A world-renowned mathematician, Prof Yau Shing-Tung received his undergraduate education in Hong Kong before going to UC Berkeley to study under the supervision of Prof Shiing Shen Chern. In 1982, his accomplishments in partial differential equations and algebraic geometry garnered him a Fields Medal, regarded as the Nobel Prize of mathematics. He is currently the Chair Professor of Mathematics at Harvard, as well as Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Prof Yau's lecture, titled "The Path to Learning", took place on 11 November in the Lam Woo Lecture Theater. Prof Yau quoted extensively from Chinese classical works, illustrating how one may establish a positive outlook on life and learning by drawing inspiration from culture. The one-hour lecture drew an attentive audience, among whom were 100 secondary school students.

"Culture affects the way a scholar conducts his research," Prof Yau said, attributing America's academic success to the nation's multi-cultural milieu. In addition to culture, Prof Yau also acknowledged the importance of passion, curiosity, and perseverance in scholarly pursuits.

Another distinguished scientist, Prof Andrew Yao, visited UST on 13 November to talk about cryptography and its applications. An expert in quantum computation, Prof Yao is the only Chinese to have received the Association of Computing Machinery's A M Turing Award, considered the Nobel Prize for computer science. He is currently a Professor at the Center for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University.

In his lecture, "An Expedition into Modern Cryptography", Prof Yao surveyed the history of cryptography since the era of Julius Caesar, and outlined its development and application in the modern era where the Internet and wireless communications prevail.

The art of cryptography has evolved from simple techniques applied in ancient warfare into convoluted algorithms, such as quantum coding, which are essential to safeguarding privacy, access control, and online payment in the information age. Voting and auctions conducted over the Internet also entail the use of cryptography.