Bulletin Number Four 1985

dent and Head o f Chung Chi College (1976-1981), Master o f the Postgraduate Hall (since 1976 )， and Dean o f the Graduate School (since 1981). He has also served as members o f the Administrative Board and the Executive Committee o f international academic organizations such as ASAIHL and ACUCA ， respectively. Despite his heavy administrative duties, Pro fessor Tam has been active in teaching and research. His main research interests include structural studies and synthesis o f natural products, mass spectrometry, particularly studies o f ion structures, and organome tallic chemistry. He has published many research articles in international journals and contributed several review articles, including chapters in two volumes o f the series on Chemistry o f Functional Groups edited by S. Patai. Professor Tam is very active in community service. He has served as member o f the Board o f Education, the Medical Development Advisory Committee, and the Rehabilitation Development Co-ordination Committee. Apart from these advisory bodies, he also serves in various capacities in school councils and voluntary organizations, most notably as the Honorary Secretary o f St. Christopher's Home, the Vice-Chairman o f the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, and the Chairman o f the Board o f Directors o f the United Christian Medical Service. Depa r tmen t o f Physics The Department o f Physics is one o f the oldest in the University. Its history is as long as the University itself. In the early years the Department was small w ith only about half a dozen lecturing staff, divided among the three Foundation Colleges. Over the years, the Department has grown w ith the University, and has now a strength o f sixteen lecturing staff and many supportive teaching, technical and clerical staff members. The number o f students has increased from fewer than 100 in the early years to the present size o f 250, and the programme o f studies has developed from the Bachelor's degree level through the MPhil degree level to the PhD degree level. Programme o f Studies The Department o f Physics offers a major undergraduate programme w ith emphasis on the broad fundamentals o f classical and modem physics, w ith approximately 230 students enrolled. There is also a small number o f students in aminor programme. The MPhil programme, started in 1972, requires a combination o f course work and research, w ith emphasis on the latter. Seventy students have graduated w ith MPhil degrees and seventeen are currently enrolled. The PhD programme was started in 1981; one student has graduated and three are currently enrolled. Research Research is carried out actively in the Depart ment. In the last three years alone, some 100 research articles have been published in international journals. Research projects, undertaken either individually or in small groups, cover a wide range o f topics. Below is a brief description o f some o f the projects. Research in biophysics centres on conformation and electron transfer in proteins, and dynamics o f single muscle cells by laser diffractometry. Properties o f isotropic and oriented polymers and composites such as elastic moduli, thermal expansivity and thermal conductivity are studied by various experimental techniques and related to structure through theoretical models. In other areas o f solid state physics, the prepa ration and physical properties o f amorphous semi conductor films have been studied, w ith potential application as low cost solar cell materials. Theoretical work covers the magnetic and electronic properties o f disordered systems such as impurities in doped semi-conductors. Theoretical work in electrodynamics covers the interaction o f electromagnetic waves w ith free elec trons, dielectrics, relativistic plasmas and absorbing liquids, the last being related to a recently developed experimental project on photoacoustic studies o f various systems, using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Low power lasers are used in studying the acoustics o f Chinese musical instruments. A 14 MeV neutron generator is used for acti vation analysis. Diurnal variation o f cosmic-ray intensity is also studied in collaboration w ith other laboratories. Thermoluminescence techniques are employed for the dating o f Chinese pottery. Work on denary logic arithmetic processor and induction motor speed control by microprocessors is being carried out. 18 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS