Bulletin Autumn 1988

‘the greatest scientific development since the invention o f the transistor'. It has opened up the possibility o f energy efficient satellites, high-speed levitated trains, compact supercomputers, more powerful medical imaging machines, non-polluting electric automobiles, and power lines that do not overheat and lose abso lutely no electrical energy. This last possibility, the super-efficient transmission o f electricity is o f par ticular interest to many people in Hong Kong, because i f Professor Chu is able to find a material that super- conducts at room temperature, which is the current focus o f his research, the nuclear power station at Daya Bay may be moved further north w ithout any loss o f efficiency in transmission. Mr. Chancellor, it has taken scientists all o f seventy-five years, from 1911 to 1986, to raise the threshold o f superconductivity from near absolute zero (minus 273 degrees Celsius) to minus 238 degrees Celsius. Then in only one year since Professor Chu's break-through, raising this to minus 180 degrees Celsius, we have heard reports o f feverish activity and simultaneous discoveries. It is as i f the scientific world has become superconductive itself. The work o f this scientist then has obviously caught the imagination o f the world, and for a very good reason, because i f he succeeds in raising the threshold o f superconductivity to room temperature, the result w ill benefit many people in many industrial concerns in many lands. The city o f Houston where he works and which houses his laboratories could conceivably overtake San Francisco and the Silicon Valley as a centre o f high technology. Those city elders who put up the endow ment to keep Professor Chu in Houston certainly know the true significance o f his research — that it could provide the vital transition for something which is scientifically possible to something that is commer cially viable. The prospects look very exciting indeed. Professor Chu is now a national figure in the United States, having recently been honoured by President Ronald Reagan w ith the award o f the National Medal o f Science given only to those In d i viduals who have made outstanding contributions to the sciences that have the potential to further advance scientific thought'. He is the youngest o f twenty re cipients this year. Since leaving the University o f California, San Diego w ith a doctorate in 1968 ， Pro fessor Chu has published 125 major scientific papers, co-edited a book entitled High Pressure and Low Temperature Physics, and received numerous awards including the NASA Achievement Award and Sigma X i Research Excellence Award. He has also consulted for Bell Laboratory, Los Alamos, NASA and DuPont, received two honorary Doctor o f Science degrees, and is currently the director o f four research centres and holder o f two chairs. This last distinction —holding down two chairs, both o f them large —is the subject o f great envy in academia. Mr. Chancellor, for his ground-breaking research in the field o f superconductivity, for his scientific vision and imagination, for his ability to work well w ith many research teams all at the same time, for what he has done and for what he promises to do to change mankind's way o f life, I present Professor Ching-Wu Chu, physicist, scientist, educationist and eternal optimist about the future o f China, for the award o f the degree o f Doctor o f Science, honoris causa. Professor Zhao Zhong Xian The great Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov once said, There is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science'. And so while it is possible to, as Deng Xiaoping has said, 'build socialism w ith Chinese characteristics' or as Professor Roderick MacFarquhar o f Harvard University would prefer to say, 'build China w ith socialist characteristics', no one in his right mind would want to claim that a particular area o f scientific research is the exclusive domain o f a par ticular people. Yet, in the field o f superconductivity, it almost looks that way, for hot on the heels o f Pro fessor Chu Ching-Wu is another outstanding physicist from China, Professor Zhao Zhong Xian, a research scientist at the Institute o f Physics o f the Academia Sinica. Professor Zhao and Professor Chu have quite a few things in common, although I would not want to speak o f them as star-crossed researchers. Professor Zhao was born in Liaoning, China in 1941, the same year as Professor Chu. Both specialized in low- temperature physics. Professor Chu is a Fellow o f the American Physical Society. Professor Zhao is a Fellow o f the Chinese Physical Society. On 16th February, 1987 ， the United States National Science Foundation announced that the team headed by Professor Chu had observed superconductivity at temperatures as high as minus 180 degrees Celsius. On 24th February, or scarcely eight days later, the Academia Sinica an nounced that the research group led by Professor Zhao had observed superconductivity at about the same temperature; it also released the chemical com position o f the compound as an oxide o f yttrium , barium and copper. I f all o f the above sounds too co incidental, it might as well be revealed that Professor Zhao did research in Professor Chu's laboratory at the University o f Houston from January to March 1986 and that the two are good friends and have a lo t o f 9