SAN DIEGO -- An astrophysicist at the University of California, San Diego whose wide-ranging research advanced our understanding of how stars, spiral galaxies and planetary systems form has been awarded the $1-million Shaw Prize in Astronomy, University officials announced Tuesday.

According to a UCSD news release, Frank H. Shu, a professor of physics UC San Diego, will receive the award “in recognition of his outstanding lifetime contributions in theoretical astronomy” by the Shaw Prize Foundation in Hong Kong, which announced the award Tuesday.

The prize will be formally presented to him at a ceremony on October 7, University officials said.

The foundation’s award, which includes a medal of the philanthropist Sir Run Run Shaw, is annually bestowed on individuals who have made “distinguished and significant” achievements in three categories: astronomy, life science and medicine, and the mathematical sciences.

First awarded in 2004, it is sometimes referred to as the “Nobel Prize of the East.”

“This award is a significant honor for both Frank Shu and UC San Diego,” said Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. “It’s a validation of the tremendous impact that Frank has had on advancing the field of astronomy.”

“Frank has long been one of my scientific heroes,” said Mark Thiemens, Dean of UC San Diego’s Division of Physical Sciences. “This prize is one more validation of how significant his influence has been to astronomy, astrophysics and cosmochemistry.”

Just last month Shu was honored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, which announced that he had won its 2009 Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal for a lifetime of achievement in astronomy.