As one of a series of lectures on "Science & China", Professor Zhi-Ming Ma, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) & the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), was invited to give a public lecture on Dec 3 (Saturday), at Nankai University. This lecture is entitled "Google Search and Mathematics of the Internet". The "Science & China", supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, aims to raise the public awareness of science.
Professor Zhi-Ming Ma served as the President of the Chinese Mathematical Society from January 2000 to December 2003. For his important contributions Professor Ma has awarded many prizes: the Chinese National Natural Sciences Prize; the L.K. Hua Prize; the S.S. Chern Prize. The lecture was organized by the Center for Combinatorics (CFC), Nankai University, and hosted by Professor Bill Chen, Vice President of Nankai University and Director of the Center for Combinatorics. More than 400 students and faculty members, coming from several universities in Tianjin, listened to the lecture. Professor Ma gave an introduction to the PageRank algorithm currently used in the Google search engine. The audience was impressed by Professor Ma's wonderful lecture.
After the lecture, Professor Zhi-Ming Ma visited the Center for Combinatorics accompanied by Professor Bill Chen and Professor Xueliang Li, Deputy Director of the CFC. Professor Chen gave an introduction to the CFC and he said: "Since the foundation of the CFC, faculty members and the students have been working day and night, from 8:30am to 11:00pm." Professor Ma said:"I am deeply impressed by your excellent work. If I didn't come here, I would not know that the CFC has maken such great progress in such a short time." Professor Ma also said:"The administration of the Center for Combinatorics is very efficient, and it has attracted many people, from all over the world, to work together. I know that some research institutes have spent a lot of money to run their programs, while, the Center for Combinatorics has maken such great achievements with limited resources. This is very valuable experience." |
