Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee
President Emeritus and Distinguished Research Fellow, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Former President of the International Council for Science (ICSU)
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1986
“Achievement and Challenges of Atmospheric Chemists”
Prof. Yuan T. Lee received his B.S. degree from National Taiwan University and Doctorate from UC Berkeley. He is the first Taiwanese to win a Nobel Prize, which he was awarded jointly with Hungarian-Canadian John C. Polanyi and American Dudley R. Herschbach in Chemistry in 1986 “for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes”. Prof. Lee’s work was related to the use of advanced chemical kinetics techniques to investigate and manipulate the behavior of chemical reactions using crossed molecular beams. He has also been honored with several other international awards in addition to the Nobel Prize for his invaluable contributions to the field of chemistry.
Prof. Lee holds Honorary Doctorates from 41 universities worldwide, and is an elected member of various academies throughout the world. He is President Emeritus and Distinguished Research Fellow of Academia Sinica in Taiwan and is the former President of the International Council for Science (ICSU) in 2011-2014.
Aside from his scientific interests, he also directed much of his attention to the advancement of international scientific developments and to the promotion of general public affairs. He has served as advisory board member on numerous national and international organizations. He is passionate about global sustainability, and in 2015, he signed the 2015 Mainau Declaration expressing concern about anthropogenic climate change.
— Shih-Chun Candice Lung, Research Fellow, Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
— Fumiko Kasuga, Global Hub Director – Japan, Future Earth