Samuel C. C. Ting, a world-renowned physicist and Gu Guanqun,
president of
Southeast
University (SEU) in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu
Province, signed a three-year protocol on May 31, the 100th
anniversary of the famous university.
The protocol concerns SEU's participation in experiments with the
Alpha Magnetic
Spectrometer 02 (AMS-02) on the International Space Station
(ISS) led by Nobel laureate Ting.
It
is the first time that a Chinese university will take part in one
of the ISS's most important and difficult projects.
According to Ting, universities have the best academic atmosphere
and freedom. "Most Nobel Prize winners come from universities," he
said.
"I
have been to SEU many times," explained Ting, who is also an
honorary professor of SEU. "The teachers here are very much
interested in scientific research. They always put their whole
heart into the work and never give up. That is the most important
reason why I chose this Chinese university to cooperate with."
Apart from SEU, many world-famous universities are also
participating in the AMS-02 experiments, such as the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in the United States, Aachen University in
Germany, Rome University in Italy and Zurich University in
Switzerland.
The cooperation includes establishing an AMS data-analyzing center
and a space-science training center at SEU, which will exchange
experts and scientists among the member universities and
institutions. SEU will also help with the construction of AMS-02
experimental instruments.
The AMS-02 experiments on the ISS will research dark matter,
missing matter and anti-matter.
The ISS is the largest and most complex international scientific
project in history. It draws upon the scientific and technological
resources of 16 nations.
"The significance of the experiment is only to increase human
knowledge at the moment," added Ting. "And the results are always
surprising and opposite to our original hypotheses."
Who can tell what will happen in the future? "About 100 years ago
scientists discovered the electron and the X-ray. No one at that
time would know how extensively they are used today," said
Ting.
(China
Daily June 3, 2002)