda, Satoshi; Li, Hai-Ning; Ishigaki, Miho N.; Matsuno, Tadafumi, Evidence for the accretion origin of halo stars with an extreme r-process enhancement, Nature Astronomy, 2019, 3, 631

7. Yan, Hong-Liang; Shi, Jian-Rong*; Zhou, Yu-Tao; Chen, Yong-Shou; Li, Er-Tao; Zhang, Suyalatu; Bi, Shao-Lan; Wu, Ya-Qian; Li, Zhi-Hong; Guo, Bing; Liu, Wei-Ping; Gao, Qi; Zhang, Jun-Bo; Zhou, Ze-Ming; Li, Hai-Ning; Zhao, Gang*, The nature of the lithium enrichment in the most Li-rich giant star, Nature Astronomy, 2018, 2, 790

8. Zhao, G.*, Mashonkina, L.*, Yan, H. L., Alexeeva, S., Kobayashi, C., Pakhomov, Yu., Shi, J. R., Sitnova, T., Tan, K. F., Zhang, H. W., Zhang, J. B., Zhou, Z. M., Bolte, M., Chen, Y. Q., Li, X., Liu, F., Zhai, M., Systematic Non-LTE Study of the -2.6≤[Fe/H]≤0.2 F and G dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood. II. Abundance Patterns from Li to Eu, 2016, ApJ, 833, 225

9. Zhao, Gang; Zhao, Yong-Heng; Chu, Yao-Quan; Jing, Yi-Peng; Deng, Li-Cai*, LAMOST spectral survey - An overview, Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2012, 12, 723

10. Zhong, J.; Li, Y.; Wang, X.; Wang, J.; Dong, Q.; Xiao, C.; Wang, S.; Liu, X.; Zhang, L.; An, L.; Wang, F.; Zhu, J.; Gu, Y.; He, X.; Zhao, G.*; Zhang, J.*, Modelling loop-top X-ray source and reconnection outflows in solar flares with intense lasers, Nature Physics, 2010, 6,12, 984

11. Zhao, Gang*; Chen, Yu-Qin; Shi, Jian-Rong; Liang, Yan-Chun; Hou, Jin-Liang; Chen, Li; Zhang, Hua-Wei; Li, Ai-Gen, Stellar Abundance and Galactic Chemical Evolution through LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey, Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2006, 6, 265

12. Zhao, G.; Butler, K.; Gehren, T., Non-LTE analysis of neutral magnesium in the solar atmosphere, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1998, 333, 219

13. Zhao, G.; Magain, P., Abundances of neutron capture elements in metal-poor dwarfs. I - Yttrium and zirconium, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1991, 244, 425

14. Zhao, G.; Magain, P., The chemical composition of the extreme halo stars. II. Green spectra of 20 dwarfs, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1990, 238, 242