Who is Lin Tan from the story, The Starlight Express, in Gilchrist's collection, Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle?

Lin Tan is an intelligent young scientist whose kindness and serenity seem boundless. His Chinese background as well as his quirky, delightful speech patterns constantly remind us that he comes from a very different culture, but what he shares with Gilchrist's American characters is more important that what sets him apart. Lin Tan's professional interest and personal fascination focuses on the origins of human life, in the emergence of "the miraculous brain of man."