This year marks the tenth anniversary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Master Distinguished Lecture as well as the 126th anniversary of the founding of SJTU. These days, SJTU held offline and online activities for the 10th anniversary of the “Master Distinguished Lecture”. Prof. Lin Zhongqin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of SJTU, delivered an opening speech; Prof. Xu Xuemin, member of the standing committee of SJTU’s Party committee and Vice President of SJTU, presided over the opening ceremony. President Lin Zhongqin and Vice President Xu Xuemin inaugurated the online photo exhibition. Prof. Adam Riess, Nobel Laureate in Physics and member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, gave a lecture entitled “The Surprising Expansion History of the Universe”. More than 5,000 people attended the online 10th anniversary & 169th “Master Distinguished Lecture”.
Meet Masters at SJTU
SJTU is committed to making “Learning at SJTU” unique brand and to nurturing elites through a world-class culture environment. In April 2012, SJTU established her “Master Distinguished Lecture” series, where the world’s leading scholars are regularly invited to exchange their insights with SJTUers. With the credo “Extensity and precision will lead to profound insights in research” as its core, the ten-year-old “Master Distinguished Lecture” series has become a symbolic SJTU academic activity, a platform for academic exchanges between masters and SJTUers, and a palace of science where SJTUers can appreciate the profound thoughts of masters. The attendance is encouragingly high in every “Master Distinguished Lecture”. Besides, the lecturers and the audience always interact positively in Q&A sessions. These meaningful exchanges of ideas help SJTU students set more clearer life goals and develop a stronger sense of responsibility toward their cultures and communities.
Over the past decade, 168 lectures have been given in the “Master Distinguished Lecture” series, and 163 noted experts and scholars have been invited to our campus. The first lecture is presented by Wang Zhenyi, winner of the 2010 National Highest Science and Technology Awards in China, member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and a world-renowned hematologist. Among the 163 academic masters, there are 18 Nobel Prize laureates, 3 Fields Medal winners, 3 Turing Award winners and 3 Wolf Prize laureates; there are also 72 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as 74 academicians of foreign academies of sciences and engineering. Meanwhile, there has been a total attendance of over 100,000 SJTUers in these splendid academic lectures, where they have interacted with the masters for enlightenment.
In addition to the high-level lectures, the “Master Distinguished Lecture” series also includes characteristic programs such as “Visiting Scholars”, “Dialogues with Masters”, “Lunch Meetings”, etc., which expose students to the masters’ insights in various ways. The series instills academic quintessence into SJTU’s whole process of talent cultivation.
Ten Years’ Master Distinguished Lectures in Retrospect
Vice President Xu Xuemin firstly extended a warm welcome to all attendees. After the video on the 10th anniversary of the “Master Distinguished Lecture” played over for the audience, President Lin Zhongqin and Vice President Xu Xuemin unveiled the online photo exhibition. The exhibition was divided into twelve showrooms according to the chronological order of the Master Distinguished Lectures, guiding the audience to re-experience the rich connotation of the masters’ superb academic reports with a multi-dimensional spatial perspective.
President Lin Zhongqin expressed in his speech his gratitude to the 163 lecturers’ devotion to the “Master Distinguished Lecture” series, due to which SJTUers have benefited significantly. He stressed that this series is valuable not only in the academic sense, but also in the mental dimension. He also encouraged the students to hold lofty aspirations, adhere to their pursuit of truth and broaden their horizons, as well as to apply their knowledge to practice, strive to become the main force in China’s scientific and technological development, actively participate in the national scientific and technological innovation, and earnestly serve the country’s development in the major changes unfolding in today’s world.
The Lecture Given by Prof. Adam Riess
Prof. Adam Riess, Nobel Laureate in Physics and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, gave an online presentation entitled “The Surprising Expansion History of the Universe”. At the end of the 1990s, it was widely believed that the expansion of the universe was slowing down, but Prof. Adam Riess’s team, through an observation of distant supernovae, has proven the accelerating expansion of the universe for the first time. This groundbreaking discovery helped open up a new dimension in the study of the universe and was hence named “Breakthrough of the Year” by Science Magazine in 1998. In his presentation, Prof. Riess proposed that the origin and future of the universe could be better understood with the knowledge of dark energy, yet which remains mostly undiscovered. With the launch of the Space Telescope, it is hoped that in the next decade humans will be able to delve further into dark energy and thus find out the reasons for the accelerating expansion of the universe. He also shared recent developments in cosmic research, such as the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, new emerging measurements in recent years, Hubble tension, etc., and the positive impact of these developments on subsequent observation and research. During the Q&A session, Prof. Riess answered in detail the students’ questions about the application of the research achievements and the possible influence on the future development of the society, as well as shared his experience in daily research.
The 169th “Master Distinguished Lecture” is well-received, and heralds the start of following celebration activities in honor of the 10th anniversary of the “Master Distinguished Lecture”.
You can find the specific arrangement of series of celebration activities in https://en.gs.sjtu.edu.cn/info/1062/1985.htm
