P R E S S   R E L E A S E

Professor Yang Chen Ning, Nobel Laureate in Physics and Distinguished Professor-at-Large of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, was recently awarded the 2001 King Faisal International Prize for Science for his outstanding contributions in the field of physics.

 Professor Chen Ning Yang is one of the most eminent contemporary physicists. Among his many significant contributions to the field of physics, Professor Yang proposed a theoretical framework that later became the basis of the present theory of the structure of matter at the smallest scales and highest energies.

 Professor Yang was awarded the Nobel Prize for his major joint discovery of the non-conservation of parity, which proved that nature, contrary to general expectation, does distinguish between left and right in weak nuclear interactions.

 Professor Yang is famous for his remarkable scientific accomplishments as well as his contributions to the development of science and education.  For several decades, he has devoted considerable time and effort to the promotion of scientific and cultural exchange in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the west.  He is a highly respected adviser to China on scientific and technological development.  Professor Yang is enthusiastic about the promotion of science education among the young.  He has maintained a very close relationship with The Chinese University of Hong Kong since the 1960s.  In 1986, he became the first Distinguished Professor-at-Large of the University and has served as Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences.  In 1999, Professor Yang generously presented his medals and manuscripts to the Chinese University to establish the CN Yang Archive, hoping that this will encourage more young scholars to pursue scientific research.

 The King Faisal International Prize was set up by the King Faisal International Foundation of Saudi Arabia.  The Prize for Science was established in 1982.  Each winner also receives a gold medallion and a certificate outlining the work for which the Prize is awarded. The cash award of US$200,000 for each category is one of the world's largest awards, and the King Faisal International Prize ranks prominently among the most prestigious internationally.