高錕膺諾獎，香港宜自省 (一) / Nobel Award should set off soul-searching in Hong Kong (1)

高錕膺諾獎，香港宜自省(一) 郭位	Nobel Award should set off soul-searching in Hong Kong (1) Way Kuo
高錕獲2009年度諾貝爾物理學獎，在兩岸三地引起驚喜。內地認為，高錕獲獎證明華人對世界科學的貢獻，香港認為是港人的驕傲，台灣則因高錕為中研院1992年當選的院士而再次引為莫大榮耀。誠然，自從李政道、楊振寧1957年獲得諾貝爾物理學獎以來，華人科學家得獎者增至八名（李、楊之後的華人按獲獎時序依次為：丁肇中、李遠哲、朱棣文、崔琦、錢永健、高錕），畢竟是華人之光。此外，高錕以工程學科的專業得諾貝爾物理獎也屬少見。	The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Professor Charles Kuen Kao has brought a surprising joy to Greater China areas. People in mainland China see it as proof that the Chinese have contributed greatly to the world in science, those in Hong Kong take pride in having a Nobel laureate as their fellow Hongkonger, and the Taiwanese share the honour because the awardee has been a member of Academia Sinica in Taiwan since he was elected to it in 1992. In short, Prof Kao has won huge glory for all Chinese communities, having entered the honour roll of Nobelist-scientists of Chinese origin. Since Tsung-dao Lee and Chen-Ning Franklin Yang first won the prize in 1957, the list has now got eight names on it, including – in time sequence – Samuel C.C. Ting, Yuan-Tseh Lee, Steven Chu, Daniel Chee Tsui, Roger Yonchien Tsien, and Charles Kuen Kao himself. Besides, Prof Kao holds a rare status as one of the few technologists to earn Nobel Prize in Physics.
香港的驕傲與遺憾	Pride and regret for Hong Kong
香港人的興奮是基於高錕與香港的淵源：他少年來港，青年時代在香港，大學時代在英國求學、做研究，1970年應香港中文大學之邀創建電子學系，1987年起任中文大學校長約10年，對本港的教研有卓越貢獻。	Hongkongers feel excited because of Kao’s close ties with the territory, where he came at age 15 and spent much of his youthhood. After attending universities and then doing research in Britain, he returned to Hong Kong in 1970 at the invitation of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to start a Department of Electronics. Then he served as Vice-Chancellor of CUHK from 1987 to 1996, making remarkable contributions to Hong Kong in education and research.
高錕是港人之光。但若問：高錕1966年發明光纖通訊後，如今光纖足跡遍佈全球及太空。然而自1970年始，港府何以未能及時給予扶持，在本港投資研發，令這項科技立足香港並發揚光大，則港人就恐怕自豪不起來了。	Surely, Hongkongers take pride in Kao also because his invention of optical fibre communication in 1966 has been doing wonders all over the Earth and in outer space as well. Yet, should they be asked how come Hong Kong didn’t offer the scientist timely support to help his invention blossom locally into an even greater enterprise and grow further, then they would probably feel less than proud.
與香港有淵源的諾貝爾獎得主，除高錕外還有崔琦；與香港有淵源的頂尖華人科學家，除高錕、崔琦外還有何大一、田長霖、朱經武、張立綱、王佑曾、卓以和、丘成桐等多人。吾人不妨進一步自問：這許多與香港有緣的科技千里馬，何以未能得遇伯樂而一展長才、縱情馳騁呢？何以他們近代的科研只容在西方發揚光大，根植西方的科技工業？	Likewise, other big names can be mentioned, who have similar ties with Hong Kong. Among them are Nobel laureate Daniel Chee Tsui, and such famous figures as David Ho, Chang-lin Tien, Paul Chu, Leroy L.Chang, Eugene Wong, Alfred Y.Cho, and Shing-Tung Yau. Hongkongers could ask themselves: How come these eminent scientists or technologists, while in Hong Kong, did not receive the help and support they well deserved so that they could give a fuller play to their talent and expertise? How come their work could blossom and flourish only in the West, taking root in Western technology-based industry?
華人的資質自然可以媲美世人，但優質高等教育、尤其是高等教育的研究尚未在本地及中國生根。以八位諾貝爾獎獲獎者為例，半數以上的本科都在西方大學畢業。此外，除了李遠哲在台灣清華大學獲得碩士學位外，所有得主的研究生涯，包括博士學位，皆在西方取得。所有人的研究成果也都成於西方，無一例外。如要真正推動社會經濟進步和科技發展，我們尚須重視研究，特別是問題驅動式的研究。	Certainly, the ethnic Chinese are no less endowed than any other people, yet to realize their full potential they need top-quality higher education – especially complete with research on higher education itself, which is yet to take root in Hong Kong and mainland China. Take the above-said ethnic Chinese Nobelists for example. More than half got their bachelor’s degrees in the West, and all of them had postgraduate education up to the doctoral level in the West, except Yuan-Tseh Lee, who earned his master’s degree in Taiwan from the National Tsing Hua University. Then, all of them, without exception, did their research in the West that led them to Nobel Prize. Also, in Chinese society, problem-driven research is yet to receive due emphasis before research work can help boost social-economic progress and advances in science and technology.
