About

Life, education, academic lineage, and students

Life and Education Journey

I am currently (Nov 2023 -) a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Manchester. Previously, I completed my PhD in Physics of the Universe at the Astroparticle and Cosmology (APC) Laboratory, Université Paris Cité, jointly with the École Normale Supérieure (ENS, Paris), from November 2020 to October 2023 in Paris, France.

Before my PhD, I earned an MSc in Physics from Brown University (2018–2020, Rhode Island, US) and a BSc in Applied Physics from Shanghai University (2014–2018, Shanghai, China). My earlier education includes high school in Hai'an and primary school in Sunzhuang village (2002–2014). I was born in 1996.

Bio

Pronouns: He/Him
Title: PhD in Physics of the Universe (DOCTORAT PHYSIQUE DE L'UNIVERS)
Marital Status: Married
Nationality: Chinese
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Profile: Astrophysicist and cosmologist; self-proclaimed "citizen of the Universe."

Scientific Ancestry

Below is my academic tree, illustrating the lineage from doctoral supervisors to students.

flowchart LR PD["Paul Dirac"] --> DS["Dennis W. Sciama"] EF["Enrico Fermi"] --> ST["Sam Treiman"] JS["John Simpson"] --> ST DS --> MR["Martin Rees"] ST --> SW["Steven Weinberg"] MR --> NK["Nick Kaiser"] SW --> JP["John Preskill"] JP --> MB["Martin Bucher"] NK & MB --> ZZ(["Zheng Zhang"]) classDef anc stroke-width:1.5px classDef me stroke-width:2.5px class PD,EF,JS,DS,MR,ST,SW,NK,JP,MB anc class ZZ me

Students

Tong Lu (BSc, Manchester, 2025-2026)
Pranav Odugoudar (MScR, Manchester, 2024-2025)

Biological Ancestry

I can't go back too far. My grandfather was adopted. The man who adopted him, my great-grandfather, was a tofu maker/seller in the village, but unfortunately the craft was not passed on.