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Taiwan Achieved Pinnacle Results in International High Energy Physics

Dr. Kai-Feng Chen, a scholar from Taiwan, recently won the inaugural Young Scientist Prize from IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics). He presented his research results at the 2008 International High Energy Physics Conference in Philadelphia, indicating that he had found signs of the existence of a new particle. The KEK lab of Japan issued a press release at the same time, saying that its Belle team had discovered three new particles (Dr. Chen was a member of the Belle team) These developments show that Taiwan's research achievements in high energy physics topped the world in 2008, and as Dr, Chen's scholastic eminence won universal critical acclaim, he has become Taiwan's shining new star in international academia.

Only 28 years of age, Dr. Chen had outperformed many top-notch young scholars from all over the world. In a press interview he pointed out that, the discovery of the signs of a new particle was completed at the KEK lab of Japan. The Belle experiment of KEK had participation of 400 scientists from 14 nations. Taiwan's team, under the guidance of Professor George Wei-shu Hou, proposed an "Energy Scan" project to the KEK lab in November 2007, and asked the KEK lab to run its accelerator for 10 days as part of the testing process. The Belle Experiment of the KEK lab accepted the proposal and highly affirmed its value, so the project was set in motion in December.

The result of the energy scan brought pleasant surprises to the scientists, as almost every scanning point showed unusual distribution of energy, as the new found particle was close to the known meson in weight, and only half in width. The spokesman of the Belle Experiment hence decided to issue a press release in synchronization with Dr. Chen' s speech making, claiming to have found the existence of a new particle. Dr. Chen indicated that he would implement further experiments coupled with theoretical research to ascertain whether the new found particle was indeed a hardon. KEK lab is reviewing the upgrading plan of the Belle Experiment at present.

NTU President Dr. Si-Chen Lee said, the 2008 Beijing Olympics had just ended,although Taiwan did not snatch any gold medal, the feeling of bereavement was more than compensated by many world topping achievements that Taiwanese researchers made in the area of high energy physics. What is especially significant is that , Dr. Chen was a native bred scholar, earning his Bachelor's, Master's, and doctoral degrees all at NTU. By virtue of the fact that he is able to reach the apex of the world within the span of a few years, Dr. Chen can be hailed as the true "hero of Taiwan," said the President of NTU.

This year can be considered to be the "summit climbing year" of NTU's high energy physics research team. Its eminent achievements include: in March of this year, the high energy physics team piloted the first Belle Experiment thesis, (authored by Dr., Sheng-Wen Li, Dr. Wei-shu Hou, and Dr. Po-ti Chang), which was the only paper published in "Nature" by the Belle team to date. Furthermore, in May of this year, the native bred Dr. Kai Feng Chen won the inaugural "Young Scientist Prize" from IUPAP, beating a number of competitors from all over the world and came to the fore, hence a truly hard-earned feat. His discovery of the signs of the existence of a new particle, also precedes the BaBar Experiment based in Stanford, and conducted by a core of American and European scientists.

Dr. Kai-Feng Chen was reassigned to Geneva, Switzerland, in February of this year, actively participating in the NTU team which is involved in the "Large Hardon Collider" CMS experiment. Competing and collaborating with 2000 high energy physicists at the same time, Dr. Chen is expected to make further discoveries of a new particle. The large hardon collider will have the injection of proton beams into a 27 kilometer long full ring on September 10th for the first time, and have its opening ceremony held on October 21st. When that moment arrives, science and technology heads from many nations will be present at the ceremony (including the French President), the National Science Council of Taiwan has also been extended an invitation.

President Lee of NTU also points out that, the "Climbing atop the Pinnacle of Particle Physics" project has been selected as NTU's "Top Priority Project for Pursuit of Excellence" in July, and will receive more funding in the future. He thanks The National Science Council for its long standing support, and hopes that the Council will work with NTU to expand on the existing excellent achievements. In addition, President Lee calls on the Ministry of Education to work with the Ministry of the Interior to reconsider the new statutes of limitations on the conscripts with doctoral degrees, and to provide them with more internationalized training programs, so that Taiwan will have more achievers like Dr. Kai-Feng Chen.

Chinese version