Two Vietnamese scientists listed among Asian Scientist 100

Asian Scientist Magazine (Singapore) has announced the 2018 edition of the Asian Scientist 100, honouring the region’s top researchers, academics and innovators. Two Vietnamese scientists, namely Prof. Dr. Phan Thanh Son Nam and Associate Prof, Dr. Nguyen Sum have made the list this year.

Professor Phan Thanh Son Nam (first row, left) in the list of 100 top scientists in Asia.

According to the magazine, the list celebrates those who are making significant contributions in a variety of fields ranging from space exploration to structural biology—and everything in between. 

Each of the 100 honourees on the list has won a national or international prize in 2017 for their scientific research or leadership. Together, they represent the best of what Asia has to offer the scientific community as a whole.

Professor Phan Thanh Son Nam, Dean of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (National University – HCM City), was one of two scientists awarded the 2017 Ta Quang Buu Awards for his work on molecular catalysts in organic transformation.

Born in 1977, Nam completed his doctoral degree for Chemical and Biological Engineering at the UK-based University of Sheffield and post-doctoral degree at the US-based Georgia Institute of Technology. He obtained the professor level in 2014, at 36, becoming the youngest professor in Vietnam at the time.

Associate Professor Nguyen Sum at the Quy Nhon University was the other laureate of the 2017 Ta Quang Buu Awards for his research on the Peterson hit problem, an open problem in polynomial algebra. The research was internationally published in 2015. Born in 1961, Sum has taken part in 11 scientific studies and published 15 articles on international magazines.

Prof. Dr. Phan Thanh Son Nam and Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Sum are being honoured by Asian Scientist in the fields of chemistry and mathematics, respectively.