Campus Digest

Physics scholars’ training effort rewarded by stellar achievements at Asian Physics Olympiad

22 May 2015

The Secretary of Education, Mr Eddie Ng (back row, third from left) and Dr Chan Mau-hing (back row, first from right), congratulate the eight winning students on 12 May 2015. The Secretary of Education, Mr Eddie Ng (back row, third from left) and Dr Chan Mau-hing (back row, first from right), congratulate the eight winning students on 12 May 2015.
The Secretary of Education, Mr Eddie Ng (back row, third from left) and Dr Chan Mau-hing (back row, first from right), congratulate the eight winning students on 12 May 2015.

 

This year, the Asian Physics Olympiad - Hong Kong team, after attending a series of year-long training programmes conducted by the University’s Department of Physics, won 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal, 2 bronze medals, and 2 honorable mentions, the best-ever result achieved by a Hong Kong team at the Asian Physics Olympiad. One of the gold medalists also produced the best solution to a condensed matter physics problem which is related to the fractional quantum Hall effect (1998 Nobel Prize), becoming the only person earning full marks for solving this problem. The secondary school students representing Hong Kong received training on advanced university-level physics at HKBU.  

In 2014, the Department of Physics was selected to implement the Physics Enhancement Programme funded by the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education. The Programme began with over 1,000 students who competed in the Hong Kong Physics Olympiad held on 11 May 2014 at HKBU. The top 90 students were then selected to receive further physics training for about one year at HKBU. During the course of the year, 14 faculty members spent their spare time during weekends and public holidays to teach the students theoretical and experimental physics. Eventually eight students were chosen to represent Hong Kong at the Asian Physics Olympiad, competing against around 200 students from 25 countries or regions at the event held in Hangzhou, China from 3 to 11 May 2015 where they attained the aforementioned unprecedented results. Among the medalists, the top five students will represent Hong Kong at the International Physics Olympiad to be held from 4 to 13 July 2015 in Mumbai, India. 

Dr Chan Mau-hing, Lecturer of Physics and principal investigator of the Programme, said, “The Department is delighted to contribute our expertise and strengths to nurture gifted students who represent Hong Kong to achieve excellent results in an international context.”  

Professor Michel Van Hove, Acting Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Physics, expressed his gratitude to the colleagues who conducted the training activities. They are Professor So Shu-kong, Associate Head; Professor Cheah Kok-wai, Chair Professor; Professor Cheung Nai-ho; Professor Jeffrey Cheung; Dr Zhou Changsong, Associate Professor; Assistant Professors Dr Wong Kin-yiu, Dr Anthony Chan and Dr Jack Ng; Lecturers Dr Alex Mok and Dr Chan Mau-hing; Dr Tam Hoi-lam, Research Assistant Professor; Ms Cheng Sau-kuen, Senior Scientific Officer; and Scientific Officers Ms Eleanor O and Mr Yeung Yiu-hon. 

HKBU has again been selected to run the training programme for the next cycle.