Bulletin No. 1, 2010

48  Chinese University Bulletin No. 1, 2010  Intellectual Cross-currents Former Observatory Head on Sustainable Development M r. Lam Chiu-ying, former director of the Hong Kong Observatory, delivered a lecture titled ‘Sustaining What?’ on CUHK campus on 16 October 2009. It is often assumed that sustainable development includes economic, social and environmental aspects. However, Mr. Lam questioned whether the last has received enough attention in Hong Kong. He pointed out that emissions of carbon dioxide and methane have been increasing since the emergence of farming and rearing activities, and the industrial revolution, and the rise has been going on at an alarming speed over the past 50 years due to urbanization, materialism and consumerism, spurring the threat of global warming. Mr. Lam opined that sustainability could only be achieved by maintaining harmony between man and nature. Shaw Astronomy Laureate on Stars and Planets P rof. Frank H. Shu, Shaw Laureate in Astronomy 2009, spoke on ‘The Formation of Stars and Planetary Systems’ on 8 October 2009 at Shaw College Lecture Theatre to an audience of 400. Professor Shu made his most important con t r i bu t i on s i n t he a r e a o f s t a r formation. His theory is also relevant to the origin of the solar system. He was the first to propose that protostellar disks reflect light from stars at their centre and are evaporated by it over a few million years.