Shun Chi Ming SBS
岑智明
Class of 1980 - Former Director of the Hong Kong Observatory
1980屆畢業 — 天文台前台長
Shun Chi Ming entered St. Paul’s College Primary School in 1969 and graduated from the College in 1980. Shun entered the Royal Observatory, Hong Kong, as a scientific officer in 1986. He served as director of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) between 2011 and 2020.
Shun began specialising in aviation meteorology in 1993, dedicating himself to improving wind shear detection and forecasting. He was responsible for introducing the Chek Lap Kok airport’s lidar-based wind shear alert system in 2005, the first such system in the world.
As HKO director, Shun identified ‘science’, ‘innovation’ and ‘diversified cooperation’ as the three pillars towards HKO’s future development. This manifested most visibly in more comprehensive forecasting, including the lightning location information service, extending the seven-day forecast into a nine-day forecast, providing regional forecasts, personalised websites, and incorporating such improvements in the MyObservatory mobile app. Shun also unified the HKO’s broadcasting across television stations by setting up the Weather On-Air team.
Shun’s tenure saw the HKO’s further modernisation. He underscores the importance of a positive attitude, flexibility, creativity, and adaptability in weathering all manners of change. He was awarded the SBS in 2020.
Click here for an interview with Shun, specially prepared as part of this exhibition.