Bulletin Number Two 1987

Chung was not a good singer, or the world o f physics might well have lost a brilliant scientist to the world o f opera. The early starter's early education was not as smooth as one might have reason to expect, for China was in the midst o f war for the first twelve years o f young Ting Chao Chung's life . By his own admission, he did not have a regular education until he was twelve years old, by which time he and his family had moved to Taiwan. Eight years later, at the age o f twenty, he arrived at Detroit city in the United States o f America w ith $100 in his pocket. He said o f him self, ‘I was somewhat frightened, did not know any one, and communication was d ifficu lt.' But old Pro fessor Ting was right when he said his son adapted particularly well when the competition was particu larly keen. In three years, Ting Chao Chung had finished two degrees, one in mathematics and the other in physics. In another year he had done his Master's degree, and two years later, in 1962, le ft the University of Michigan w ith a doctorate. From 1962 to his major discovery in 1974 ， Pro fessor Ting lectured and researched in several o f the world's best known universities and research labora tories, including the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Columbia University, the Deutsches Elektronen - Synchrotron (DESY), the Massachusetts Institute o f Technology and the afore­ mentioned Brookhaven National Laboratory. In the year he won the Nobel Prize in Physics, Professor Ting also received the Ernest Orlando Lawrence award. The following year, he was honoured w ith the award o f the Eringen Medal by the American Society o f Engineering and Science. Mr. Chancellor, Professor Ting has the reputation o f being totally dedicated to his work and has the habit o f approaching research problems w ith single- minded devotion. But, amidst his normally very heavy schedule, he has found time to make a number o f trips to the People's Republic o f China and to Taiwan to select Chinese scientists for advanced training through participation in the many projects currently under his charge. Indeed, he has not only found time, but also money for his researchers. Today, there are several scholarships under his name. Mr. Chancellor, for his truly outstanding con tribution as an experimental physicist, for his pio neering work in locating the fundamental building blocks o f nature, for his role as an educationist and scientist, I present to you Professor Samuel Chao Chung Ting, Nobel Laureate, world authority on the charmed quarks, himself a man o f charm and taste in Physics, for the award o f the degree o f Doctor o f Science, honoris causa. Professor Gerald Hugh Choa, CBE, JP Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister o f Great Britain, when still in opposition in the 1970s once had this to say o f Chancellors o f the Exchequer, ‘Some Chancellors are monetary, others are fiscal and still others are simply budgetary … ， or words to that effect. In singing Professor Gerald Choa's praises as Professor o f Administrative Medicine and Founding Dean o f the University's Medical Faculty, I was almost tempted to begin w ith the words 'Some Deans o f the Medical Faculty are clinical, others are pre clinical, and s till others are simply pathological...' But as Professor Choa is also a Pro-Vice-Chancellor and one who has much influence over the career pros pects o f administrative staff o f the University, I ， wisely I think, thought better o f it. But the three Boards o f Studies o f the Faculty o f Medicine —the clinical, pre-clinical and pathologi cal boards — are really Professor Choa's creation, as is almost everything else in the Medical Faculty, including the course structure, the actual curriculum, and the general design, planning and facilities o f the Prince o f Wales Hospital, which is generally judged to be one o f the best in the region. Few people in the world have combined so well three distinctive, and equally successful, careers in one person —those o f physician-clinician, Director o f a major Government department, Dean o f a Faculty and Pro-Vice-Chancellor o f a university. But Gerald Hugh Choa is never going to be satisfied w ith a single outstanding achievement. Born under the sign of Aries — Professor Choa had his sixty-sixth birthday five days ago - he w ill always aim high and surge forever forward until the rest of the field is far behind NEWS 3