Tsung Dao Lee, a Chinese-American Nobel laureate physicist, gave a lecture titled "The Challenge of Physics" at Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council.
Among those present were Premier Zhu Rongji and Vice-Premier LiLanqing, both members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau.
The Nobel laureate, who was awarded the top academic prize in 1957 together with his collaborator and fellow Chinese-American, Chen Ning Yang, for their discovery of the law of parity conservation, lectured on the evolution of physics in the world, including that of astrophysics in ancient China.
Following Lee's lecture, the Chinese premier addressed the gathering, noting that Professor Lee had explained the profound and complicated physics theories in terse and simple language. The premier reiterated the CPC Central Committee's strategy to revitalize China through science and education.
(People's Daily October 23, 2002)
