Physicists laud late Nobel laureate Lee

In his Nobel acceptance speech in 1957, 31-year-old physicist Tsung-Dao Lee reflected on how his breakthrough discovery of the violation of the principle of parity was built on existing knowledge produced by many other scientists.

“It is often the reaping that is remembered but the tilling forgotten,” said Lee, who shared the Nobel Prize in physics with Yang Chen-Ning and remains the second-youngest winner of the award.

Lee died at his home in San Francisco in the United States on Monday. His death triggered a wave of condolences from top universities and research institutions that extolled not only his scientific achievements, but also his commitment to advancing science education in China.

“As one of the first Chinese-born Nobel laureates, Lee strove for breakthroughs in quantum field theory, elementary particle theory, nuclear physics, statistical mechanics, fluid dynamics, astrophysics and many other areas … and made lasting and significant contributions to the development of physics,” Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the China Center of Advanced Science and Technology said in a joint eulogy this week.

It added that Lee also translated his love for his motherland into promoting high-energy physics research in China and establishing academic programs, research funds and facilities in the country.

Tsinghua University said in a statement released on Tuesday that the China-US Physics Examination and Application program, or CUSPEA, initiated by Lee in 1979 had helped over 900 Chinese researchers study abroad by 1988.

“The program nurtured a batch of top researchers and created a model for cultivating urgently needed high-level talent,” it said.

Lee was also one of the earliest advocates for establishing postdoctoral programs in China in the 1980s, and he set up another academic foundation in 1998 to fund basic research for undergraduates and proposed a special education pathway for gifted young people. MDT/China Daily