26/07/2005
World's Leading Physicists to Deliver Science Camp Lectures
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)'s status as an academic mecca was given impetus today (26 July 2005) as three of the modern era's outstanding physicists attended campus for the launch of the C S Wu and C L Yuan Science Camp.
Prof Robert Laughlin, Nobel Laureate and President of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Prof Lu Jeu Sham, Professor of Physics at the University of California San Diego and Prof Moses Chan, Evan Pugh Professor of Physics at Pennsylvania State University, will deliver lectures during the five-day camp, expounding their views on research particularly in the areas of nanoscience and low temperature physics.
President Chu, who officiated at the opening ceremony, says: "I am glad to see HKUST host this prestigious event, which has encouraged some of the world's best scientists and students to gather with a unity of purpose, namely to advance scientific research and education."
Jointly organized by HKUST, the Physical Society of Hong
Kong, The Croucher Foundation and the C S Wu and Luke C L Yuan Natural Science Foundation, the camp aims to promote scientific research in Greater China, facilitating collaboration between students and physicists of Chinese descent.
Over 80 undergraduate students from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China, together with 50 Hong Kong Physics Olympiad winners, will have the opportunity to exchange views with the physics maestros.
Also present at the ceremony were Mrs Fanny Law,
Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower, and Mr Hwa-Min Hsu, President of the C S Wu and Luke C L Yuan Natural Science Foundation.
The Foundation was established in 1999 by Prof C L Yuan to commemorate his wife, Prof C S Wu. Both were
prominent physicists dedicated to scientific research and education in Chinese communities, a mission that the annual camp perpetuates to this day.
Prof Robert Laughlin
Nobel Laureate in Physics (1998), Prof Laughlin is concurrently President of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Professor of Physics at Stanford, and Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics. He specializes in high temperature superconductivity, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society. Professor Laughlin also won the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (1998), the Oliver E Buckley Prize (1986), and the E O Lawrence Award for Physics (1984).
Prof Lu Jeu Sham
Prof Sham is Professor of Physics at the University of California San Diego, his major areas of research being condensed matter theory, semiconductor nanostructures, and optical processes. Among the many awards he has
received are the W E Lamb Medal for Laser Science and Quantum Optics (2004), and the Faculty Research Lecturer Award conferred by the University of California, San Diego (2001). He was elected Bernd T Matthias Scholar of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1991, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Academia Sinica, and the American Physical Society.
Prof Moses Chan
Prof Moses Chan is Evan Pugh Professor of Physics of the Pennsylvania State University, and Director of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Eberly College of Science. He is one of the world's foremost experts in low-temperature physics, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society. He has been honored with prestigious awards, such as the Fritz London Memorial Prize in Low Temperature Physics (1996), and a Senior Research Fellowship conferred by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (1982).
Jacky Tsang Tel: 2358-6306 email: [email protected]
