Ye Shuhua (Chinese:叶叔华; born June 21, 1927) is a Chinese astronomer and professor atShanghai Astronomical Observatory, known for achieving one of the world's most precise measurements ofUniversal Time in the 1960s, and for establishing thevery-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) andsatellite laser ranging (SLR) techniques in China.

Ye served as President of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Vice-President of the Chinese Astronomical Society, and Vice-President of theInternational Astronomical Union. She is a member of theChinese Academy of Sciences and a foreign fellow of theRoyal Astronomical Society of Britain. The asteroid3241 Yeshuhua is named after her.

Ye Shuhua was born June 21, 1927, inGuangzhou,Guangdong, China. She spent most of her school years during theSecond Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), and had to move repeatedly with her family from Guangzhou to Hong Kong,Shaoguan, andLian County, because of the war.^[1]

After thesurrender of Japan in 1945,Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou resumed its admissions. Ye hoped to study literature at the university, but her father wanted her to study medicine for better career prospects. She was not interested in medicine, and as a compromise with her father, she agreed to study mathematics instead. At the time, mathematics and astronomy were under the same department at Sun Yat-sen University, and under the influence of ProfessorZou Yixin, she later chose to major in astronomy.^[1]

In 1951, Ye Shuhua moved toShanghai with her husband Cheng Jitai (程极泰), who taught at the mathematics department ofFudan University. Ye found work at the French-built Zikawei (Xujiahui) Observatory, which later became part ofShanghai Astronomical Observatory.^[1] In 1958, she became the leader of a team of scientists working to improve the precision of China's measurement ofUniversal Time, which ranked the last in the world. By 1963, China's Universal Time measurement leapt to the world's second most precise. It was set as the basic national standard in 1965, and her team later received many national awards for this achievement.^[2][1]

When theCultural Revolution started in 1966, Ye Shuhua, like many other intellectuals, was persecuted and held in a "cowshed" (牛棚).^{[citation needed]} She also had to work as a house painter.^[1]

After the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Ye was appointed research professor of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, and served as its director between 1981 and 1993.^[3] Under her leadership, Shanghai Observatory established avery-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) and asatellite laser ranging (SLR) research station, and participated in theInternational Earth Rotation Service (IERS) as one of the most technologically advanced bases.^[2] In 1991, she was appointed the chief scientist in a Key Basic Research Project to study China'scrustal motion. The project verified that theIndian Plate is causing an eastward movement of China's land mass.^[3]

Ye Shuhua served as Vice-President of theChinese Astronomical Society from 1978 to 1988, after which she became its honorary president. She served as Vice-President of theInternational Astronomical Union from 1988 to 1994. She was elected a member of theChinese Academy of Sciences in 1980, and a foreign fellow of theRoyal Astronomical Society of Britain in 1985.^[3]

ThePurple Mountain Observatory named the asteroid3241 Yeshuhua after her.^[3][1] She has been awarded theHo Leung Ho Lee Prize for astronomy.^[4]

• Optical observations of time and latitude and the determining of the earth rotation parameters.Proceedings of IAU Colloquium No. 63. Dordrecht: D.Reidel Publishing Company: pp. 11–23. (1982)
• VLBI measurements of radio positions at three stations.Proceedings of IAU Colloquium No. 63. Dordrecht: D.Reidel Publishing Company: pp. 329–336. (1982)
• Note on the terrestrial reference system for geodynamics.Proceedings of the 5th IAG Symposium. Washington: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: p. 46. (1982)
• Intercomparison of celestial reference frame-general principle.Reference Frames in Astronomy and Geophysics. Kluwer Acad Publ: pp. 295–304. (1989)
• with Wan T.S., Qian Z.H. Progress on Chinese VLBI Network Project. Radio Interferometry.Proceedings of IAU Colloquium No. 131, Provo, Utah: Astronomical Society of the Pacific: pp. 386–389. (1991)^[5]

• Timeline of women in science

• Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Stefanowska, A. D.; Wiles, Sue (2003).Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women. M.E. Sharpe.ISBN 978-0-7656-0798-0.

• 1927 births
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• People from Guangzhou
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• Sun Yat-sen University alumni
• Delegates to the 9th National People's Congress
• Delegates to the 8th National People's Congress

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