Bulletin No. 2, 2014

2   Chinese University Bulletin No. 2, 2014 Scientists, Muses and their Labs A lbert Einstein once said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.’ Knowledge, its creation and dissemination, is the business of any university. Yet while popular culture readily associates the imagination with art, music and literature, it often stops short of the engineering workshop, the biology laboratory, or the psychology lecture hall. This is misleading because the bespectacled computer scientist straining her eyes over data drizzling down a screen or the archaeologist calculating where next to stick his shovel needs a Muse as much as the tortured novelist striving to write another masterpiece—at least the very best of them do. At the Chinese University, much of the research that leads to real advancements in knowledge owes its existence to brilliant minds as creative as they are intelligent, whether it is the discovery of a function of a certain gene or bodily organ, an ability to envision future scenarios, tackling climate change on new and different fronts, or finding innovative ways to foil criminal activity. Many of these projects are undertaken by research centres and institutes that have recently been established—units characterized by their interdisciplinary approach to the creation of knowledge and connections with notable partners from China, the region and the world.