There is undoubtedly a sense of excitement among the PC related people about the Dan Tsui
event. There is also a sense of excitement in HK about her quasi-native son. I received an
e-mail from someone in HK, asking me if knew Tsui when at PC. Well, I didn't, I met him in
the 80s and was very impressed with his scholarly and nice-guy manner. Al Cho is also very
impressive, in fact, perhaps, more impressive. When I met him, he was already very famous
and had been a director of one of the Bell Lab research laboratories. Cho is a much more
forceful person compared to Tsui. Yau is somewhere in between the two in disposition. This
is only my personal observation and should be considered as such and no more.
I have been thinking about the
possibilities for a Lighter to win a Nobel Laureate. After considering the matter a
little, I believe some of us are bright enough to match that of the "Tsuis " and
"Chos" of PC. To win a Nobel prize, however, takes more than just being bright,
it requires hard work, self-motivation and one indispensable factor and that is
opportunity.The opportunity to be at a particular institution, to do the relevant
research, with the right partners ( if any) and to have the appropriate equipment and
samples ( if experimental). In Tsui's case, his experiment would not have been possible if
MBE had not been invented ( by Al Cho some years before) to grow the heterostructures, and
the freedom to do this kind of seemingly irrelevent experiments in an industrial
institution. Bell Labs in those days really was the place to do this kind of scientific
investigation. Bell was at one time the LAB of basic research. Shockley, Bardeen and the
likes were all there. It was the golden age of semiconductor basic research.
The Lighters are a smart bunch, our
accomplishment is certainly not limited to scientific endeavors. In terms of impacts to
our life, who has a better webpage than we do ? Who is going to have more old boys/girls
going to the 40th reunion. Who has a better organiztion in getting the reunion moving
smoothly ? Who prints an address directory after 38 years? We probably have a more
close-knitted organization than most if not all classes. We, the Lighters, went to PC in
50s after all.
|
Get
your own Free Home Page 