Campus Digest

HKBU launches Dr. Kennedy Y.H. Wong Distinguished Visiting Professorship Scheme, Professor Jeffrey Cheung shares on “Simple Can Be Harder Than Complex”

17 Feb 2014

HKBU recently received a generous donation of HK$10 million from Dr. Kennedy Wong, Managing Partner of Philip K.H. Wong, Kennedy Y.H. Wong & Co., in support of the establishment of the Dr. Kennedy Y.H. Wong Distinguished Visiting Professorship Scheme which aims at promoting international academic exchange. To mark the launch of the Scheme, a cheque presentation ceremony was held today (17 February) followed by the first visiting scholar’s public lecture at which Professor Jeffrey Cheung, Visiting Professor of HKBU’s Department of Physics, shared on “Simple Can Be Harder Than Complex”.

Officiating at the ceremony were Dr. Kennedy Wong, Mr. Cheng Yan-kee, Chairman of the Council and the Court of HKBU, Dr. Wilfred Wong, Chairman of the HKBU Foundation, and Professor Albert Chan, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU.

Mr. Steve Jobs, the late Apple Inc. founder, once said:“You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Professor Jeffrey Cheung was inspired by this quote by Mr. Jobs who was renowned for pursuing simplicity, excellence and perfection. In his talk, Professor Cheung discussed the lessons to be learnt from the phrase “Simple can be harder than complex” with interesting examples from daily life and various fields including music, art and science. He concluded with some advice for creative thinking: look at things holistically, do not make prejudgments or presumptions, subtract the inessentials to attain simplicity, and search for the Eureka moment.