Focusing Only on Technology in His Life, Benefiting the Nation with Superconductors
/ Paul Chu / President of Taiwan Comprehensive University System
Paul Chu is highly praised for his achievements in the field of superconductivity, his support of latecomers and prospective successors, his devotion to higher education, and his contribution to the development of national competitiveness.
Emulating Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Franklin Yang, Devoting to “National Development Through Technology”
Born in Zhijiang, Hunan Province, Dr. Chu decided to study physics due to his father’s war experience. His father, then a pilot, once told him, “The U.S. has advanced technology, while China is relatively backward. If you wish to serve the country, start from technology.” Under the influence of his father and predecessors Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, Dr. Chu aspired to devote himself to science and technology, saying excitedly, “Everyone in our generation was passionate, hoping to achieve what they have finally achieved.”
In his college years, when semiconductors were the most popular subject in physics in Taiwan, Chu met with professors Tung-Sheng Chang, Kuang-Te Yang, Wang-Chien Peng and Xianrong Wang. “They are respectable professors,” said Chu gratefully, 60 years after their acquaintance.
Discovery in Superconductivity and Breakthrough in Modern Physics
After obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in 1962, Chu proceeded to study in Fordham University, New York, and earned his PhD degree at the University of California, San Diego in 1968.
In the U.S, Chu was admitted to study in the laboratory of Matthias, the superconductivity giant, and started his journey into superconductivity. Back then, early superconductors were found with low Tc, near absolute zero (-273℃), resulting in a lot of energy consumption. Therefore, contemporary scientists were looking for high-temperature superconductors (Superconductors with a transition temperature above 77K, or -196℃, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen). Chu’s ultimate goal was to discover a “room-temperature superconductor.”
On Thanksgiving Day in 1986, Chu’s team found YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) with superconductivity at 70K. In mid-January 1987, Chu observed superconductivity above 90K in YBCO. When Chu started to write his papers, his former student, Maw-Kuen Wu, also observed superconductivity above 90K in YBCO. Following repeated experiments, Chu announced the finding at the end of January, recognized as a major breakthrough in modern physics.
However, in September 1986, K. Alexander Müller and J. Georg Bednorz published their discovery of the superconductivity of an oxide at a temperature of 30K, and they were thus awarded the Nobel Prize.
Chu was not crestfallen. He said, “Many scientists are like us, missed the Nobel Prize by inches. Discovery of new things is what really matters to us physicists.” When he found that superconductors play a critical role for the future of mankind, he devoted his whole life to superconductivity.
Awarded with Numerous International Awards; Superconductors Expected to Be the Solution to Energy Crisis
Chu is recognized for his contribution to science with numerous honorable awards including the Bernd Theodor Matthias Prize, the National Medal of Science (the highest honor for scientists in the U.S.), and the John Fritz Medal (the world’s highest honor for engineers) with Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Erico Fermi among its winners.
In 1987, Chu began to serve as Founding Director & Chief Scientist of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston. From 2001 to 2009, Chu was appointed President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. In 2012, he assumed the position of President of the Taiwan Comprehensive University System, without remuneration, hoping to contribute to the development of higher education in Taiwan.
Currently, Chu is researching at the Texas Center for Superconductivity, the largest in the U.S. specializing in topics including superconductors and thermoelectric materials. In the future, superconductors will be the solution to the energy crisis. Chu believes in the use of superconductivity, saying “We shall not wait to use superconductors until they reach perfection; now is the time for us to use them.” His message is uplifting and encouraging while he is anticipating more people to join him in pursuit of the applications of superconductors.(Photo courtesy of CommonWealth Magazine)
NCKUer ｜
Class ｜
Honors and Achievements｜
Paul Chu
Department of Physics, Class of 1962
・Fellowship of Russian Academy of Engineering, United States National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academia Sinica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.
・Awarded the Bernd Theodor Matthias Prize in 1994 to honor his outstanding contribution in the field of superconductivity.
・Awarded the National Medal of Science – the U.S.’s highest honor for scientists, and is also called the Presidential Award in 1998.
・Awarded the John Fritz Medal in 2001. – the highest honor for engineers, which is also bestowed upon distinguished scientists including past recipients Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Erico Fermi.
・Serves as the President of the Taiwan Comprehensive University System from 2012 to the present.
Paul Chu / Department of Physics, Class of 1962
・Fellowship of Russian Academy of Engineering, United States National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academia Sinica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.
・Awarded the Bernd Theodor Matthias Prize in 1994 to honor his outstanding contribution in the field of superconductivity.
・Awarded the National Medal of Science – the U.S.’s highest honor for scientists, and is also called the Presidential Award in 1998.
・Awarded the John Fritz Medal in 2001. – the highest honor for engineers, which is also bestowed upon distinguished scientists including past recipients Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Erico Fermi.
・Serves as the President of the Taiwan Comprehensive University System from 2012 to the present.
Master Program of Mechanical Engineering,
Class of 1962
Han-Min Hsia
Former President of NCKU
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature,
Class of 1964
Diane Ying
Founder of CommonWealth Magazine Group
