P R E S S   R E L E A S E

Professor Steven Chu, a prominent U.S. physicist of Chinese descent, has achieved breakthrough contributions in the theory and application of laser cooling and trapping.  His work has led to a deeper understanding of the interaction between light and matter, and stimulated intense activity within the atomic, molecular and optical physics communities, opening up new roads to the study of the quantum behaviour of dilute atomic vapours at very low temperatures.  The techniques of laser cooling and trapping are used in fundamental high resolution spectroscopy and the study of ultracold collisions.  They also find application in the construction of high precision atomic clocks, atomic interferometers and atom lasers, and the development of instruments for atom optics and atomic lithography. 

Professor Chu's outstanding work has brought him numerous prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics (1997), the Science for Art Prize (1995), the Optical Society of America William F. Meggers Award for Spectroscopy (1994), the American Physical Society Arthur Schawlow Prize for Laser Science (1994), the King Faisal International Prize for Science (1993), and Broida Prize for Laser Spectroscopy (1987). 

Now Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University, Professor Chu is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the American Academy of Arts and Science.  He is also a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Academia Sinica in Taipei and the American Philosophical Society, as well as a foreign member of Korean Academy of Science and Technology. 

Professor Chu has been enthusiastic in the promotion of scientific research in China.  Recently he took part in the centennial celebrations of Peking University with other Nobel Laureates of Chinese descent and visited Taiwan and Hong Kong.  The nomination of Professor Chu as a Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is a recognition of his contributions in the promotion of scientific development in China and of scientific exchange between China and the West. 

Professor Chu visited The Chinese University of Hong Kong in March 1998 to deliver the Wei Lun Distinguished Lecture entitled "Laser Cooling and Trapping of Atoms and Particles", which was extremely well received by staff members and students of the University.