On the morning of November 8, Novel Prize winner Dr. Samuel Chao Chung Ting was invited to deliver a high-level academic report at Beihang Sunrise Concert Hall. In waves of applause, Academician Ting gave an account of the forty years’ outcomes achieved together with Chinese scientists to all the 16th “Challenge Cup” contestants and tutors as well as Beihang teachers and students. Party Committee Secretary Cao Shumin attended the report meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Huang Haijun.
After a brief introduction, the 83-year old academician delivered the audience a one and a half hours’ academic report. Based on the theme of “forty years’ outcomes achieved together with Chinese scientists”, he introduced three major experiments that involved cooperation with Chinese scholars: the experiment in 1970s that discovered gluons in Germany’s PETRA, the 30 billion electron volts collider; the L3 Detector experiment conducted in the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 1980s; and the AMS Detector experimented in the International Space Station (ISS) since 1990s.
“China is home to many world-class scientists who specialize in experimental physics, and they are equipped with enough imagination, experience and capabilities to develop new technologies and lead international cooperation. China accounts for one fifth of the world’s population and its scientific achievements should grow in proportion to the population growth,” said Ting in his report.
In terms of scientific research, he added that most of his experiments did not win support from all people because there was little chance of success considering their values and difficulties. “But that is the real fun which you can find in something you have never tried,” Dr. Ting pointed out. From his perspective, the most important for high-end physical experiments is not scientists’ background or basic knowledge but their confidence, curiosity and imagination.
At the meeting, Professor Ting encouraged young people to do things they think are important in their limited life span. “When I began to learn physics, my parents both strongly disapproved of my choice and told me that learning physics required more talent. In other words, they thought I did not have such talent. Unfortunately, my parents did not live long enough to see how wrong they were,” said he.
According to Professor Ting, over the past forty years, many outstanding scientists have made significant contributions to his experiments, including scholars from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, China Academy of Space of Technology, Beihang University and Shandong University. Dr. Ting particularly expressed his gratitude by mentioning hundreds of names of his collaborators in the report.
During the discussion and interaction with students, Dr. Ting looked back on his own university life and answered questions with great patience. At the end of the meeting, Secretary Cao honored Academician Ting with the certificate of honor for delivering a lecture as part of the Beihang Lecture Program.
Academician Ting, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, is Thomas Dudley Cabot Institute Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Besides, he is also a member of the Academy of Sciences of many countries, including the former Soviet Union, Russia, China and Germany. Furthermore, Dr. Ting is the first Nobel Prize winner in physics to deliver his acceptance speech in Chinese.
Photographed by Di Bailu
Edited by Jia Aiping
Reviewed by Tan Hualin
Translated by Feng Yueyue
