Professor Guoxiang Ai is an astrophysicist, graduated from Geophysics Department of Peking University in 1963. He is currently the Professor and Director of National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was selected a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1993, Member of the National Space High Technology Committee and Chairman of the International Astronomical Union Commission 10 (1997-2000), Director of Divisions of Mathematics and Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2002-2004.

Professor Ai invented the real-time, two-dimensional spectrometer based on a birefringent filter. This contribution has forwarded the development of solar magnetic field measurement by three generations. He was awarded three first prizes of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one first prize and one second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. He was awarded the HLHL Prize (by Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation) in 1996.

Now he applies himself to the development of space astronomy and proposed a large project that is Space Solar Telescope and the phase A (assessment study) of it was completed and design (phase B) of it was basically completed. The telescope is under development.