24/03/2006
Yuan-Tseh Lee Talks on 21st Century Challenges
Nobel Laureate and President of Taiwan's Academia Sinica Prof Yuan-Tseh Lee will deliver a Distinguished Lecture at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) on 29 March 2006 as part of the University's 15th Anniversary celebrations.
Prof Lee's lecture "Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century" will begin with an outline of the impacts and the challenges that humankind is facing in the 21st century. He will then describe how the world changed dramatically during the 20th century, with increased population and advancements in technology, but limited space and resources. Prof Lee's lecture aims to encourage people to meet this new challenge of the 21st century and to pursue "unlimited dreams" in a "limited earth".
A world-renowned scholar and educator, Prof Lee was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 for his pioneering work and invention of an apparatus for studying the mechanism of chemical reactions. He was the first Chinese, and so far the only Chinese, to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He has also received numerous academic awards and honors, including fellowship of both the American Academy of Arts and Science and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and membership of the National Academy of Sciences (US), Academia Sinica (Taiwan), and Göttingen Academy of Science (Germany). He has also received more than 30 honorary doctorate degrees from prominent universities around the world. In 1986, he was awarded the National Medal of Science, the highest award given to scientists in the US.
Prof Lee received his BSc from Taiwan University in 1959 and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965. He became an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and the James Franck Institute of the University of Chicago in 1968. In 1974, he returned to UC Berkeley as a professor of chemistry. In 1994, he made the important decision to return to Taiwan, the place where he was born and grew up, to take up the posts of President of Academia Sinica, the most prominent research institution in Taiwan, and Chairman of the Taiwan government's Educational Reform Council.
Members of the media are welcome to cover the Lecture. Details are as follows:
HKUST 15th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture
Title: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century
Speaker: Prof Yuan-Tseh Lee
President, Academia Sinica, and 1986 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Date: Wednesday, 29 March
Time: 4-5 pm
Venue: Citigroup Lecture Theater (LTA), HKUST
Language: English
Bosco Wong Tel: 2358-6307 email: [email protected]
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