| Press Release | 15 January 2001 |
HKUST Research Achievements Named Important Discoveries of 2000
Two of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's research achievements in 2000--the world's smallest single-walled carbon nanotubes and a new class of resonant sonic materials--have been selected by mainland and international academic bodies as among the "Top Ten International News of Scientific and Technological Progress" and "Ten Highlights of New Discoveries" of the year, respectively.
The single-walled carbon nanotubes fabricated by Dr Zikang Tang et al of the University's Department of Physics is only 0.4 nanometers in diameter (one nanometer being one-billionth of a meter). With a uniform and regular structure, the nanotubes offer tremendous prospects for applications in material science. This research breakthrough has drawn worldwide attention, and has recently been voted by 485 fellows of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chinese Academy of Sciences as one of the "Top Ten International News of Scientific and Technological Progress" in 2000.
Another breakthrough from the Department--the new resonant sonic materials researched and produced by a team of physicists led by Department Head Prof Ping Sheng--has been selected by PhysicsWeb as among the ten highlights of new discoveries in physics and astronomy in 2000. These sonic materials can shield off low-frequency noise effectively with a thickness of only one-tenth of traditional materials or even less. Maintained by the Institute of Physics, PhysicsWeb is a web site for physicists worldwide to exchange information.
Prof Ping Sheng is very pleased with the achievements of his Department. "It is wonderful to have one such breakthrough in a year," he said. "But last year we had one discovery after another. The year 2000 is indeed a year of bumper harvest for the Department and HKUST."
For details of the two breakthroughs, please refer to the following press releases:
"HKUST Develops the World's Smallest Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes"
"HKUST Develops New Resonant Sonic Materials to Control Noise"
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