Written by: Office of International Cooperation & Exchange
Photo by: Guo Zhongfei
Translated by: Zhang Saijia

On the afternoon of October 29, the Nobel Masters Series Forum jointly organized by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and Sun Yat-sen University was held in Swasey Hall. Sir Prof. Harold Kroto who received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry gave a lecture on Carbon in Nano and Outer Space.

Sir Harold Kroto presented a feast of natural science yet with simple explanations for the audience, encouraging students to pursue their dreams and undauntedly climb to the peak of scientific research by sharing his own experience. The two-hour vivid and humorous lecture of Sir Prof. Kroto won applauses from the audience. At the interaction session, teachers and students raised many questions and received detailed answers by Sir Prof. Kroto who even from time to time walked down the platform to discuss professional questions and share thoughts with the audience.

Sir Harold Kroto is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and holds an emeritus professorship at the University of Sussex in the UK. He is currently a Francis Eppes professor of Chemistry at Florida State University. In 1996 he was knighted for his contributions to chemistry and later that year, together with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley of Rice University, received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of C60.

In addition to scientific research, Sir Harold Kroto is dedicated to science education. In 1995, he launched the Vega Science Trust to create science films of sufficiently high quality for broadcast on UK network television. He is now heavily involved with GEOSET, a Global Educational Outreach for Science, Engineering, and Technology programme. GEOSET seeks to exploit the revolutionary creative dynamics of the Internet to improve the general level of science understanding and awareness worldwide.

Mu Jielin, Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural and Educational Experts, State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Zhong Minyan, Deputy Director of Guangdong Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Yan Guangmei, Vice President of SYSU, Mao Zongwan, Dean of School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Wang Xuehua, Vice Dean of School of Physics and Engineering, and Xu Yao, Deputy Director of Office of International Cooperation & Exchange, attended the forum. Vice President Yan Guangmei and Deputy Director Mu Jielin gave a speech respectively and both wished this forum a complete success. Approximately over 200 teachers and students from School of Physics and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and School of Engineering attended the forum.