科技產業投資受輕視	Technology overlooked for investment
港人的慣性思維是將本求利，講究以小本博大利；風氣所及，本地尖子學生往往不願修讀理工科技，只鍾情金融財貿，以為後者獲利較高較快。此非年青學子之過、亦非青年學子之福，實乃上焉者作風保守未能了解高科技在現代世界中扮演的角色。與世界其他地區國家相比，如此輕理工獨重金融商業也屬罕見。 何況，若僅以獲利而論，科技的創利潛力最高。試想1970年高錕來港時，港府若能投資千萬港元作為研發推廣經費，將他的發明轉化為科技產品及相關服務，則本港有機會成為世界通訊之都，40年來將獲利逾億上兆。 再進一步，當年港府若能以光纖科技為引領，率先發展通訊軟硬件多項科技及周邊技術，如醫療器材、能源、運輸等產業，在香港建立高新科技開發園，則何須遲至今日還在提議發展創新科技等優勢產業？	Hongkongers are apt to look for a big profit on a small capital, and many are good at it. This has made many top-notch local students to flock into programmes in finance and business that promise high and quick returns while shunning studies in science and technology. The craving for one coupled with aversion to the other is rarely found elsewhere. This is not in the best interest of young Hongkongers, but they are not to blame. It is the fault of those in higher positions of influence, who fail to see the key role of science and technology in today’s world. In reality, potential returns from technology can be the highest. Just imagine what enormous profits could have been generated for Hong Kong if the authorities had given Prof Kao timely, ample support – say an investment of HK$10 million – to help turn his invention into hi-tech products and related services based in the territory. Then Hong Kong could have become a world-class hub of telecommunication, with the profits accumulated over the past 40-odd years approaching HK$ one billion. Suppose, moreover, Hong Kong government had then decided to further utilise the new-born optical fibre by taking the lead in developing various telecom hardware and software products giving rise to derivative technologies for use in fields of medical apparatuses, energy, and transport, or even by launching a science park in the territory. What great changes would then have been brought about in Hong Kong?
科技是高生產力的基石，高生產力帶來高利潤、高福利、高附加價值，這已是常識常理。精明的港府，何以多年來未能把眼光放遠一點？當年高錕應邀回到香港，在中文大學創建電子學系，固然是一項成就，但可惜大才小用，此後未能有更大作為。其時新加坡方立國數年，科技尚未起步；台灣的新竹科學園也遲至十年後才建立；韓國科技正做初期探討；日本也才開始推出高品質的汽車及半導體產業，然而如今各地的科技發展都遠遠走在香港前頭。 香港不須負擔國防預算，但香港對本地科技研發的資助僅佔本地生產總值（GDP）的0.8%，不但低於台灣、新加坡，而且遠低於中國內地。香港對科技的投入，可說是杯水車薪。長此以往，香港不但比不上北京、上海，甚至可能也落後於北鄰的深圳。 （待續）	It is now everybody’s knowledge that science and technology will push up productivity, bringing higher profits and additional value, and better welfare for society. Those in Hong Kong government, being smart and sensible, ought to have taken a longer view of scientist Kao’s potentialities beyond his launching of a new Department of Electronics at CUHK, which makes only a small part of his achievements. At that time, Singapore was still too young a new-born nation to care about science or technology, Taiwan was yet to take another decade before its Hsin-Chu Science Park was launched, South Korea was in its early years of growth in technology, and Japan was just beginning to turn out high-quality automobiles and semiconductor products. Yet all of these places today are way ahead of Hong Kong in science and technology. Hong Kong’s public funding for science and technology accounts for a mere 0.8 per cent of the local GDP, even though the territory bears no burden of national defence expenditure. That meagre percentage compares poorly with that in Taiwan or Singapore, or even that in mainland China. Hong Kong’s investment in science and technology is utterly inadequate. Should this situation be allowed to go on unimproved, Hong Kong is very likely to lag behind places like Beijing and Shanghai, or even behind Shenzhen, its close neighbour to the north. (Translated by Allen Zhuang) (To be continued)
參閱：高錕膺諾獎，香港宜自省（二） Also see: Nobel Award should set off soul-searching in Hong Kong (2) [源文初載《明報》(2009-12-02)，作者署名“椅子”；復載於香港城市大學網頁之“校長網誌”(2010-04-22，有刪簡，附加英譯). / Source text was published in Ming Pao Daily (Dec 2, 2009), then posted along with an English version on “Way to Kuo Blog” of City University of Hong Kong website (2010-04-22). ]