The Department of Physics held the Honorary Doctorate Distinguished Lecture, entitled “Climate Change and Innovative Paths to a Sustainable Future”, on 3 December. The online lecture was given by Professor Steven Chu, Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, who was recently conferred the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa by HKBU.
 
More than 300 people attended the lecture, including Professor Alexander Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor; Professor Rick Wong, Interim Provost; Professor Liu Jiming, Dean of Science, as well as academics and students of the Department of Physics.

During the lecture, Professor Chu examined the significant impact of climate change on the planet, as well as the stresses and challenges posed by the global phenomenon. He also discussed the ideas of energy storage, renewable energy and a new agricultural revolution, which are the potential solutions that could transform the world and lead to a sustainable future, and he highlighted the advantages and inherent problems that need to be solved in these areas. At the end of the lecture, he raised a few questions and interacted with the attendees.

Professor Chu is an internationally-renowned physicist, and he was the 12th Secretary of Energy in the US. His remarkable contributions to laser cooling and atom trapping won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. He is currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University.