For immediate release 17 March 1998
Nobel Prizewinning Physicist to
Lecture in Hong Kong
The 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Prof Steven Chu, will describe his groundbreaking work in lectures to be given at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on the 25th and 26th of March.
Prof Chu and two colleagues received the highest honor in physics for their discovery of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light. Their work in this field is regarded as a fundamental breakthrough leading to deeper understanding of the interactions between light and matter.
Prof Chu is the Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a member of Academia Sinica. On Wednesday, 25 March, Prof Chu will present the major
technology developments in laser cooling and trapping of atoms and particles over the past 15 years. This technology is already being used in a number of areas of science and engineering, including atomic clocks and atom interferometers. The lecture will also include a preview of applications in polymer science and biology.
Applications in polymer science and biology will be described on the following day, 26 March, with examples of how new techniques such as optical tweezers allow scientists to probe the behavior of individual molecules. Prof Chu will recount how polymer experiments have led to discoveries that cannot be accounted for by current theory, and how the ongoing study of the motion and interactions of individual
biomolecules is opening up a new frontier in biology.
Event: Wei Lun Distinguished Lecture
Title: Laser Cooling and Trapping of Atoms and Particles Time: Wednesday, 25 March, 5-6 pm
Place: Auditorium, Level 5, Ho Sin-Hang Engineering Building, The
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories
Event: Distinguished Lecture in Science
Title: The Study of Polymers and Biophysics by Observing the
Motion of Individual Molecules
Time: Thursday, 26 March, 5-6 pm
and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon
Note to Editors:
You are cordially invited to attend. For more information, please contact Ms Cheung Man Yi at the Information and Public Relations Office of CUHK, 2609-8896, or email mcheung@cuhk.edu.hk, or Mr King Cheng at the Public Affairs Office of HKUST, 2358-6305 or email pamedia@ust.hk.
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