Vietnamese scientists listed in Asia's top 100

PSNews - Recently, Singapore-based Asian Scientist magazine has published its list of Asia’s 100 most outstanding scientists in 2021, which included five Vietnamese talents.

Five Vietnamese scientists have been named in the 2021 edition of Asian Scientist 100, an annual listing of the brilliant scientific talents in the region by the Asian Scientist magazine of Singapore.

They are Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha of Thai Nguyen University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Thi Quynh Mai from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE). Assoc, Prof. Dr. Pham Tien Son of Da Lat University and Dr. Nguyen Truong Thanh Hieu from Ton Duc Thang University.

Five Vietnamese honored in the list of 100 Asian scientists for their outstanding achievements in research. Photo: Hung Nam
Five Vietnamese honored in the list of 100 Asian scientists for their outstanding achievements in research. Photo: Hung Nam

Tran Thi Thu Ha from Thai Nguyen University was the winner of the Kovalevskaia Award 2019 for her research on propagation and intensive cultivation of medicinal plants, and development of local medicinal plants.

Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan from Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy also made the list. The doctor is one of three recipients of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu Awards - Vietnam's most prestigious award in fields of natural sciences and engineering - for research that compared the transfer of fresh and frozen embryos in vitro fertilisation.

Le Thi Quynh Mai of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Vietnam in Hanoi leads a team of women researchers who were awarded the 2019 Vietnamese Kovalevskaia Award for their successful isolation of a new strain of the novel coronavirus. Her team has spent the last two decades fighting deadly diseases, most notably SARS, A/H5N1 bird flu and H1N1.

Another scientist, Pham Tien Son of Da Lat University was honored in the field of Mathematics. He was renowned for being one of three recipients of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu Awards for his studies on the generic properties for semi-algebraic programs.

Nguyen Truong Thanh Hieu of HCMC’s Ton Duc Thang University was yet another recipient of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu Awards for his studies into determining electron inelastic mean free paths in materials. The inelastic mean free path (IMFP) is an index of how far an electron on average travels through a solid before losing energy.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Asian Scientist magazine has honored the best researchers in Asia across a range of scientific researches that help solve the world's urgent issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic prevention.

To qualify for the list, honorees must have won a national or international prize in 2020. Candidates are also required to have a significant record in scientific discovery or be leading scholars in their respective fields.

By Linh Bui

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