Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2004

40thAnniversary Distinguished Lecture Nobel Laureate Steven Chu P rof. Steven Chu, Nobel l au r ea te i n ph y s i cs 1997, visited CUHK on 30th June 2004 to give a 40th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture entitled ‘What Can Physics Say About Life?'. In his lecture held at the Sir Run Run Shaw H a l l on campus, Prof. Chu talked about how physicists understand life, and h ow they develop a physical theory of life in which living things are describable w i t h a simple set of laws that make possible quantitative predictions. The function attracted an audience of over a t housand, ma ny of w h om were secondary school students. Before the lecture, Prof. Chu met with some 70 CUHK students majoring i n p h y s i c s, m a t h e m a t i c s, a n d biochemistry. He encouraged them to persist in their search for the truth, to be bold in expressing themselves, and not to be satisfied w i t h just a single answer. He also recounted how, as a student, he once set off an explosion d u r i n g an e x p e r i me n t. A l l those Lectures by Shaw Prize Winners P rof. P. James E. Peebles and Prof. Chern Shiing-shen, winners of the first Shaw Prize in astronomy and mathematical sciences respectively, delivered lectures on cosmology and differential geometry in September 2004 at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Established in 2002, the Shaw Prize is an international award managed and administered by The Shaw Prize Foundation based in Hong Kong. Regarded as the Nobel Prize of the East, it honours individuals who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or application, and whose wo r k has made positive and p r o f ound impact on humank i nd. The Shaw Prize 2004 consisted of three awards: astronomy, mathematical sciences, and life science and medicine. Each prize carries a cash award of US$1 million. • Prof. P. James E. Peebles, winner of the first Shaw Prize in astronomy and one of the world's leading theoretical cosmologists, spoke on ‘The Discovery of the Expanding Universe' in the fully-packed lecture theatre of Shaw College on 8th September. In his lecture, Prof. Peebles described how the idea of an expanding universe came about and explained the evidence that supports such an idea. Prof. Peebles has made profound contributions to the understanding of the physical processes that shape the structure of the universe. He was awarded the Shaw Prize for laying the foundations of almost all modern investigations in cosmology, both theoretical and observational, which have transformed a highly speculative treatise into a precision science. • Prof. Chern Shiing-shen, winner of the first Shaw Prize in mathematical sciences, is a w o r l d r e n own ed mathematician and educationist. He Chinese University Bulletin Autumn • Winter 2004 58