Shanghai university's research institute woos top scientists

A research institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is building a world-class scientific talent team, aiming to attract more than 600 experts from home and abroad in three to five years, Chinanews.com reported on Thursday.

Ji Xiangdong, a senior professor at the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, said the center has sent out invitations for young scientists worldwide, with quite a few being China-born.

The Tsung-Dao Lee Institute was established in November last year after Tsung-Dao Lee, a renowned American-Chinese physicist, proposed the plan.

Tsung-dao Lee and Yang Zhenning (Chen-Ning Franklin Yang) received the 1957 Nobel Prize in physics for their work on parity nonconservation of weak interaction, becoming the first people of Chinese origin to become Nobel laureates.

With a focus on particle physics, quantum physics, astronomy and astrophysics, the institute is modeled on world-famous research centers such as Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark and Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton.

Ji said the global experts will be provided benefits that will match similar research institutes, including salary, children's education and medical insurance.

Chinanews report said the institute has already made some achievements in dark matter and quantum physics.

Ji said the center is going to serve as a gathering of top scientists as well as a platform for international communication. It also aims to lead physics experiments as well as scientific discovery. Besides, Ji said he hopes that the institute will become a popular science base so as to make science more "down to earth".