On the morning of May 25, at the Tsinghua University-IET Electrical Engineering Academic Forum and the opening ceremony of the 737th PhD Student Academic Forum, Farhad Rachidi, an IEEE Fellow, member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences, president of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), and professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, was appointed as a distinguished visiting professor at Tsinghua University. The appointment ceremony took place at the training center of Jibei Electric Power Company. The ceremony was attended by Kang Chongqing, Dean of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronics (EEA), Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee Yu Zhanqing, and several faculty members from the department. The event was chaired by Yu Zhanqing.

Kang Chongqing presented the appointment certificate to Farhad Rachidi

Professor Farhad Rachidi delivered an impressive report titled “An Exceptional Lightning Research Facility in the Swiss Alps,” comprehensively discussing the comprehensive measurement of lightning at the Säntis Tower in northern Switzerland, supported by various projects including the European COST Action and Horizon 2020. He introduced the results of high-power laser lightning experiments at the Säntis Tower, which were published in Nature Photonics. The Säntis Tower stands 124 meters high and is located at an elevation of 2,501 meters in the Alps, where it is struck by lightning more than a hundred times annually, providing a unique advantage for studying natural lightning. In recent years, it has collaborated with renowned lightning research teams from Spain, Sweden, and the United States to conduct synchronized observational studies, yielding a number of high-level fundamental research results in lightning physics.

Farhad Rachidi delivering his academic report

Recent high-power laser lightning experiments conducted at the Säntis Tower in Switzerland

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1962, Farhad Rachidi obtained his Master’s and PhD degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in 1986 and 1991, respectively. By 1996, he was at the Power Systems Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, having made several short visits to the University of Florida and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the United States. In 1997, he joined the Lightning Research Laboratory at the University of Toronto in Canada and worked at Montena in Switzerland from April 1998 to September 1999. He then joined the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, where he has published over 250 journal papers, with more than 17,000 citations on Google Scholar. He has authored several books, including Lightning Electromagnetics. Volume 1: Return Stroke Modelling and Electromagnetic Radiation (2nd Edition), Lightning Electromagnetics. Volume 2: Electrical Processes and Effects (2nd Edition), Electromagnetic Time Reversal: Application to EMC and Power Systems, and Electromagnetic Field Interaction with Transmission Lines: From Classical Theory to HF Radiation Effects.

Lightning Electromagnetics. Volume 1 and Lightning Electromagnetics. Volume 2

Farhad Rachidi is an internationally renowned expert in lightning research, as well as in electromagnetic compatibility and high-power electromagnetic environments. He is an honorary professor and the director of the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, a member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences in Italy, president of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), an IEEE Fellow, an EMP Fellow, and a member of the advisory board for IEEE Trans. on Electromagnetic Compatibility. His primary research areas include electromagnetic lightning protection, electromagnetic compatibility, and high-power electromagnetics. Due to his outstanding contributions in these fields, he has received numerous international awards, including the 2005 IEEE EMC Society Technical Achievement Award, the 2005 International Large Electric Grid Technical Committee Award, the 2006 Bondel Medal from the French Electrical and Electronics Engineering Society, the 2016 Karl Berger Award from the International Lightning Protection Committee, and the 2017 and 2019 Motohisa Kanda Awards from the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society. He has also served as the vice-chair of the EU COST Action on lightning physics and effects (2005-2009), president of the International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP) (2008-2014), and editor-in-chief of IEEE Trans. on Electromagnetic Compatibility (2012-2015).