Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2004

present were greatly impressed by Prof. Chu's wa rm and down-to-earth manner and his humour. Prof. Chu was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of atomic cooling and trapping with laser. He is currently Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University, and has been appointed director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Laboratory has an annual budget of US$521 million and a workforce of approximately 4,000. spoke on 'Fifty Years of Differential Geometry' on 10th September in T.Y. Wong H a l l of the Ho S i n -Hang Engineering Building. Amo ng the audience were three former vice- chancellors of the University: Prof. Ma Lin, Prof. Charles K. Kao, and Prof. Ambrose Y.C. King. I n his lecture, Prof. Ch e rn shared w i t h over 400 faculty and students the joy he had derived from mathematics, how his teachers had opened his eyes to the beauty of the discipline, and the e v o l u t i on of differential geometry over the last half century. According to him, good mathematics is innovative and bad mathematics means simply following other people's wo r k. The keys to learning mathematics are patience and having good teachers, (The University deeply regrets the passing of Prof. Chern on 3rd December 2004.) Joint Centre for Advanced Study Established by CUHK, HKU and UST T he Chinese Un i ve r s i ty signed a Memo r a n d um of Understanding on the establishment of the Joint Centre for Advanced Study w i th the University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on 10th September 2004. The memo r a n d um enables the three institutions to deepen their collaboration and, by pooling resources and capitalizing on their respective strengths in postgraduate studies, enhance Hong Kong's capacity to provide some of the finest educational opportunities in the world. The memorandum was signed by the heads of the three institutions — Prof. Lawrence J. Lau (middle), vice-chancellor of CUHK, Prof. Tsui Lap-chee (left), vice-chancellor of HKU, and Prof. Paul Chu (right), president of HKUST. Dr. Alice K. Y. Lam, chairperson of the University Grants Committee, was the guest of honour. The Joint Centre for Advanced Study w i l l develop in three phases. First it w i ll run as a virtual centre offering joint courses to postgraduate research students of the three partner universities. Then it w i ll organize colloquia and workshops. The long-term goal w i ll be to identify a suitable site to serve as a permanent home for the centre after a review of operations. News in Brief 59