The CN Yang Archive Online 楊振寧學術資料館在線

     Professor Chen Ning Yang who together with TD Lee won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1957 for the discovery of non-conservation of parity in weak interaction, is also the author (with Robert Mills) of the modern non-Abelian gauge theory of 1954, which subsequently became the foundation of the standard model of elementary particle interactions. Appointed a fellow and then a full professor at the Princeton Advance Institute since 1949, he took up in 1966 the newly established Einstein Chair Professorship at the University of New York at Stony Brook as well as the founding directorship of its Institute of Theoretical Physics, where he stayed until retirement in 1999. In a long, fruitful career spanning over six decades, he has exerted a profound influence on the development of physics since mid-twentieth century, particularly in the field of particle and statistical theory, and numerous honors and distinctions from all over the world have been bestowed on him. He first re-visited his mother country China in 1971, and has since gone back many times, working tirelessly for the development of Chinese physics and the promotion of Sino-American relationships.  He took up the Honorary Directorship of the Tsinghua University Institute for Advanced Study in 1999, and has returned to settle permanently in China since 2003, sharing his time between Beijing and Hong Kong.

 

     Prof Yang is currently Distinguished Professor-at-Large and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His association with this university and with Hong Kong dates back to 1964, when he accepted the university's invitation to give a public lecture on his work on parity. He became Honorary Professor of the university in 1982, graciously accepted a special Chair as Distinguished Professor-at-Large in 1986, and generously donated his papers, manuscripts, photographs, audio-visual files as well as medals (including the prestigious Nobel Medal) and other memorabilia to the university in 1999. The CN Yang Archive was established as a result. Cataloguing of its contents was started towards the end of 2004 by Ms Phoebe Iu and digitizing of the contents was entrusted to a service provider subsequently, while the results are being integrated into a database developed by colleagues of the Information Technology Services Centre. The whole task has now been essentially completed.

     The Database known as the CN Yang Archive Online System consists of an online catalogue of all items in the Archive Collection together with digital images of all contents in each item. The Archive Collection consists of over 22,000 items, each corresponding to one entry in the catalogue, which refers to all the material contained within one physical folder, as originally filed and labeled, mostly by Prof Yang himself, and as currently stored in the Archive. The Archive Collection is classified into seven categories, each with a indication of the number of items in it at present, as follows:

 

1)	Academic Material: publications, preprints, manuscripts, drafts, notes, notebooks, etc. (2,100 items);
2)	Correspondence (both personal and professional) and Transcripts of Interviews with Prof Yang (10,900 items);
3)	Documents: committee papers, minutes, memos, resolutions, regulations, notifications, etc. (6,900 items);
4)	Media Material: Newspaper clippings (1957-2002), posters, publicity write-ups (40 items);
5)	Photographic Material: prints, slides, negatives and other graphic material (1900 items);
6)	Audio-Visual Material: voice recordings, films, VCD, DVD, etc. (104 items);
7)	Others: interview records, certificates, transcripts, etc. (22 items).

        With some exception, particularly in Category 2, all of the above have already been catalogued.

 

     

     There are two categories of users who may access the Online System, but at different levels of restriction:

 

1)	The general public;
2)	Scholars and researchers who are authorized to access the Online System.

     The general public may only access unrestricted materials, which are mainly documents not of a personal nature and concerning Prof Yang only; authorized users of the Archive may access the restricted material, which may involve other persons. Confidential documents require special permission for access.

 

  

     The official email of the Archive is cnyangarchive@cuhk.edu.hk, and the official telephone number is +852 3943 8668. The Archive is located on the third floor of the Tin Ka Ping Building (田家炳樓), which provides storage for the Archive Collection and working space for staff and scholars.

 

     For further information or request, please leave your comment and message in the Comment and Message page of the Online System.

 

 

August, 2013