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Chinese-born Nobel-winning physicist Daniel Tsui Chee has encouraged Hong Kong students to never give up or lose their spirit.

Invited recently by the University of Hong Kong to be the honorary director of its new Centre of Theoretical and Computational Physics, the Princeton University professor came to Hong Kong and met a group of secondary school students on Monday.

He shared his experience and views on life with 24 students from 14 schools. The 66-year-old encouraged them to make the most of their youth and try new things. 'Learning basic knowledge and theories from textbooks is important, but doing experiments by yourself will help you improve,' he said.

'Like cycling and swimming - it's useless to tell you that you should pedal up and down or swing your arms from one side to the other. You have to ride on the bicycle and jump into the water to practise it yourself,' he said.

Many of the students described physics as a very abstract discipline, but Professor Tsui disagreed and pointed out that a lot of things, such as a camera flash and a microphone, were the fruits of physics research.

He urged the students not to be put off by setbacks, telling them they were still young and had a lot of time and opportunities ahead.

He said failures were sometimes not really failures as people may gain other unexpected returns from the failure.

The world-renowned physicist also advised people not to place too much importance on power and fame. He was sad that many people wrongly equate success with wealth and fame, burying their real interests.

Professor Tsui also told the students not to let others' judgements affect them too much, or else they will lose their own values.

'The most important thing is to do something that is meaningful for you and gives you satisfaction, while doing good for others - it could be just your neighbours or it could be the whole of society. What's the use of making a lot of money and getting your name carved on a university building? Why not pursue your real interests?'



Never give up, says Nobel physicist