Conférences autour de l’exposition "Plagues" [en]
A l’occasion du 120ème anniversaire de la découverte par Alexandre YERSIN du bacille de la Peste à Hong Kong, une série d’événements est organisée dans le cadre du festival culturel le French May.
Cette commémoration a débuté lundi lors d’un café scientifique animé par le Dr Elizabeth CARNIEL, chef de l’unité de recherche sur Yersinia pestis à l’Institut Pasteur de Paris et continuera jusqu’au 27/06.
Calendrier
- 28/05, 3:00 PM | MUSEUM OF MEDICAL SCIENCES A Lecture about “ the fight against SARS in 2003 in Hong Kong ” given by Prof Joseph SY SUNG, President of CUHK. INSCRIPTION
- 29/05, 3:00 PM | MUSEUM OF MEDICAL SCIENCES A Lecture about “Pasteur and his Lieutenants” by Dr Maxime Schwartz and Mme Annick Perrot from Institut Pasteur (Paris). INSCRIPTION
- 29/05, 6:30 PM | PARENTHÈSES BOOKSTORE Presentation and signature of book "Pasteur et ses lieutenants" by Dr Maxime Schwartz and Mme Annick Perrot from Institut Pasteur (Paris). INSCRIPTION
- 30/05, 10:30 AM | CITY UNIVERSITY A Lecture about “The new Infectious Diseases : Where do they come from ?” by Dr Maxime Schwartz from Institut Pasteur (Paris). INSCRIPTION
- 05-06/06, 8:00 PM | HONG KONG UNIVERSITY Performance “Riders on the Plague” by Peter Suart.
- 20/06 | ASIA SOCIETY Screening of a movie about Alexandre Yersin and talk with Dr Roberto BRUZZONE, Co-director of HKU-Pasteur Research Pole.
- 23/06, 12:00 PM | CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG Lecture about “Emerging Infections then and now – what have we learnt ?” by Prof Tom Solomon from University of Liverpool.
- 23/06, 6:00 PM | MUSEUM OF MEDICAL SCIENCES Conference about “The race between Alexandre Yersin and Shibasaburo Kitasato for the discovery of the plague bacillus” by Prof Tom Solomon from University of Liverpool. INSCRIPTION
About the exhibition
“PLAGUES” is an exhibition that unravels the history of the plague : the devastating effects of pandemics, the battle to identify their sources, and the prospects of new outbreaks and challenges from new emerging infectious diseases. This exhibition invites you to explore the inspiring life of Alexandre Yersin, a man of scientific excellence, humanism and adventure.
And to discover other Science Heroes and learn more about the scientific and medical collaborations between France and Hong Kong, and its implications for world health.
Plague. The very word carries an unholy resonance, from the infamous disease characterised by fever, buboes and delirium to any contagious disease that spreads rapidly and kills many people. It has shaped history with a mysterious and apocalyptic power !
Hong Kong, 120 years ago : Yersinia pestis, the bacillus responsible for centuries of death yielded its identity to humanity’s advancing technologies and to a French-Swiss maverick doctor, Alexandre Yersin. Working from a makeshift straw hut laboratory in Kennedy Town, in just a few days Yersin identified the plague bacillus that was responsible for the outbreak of bubonic plague that was to spread across the world.
Hong Kong, nowadays : A scientific medical collaboration between France and Hong Kong perpetuates through the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole founded by the Institut Pasteur and the University of Hong Kong. This relationship builds on synergies between its partners with the goal of establishing the capability to detect, contain and treat new plagues promptly in both the developed and developing worlds.
About Alexandre YERSIN
Being at the same time an explorer, an ethnologist, a sailor, a farmer, a geographer, a physician, a scientist, an humanist and the last-living disciple of Pasteur, died in 1943 in Nha Trang, Alexandre Yersin is above all a discreet and unsung hero. As a bacteriologist, this Franco-Swiss doctor entered Louis Pasteur’s research laboratory at the École Normale Supérieure in 1986 and joined the recently created Institut Pasteur in 1889 as Emile Roux’s collaborator. With him, he discovered the diphtheric toxin. In 1894, the Institut Pasteur and the French Government asked Alexandre Yersin to go to Hong Kong to study a deadly plague epidemic coming from Mongolia. He succeeded to isolate the Bacillus responsible for the disease, which was his greatest achievement.
About the Institut Pasteur
The Institut Pasteur was founded in 1887 by Louis Pasteur, the famous French chemist and microbiologist. The Institut is at the forefront of the battle against infectious diseases and has been responsible for breakthrough discoveries in research into diphtheria, tetanus, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, influenza, yellow fever and plague. Since 1908, eight scientists from the Institut Pasteur have been awarded the Nobel Prize.
About HKU-PRP
HKU-Pasteur Research Pole is a medical research laboratory that brings together two world-class academic and research institutions, HKU and Institut Pasteur, for the common goal of generating biological knowledge to advance the understanding and treatment of infectious diseases. HKU-PRP will provide opportunities and support for outstanding young scientists to undertake interdisciplinary research by harnessing the resources of the local and international environments in HKU and Institut Pasteur. HKU-PRP is a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network, which is comprised of 32 institutes sharing the same vision, and engaging in collaborative work for scientific research on the curbing of infectious diseases, training of specialists and improvement of public health services.