Former President Chien Honored in Memorial Lecture

The Lecture in Honor of Former President Shih-Liang Chien and the Sign Unveiling Ceremony for the Center for the Advancement of Science Education (CASE) were held jointly at NTU on February 18. NTU organizes annual academic lectures in commemoration of former President Chien, a renowned chemist and educator who served as president of Academia Sinica after leaving NTU. The unveiling ceremony marked the official relocation of CASE to the International Conference Hall in the newly renovated Shih-Liang Hall, which is named in honor of the former president.

Among the honored guests attending the events were NTU President Si-Chen Lee, NTU Vice President for Academic Affairs Ching-Hua Lo and other top-level NTU officials as well as Academia Sinica Vice President Chien-Jen Chen and Academia Sinica Academicians Shie-Ming Peng and Tung-Bin Lo. Two of former President Chien’s sons, notable figures themselves, also attended as honored guests. Robert Chien is a former Minister of Finance of Taiwan, while Frederick Foo Chien is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and sits on the board of directors of Cathay United Bank.

After noting that this year’s lecture marked the 105th anniversary of his father’s birth, Frederick Chien went on to thank CASE Director Jwu-Ting Chen for his years of dedication to the promotion of science education, and credited that dedication with the holding of the day’s events. He said his father devoted his life to the popularization of science, and that it is a perfect match for CASE to be located in Shih-Liang Hall. Academia Sinica Vice President Chien-Jen Chen said of former President Chien, “A great man has long passed away, yet his example lives on.” Noting that the former president headed NTU for 20 years and Academia Sinica for 13 years, Vice President Chen said Chien continues to be recognized universally for his contributions in Taiwan and internationally.

CASE was established in October 2008. Its main mission is to take advantage of the university’s academic and scientific resources so as to ensure all students develop a good command of basic science knowledge. CASE uses Internet broadcasting, multimedia technology and creative educational activities to provide both NTU students and the general public with engaging content that integrates cultural and scientific elements.

Prof. George Wei-Shu Hou of the Department of Physics presented this year’s memorial lecture, which was entitled “Quarks and Origins of the Universe.” Prof. Hou began his lecture with Ernest Rutherford’s winning of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and continued to probe his topic by discussing such famous physicists as Yoichiro Nambu, Murray Gell-Mann and Richard Feynman. He went on to speak about the disappearance of antimatter in the universe and concluded by discussing the existence of fourth generation quarks.