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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.
In 1980, as an undergraduate at Kyoto University, Ida was fascinated by the then-burgeoning theories of elementary particle cosmology. Upon graduating in 1984, he sought admission to the elementary particle theory and cosmology laboratory at the University of Tokyo – but failed the entrance exam.
On his second attempt, however, his fortunes shifted: he entered the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Geophysics and earned his PhD in 1989.
“Having shifted from theoretical physics to geophysics, I experienced a shock,” Ida said in his address. “But this transition became a turning point that spurred my later journey into astrobiology and the study of the origin of life.”


In an email response to the South China Morning Post, Ida – who retired from the Institute of Science Tokyo in March – said he decided in June last year that he would join Westlake University, ahead of the launch of its Department of Astronomy last October.
In an interview with Westlake, Ida described the move as being drawn to yet another “start-up” – a young university choosing to build an entirely new astronomy department. He says he was attracted by the openness and ambition of the environment, and saw it as an opportunity to continue his scientific journey with a new phase of exploration.
After earning his doctorate in the late 1980s, Ida joined the University of Tokyo’s GRAPE (GRAvity PiPE) project – which develops specialised computers for gravitational N‑body simulations, such as proto-planetary systems, globular clusters, galaxies and clusters of galaxies.
Using GRAPE, he developed the oligarchic growth theory of planet formation.
According to this theory, when the sun was young, vast amounts of dust and gravel swirled around it. Over time, these fragments collided and welded together to create rocky bodies known as planetesimals – spanning anywhere from a few to hundreds of kilometres across.
A few of these planetesimals grew more rapidly, sweeping up surrounding debris with their gravitational pull to become planetary “oligarchs” – the embryos of future planets.
This theory – now the standard paradigm for terrestrial planet formation – earned Ida an assistant professorship at the University of Tokyo in 1990.
After GRAPE was completed in 1993, he moved to the newly established Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the then Tokyo Institute of Technology as an associate professor. The institute merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 2024 to form the Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo).
In 1997, Ida teamed up with researchers at the University of Colorado to test the giant impact hypothesis. Using personal computers, the team simulated how the moon was formed shortly after rock fragments collided around a young Earth some 4.6 billion years ago. Their findings were published in Nature that year.
In 1998, Ida further refined and published a complete theory of oligarchic growth, using large-scale numerical simulations to explain the orbits and mass distributions of exoplanets across the Milky Way.
More recently, he has integrated planet formation with astrobiology – exploring habitable planets and the origins of life in an interdisciplinary framework.
In 2006, Ida received the Chushiro Hayashi prize from the Astronomical Society of Japan – a prestigious award recognising outstanding achievements in astronomy and astrophysics.
The same year, he was promoted to full professor and later served as deputy director of the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology/Science Tokyo for a decade.

According to Ida, his “own recent research direction only gradually became clear about seven or eight years after the establishment of ELSI – simulating the formation of complex organic molecules in the universe”.
Ida has published over 400 papers, been cited more than 21,000 times, and written several popular science books on astronomy. He was writing a textbook in English on the formation theory of planets and satellites, he said in his email to the SCMP.
Westlake University is a private research institution founded in October 2018 by the noted Chinese structural biologist Shi Yigong. It currently hosts nearly 300 top-tier scientists, most of whom have returned from overseas.
Westlake made its debut on the global top 100 for research rankings last year. Across 2025 and 2026, it placed among the top 10 Chinese institutions for publications in Science and Nature – the world’s premier scientific journals.


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Science

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

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

Westlake University in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou hosts hundreds of top-tier scientists. Photo: Handout

10 scientists and experts who have left the US and UK for China so far in 2026

Some of the scientists and experts who left the West for China in 2026 (from left to right): Peipei Chen, Dai Liang and Zhang Kai. Photo: Handout

Omar Yaghi receives the Nobel Prize in Stockholm in December. Photo: Getty Images

Jiang Jianfeng says the decision to return to his home country is a “natural choice”. Photo: Handout

Ling Haibin is a former Empire Innovation Professor at Stony Brook University in New York and IEEE Fellow. Photo: Handout

Zhu Ziqiang, who has joined Hong Kong Polytechnic University as chair professor of electrical machines and control systems. Photo: Handout

World-leading cancer drug scientist Lin Wenbin joins China’s Westlake University

Lin Wenbin, the internationally renowned molecular materials chemist, chemical biologist and oncologist, pictured during his tenure at the University of Chicago. Photo: Handout

Celebrated mathematician Yuan Yuan returns to China after more than 20 years in US

Yuan is one of four mathematicians recruited by Westlake University (pictured) after long careers in the US. Photo: Handout

Yuan Yuan has joined Westlake University’s Institute for Theoretical Sciences. Photo: Handout

Westlake University in eastern China’s Hangzhou. Photo: Handout

After 40 years in US, pioneering mathematician Zhongwei Shen returns to China

Mathematician Zhongwei Shen says he hopes to keep pushing forward the problems that have defined his career, and also return to classroom. Photo: Handout

Zhongwei Shen was admitted to Peking University at the age of 14. Photo: handout

Award-winning data scientist She Yiyuan takes job in China after decades in US

Statistician She Yiyuan holds a PhD from Stanford University and taught at Florida State University for nearly 20 years before returning to China. Photo: Handout

News

China

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


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


Japan

Hangzhou

Westlake University

Tokyo University of Information Sciences

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

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Top planetary scientist will lead young university’s new astronomy department after decades shaping human understanding of the universe

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