Professor Yuan Tseh Lee - University of California, Berkeley, USA

Professor Yuan Tseh Lee is one of three winners of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  Yuan Tseh Lee was born on November 19, 1936 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. His father is an accomplished artist and his mother a school teacher.

He started his early education while Taiwan was under Japanese occupation - a result of a war between China and Japan in 1894. His elementary education was disrupted soon after it started during World War II while the city populace was relocated to the mountains to avoid the daily bombing by the Allies. It was not until after the war when Taiwan was returned to China that he was able to attend school normally as a third year student in grade school.

His elementary and secondary education in Hsinchu was rather colorful and full of fun. In elementary school, he was the second baseman on the school's baseball team as well as a member of the ping-pong team which won the little league championship in Taiwan. In high school he played on the tennis team besides playing trombone in the marching band.

Besides his interest in sports during this time, he was also an avid and serious reader of a wide variety of books covering science, literature, and social science. The biography of Madame Curie made a strong impact on him at a young age. It was Madame Curie's beautiful life as a wonderful human being, her dedication toward science, her selflessness, idealism that made him decide to be a scientist.

In 1955, with his excellent academic performance in high school, Lee was admitted to the National Taiwan University without having to take the entrance examination, a practice the Universities took to admit the best students. By the end of his freshman year he had decided chemistry was to be his chosen field. Although the facilities in the Taiwan University were less than ideal, the free and exciting atmosphere, the dedication of some professors, and the camaraderie among fellow students in a way made up for it. He worked under Professor Hua-sheng Cheng on his B.S. thesis which was on the separation of Sr and Ba using the paper electrophoresis method.

After graduation in 1959, he went on to the National Tsinghua University to do his graduate work. He received his Master's degree on the studies of the natural radioisotopes contained in Hukutolite, a mineral of hot spring sediment under Professor H. Hamaguchi's guidance. After receiving his M.S. he stayed on at Tsinghua University as a research assistant of Professor C.H. Wong and carried out the x-ray structure determination of tricyclopentadienyl samarium.

He entered the University of California at Berkeley as a graduate student in 1962. He worked under the late Professor Bruce Mahan for his thesis research on chemiionization processes of electronically excited alkali atoms. During his graduate student years, he developed an interest in ion-molecule reactions and the dynamics of molecular scattering, especially the crossed molecular beam studies of reaction dynamics.

Upon receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1965, he stayed on in Mahan's group and started to work on ion molecule reactive scattering experiments with Ron Gentry using ion beam techniques measuring energy and angular distributions. In a period of about a year he learned the art of designing and constructing a very powerful scattering apparatus and carried out successful experiments on N₂⁺ + H₂ --> N₂H⁺ + H and obtained a complete product distribution contour map, a remarkable accomplishment at that time.

In February 1967, he joined Professor Dudley Herschback at Harvard University as a post-doctoral fellow. He spent half his time working with Robert Gordon on the reactions of hydrogen atoms and diatomic alkali molecules and the other half of his time on the construction of a universal crossed molecular beams apparatus with Doug McDonald and Pierre LeBreton. Time was certainly ripe to move the crossed molecular beams method beyond the alkali age. With tremendous effort and valuable assistance from the machine shop foreman, George Pisiello, the machine was completed in ten months and the first successful non alkali neutral beam experiment on Cl + Br₂ --> BrCl + Br was carried out in late 1967.

He accepted the position as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and the James Franck Institute of the University of Chicago in October 1968. There he started an illustrious academic career. His further development as a creative scientist and his construction of a new generation state-of-the-art crossed molecular beams apparatus enabled him to carry out numerous exciting and pioneering experiments with his students. He was promoted to associate professor in October 1971 and professor in January 1973.

In 1974, he returned to Berkeley as professor of chemistry and principal investigator at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory of the University of California. He became an American citizen the same year.

In the ensuing years, his scientific efforts blossomed and the scope expanded. His world leading laboratory now contains seven very sophisticated molecular beams apparati which were specially designed to pursue problems associated with reaction dynamics, photochemical processes, and molecular spectroscopy. His laboratory has always attracted bright scientists from all over the world and they always seem to enjoy working together. He takes great pride in the fact that more than fifteen of his former associates are serving as professors in major universities, and many others are making great contributions at the national laboratories and in the private sector.

Lee and his wife, Bernice Wu, whom he first met in elementary school have two sons, Ted (born in 1963), Sidney (born in 1966) and a daughter, Charlotte (born in 1969).


Among some of the awards and recognitions he has received over the years include:

Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1969 - 1971
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher Scholar Grant, Recipient 1971 - 1974.
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Science, 1975. Fellow, American Physical Society, 1976. John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, 1976 - 1977. Member, National Academy of Sciences 1979. Member, Academia Sinica,  Taiwan, China, 1980. Honorary Professor, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China, 1980.
Honorary Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 1980.
Miller Professorship, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1981-1982.
Ernest O. Lawrence Award, U.S. Department of Energy, 1981.
Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, California Institute of Technology, 1983.
Harrison Howe Award, Rochester Section, American Chemical Society, 1983.
Peter Debye Award of Physical Chemistry, American Chemical Society, 1986.
National Medal of Science, 1986.
Honorary Professor, Chinese University of Science and Technology, Hofei, Anhuei, China, 1986.
Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, University of Waterloo, 1986.

Professor Roald Hoffmann - Cornell University, USA

Professor Roald Hoffmann received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1981.  He received his Bachelors of Art degree at Columbia University (Columbia College) in 1958, and his Master of Arts degree in 1960 and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1962, working under the 1976 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, William N. Lipscomb, Jr., both from Harvard University.

He has investigated both organic and inorganic substances, developing computational tools and methods such as the extended Huckel method which he proposed in 1963.  He also developed, with R. B. Woodward rules for elucidating reaction mechanisms.

He was born in Zloczow, Poland and named in honor of the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen.  His family immigrated to the U.S.A. in 1949 where he attended Stuyvesant High School graduating in 1955.

He is also a writer of poetry published in two collections, "The Metamict State" (1987) and "Gaps and Verges" (1990), and of books explaining chemistry to the general public. Also, he wrote a play called "O2 Oxygen" about the discovery of oxygen, but also about what it means to be a scientist and the importance of process of discovery in science.

He currently teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Professor Morinobu Endo – Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan

Prof. Endo discovered carbon nanotubes in 1970s as part of his PhD studies at the University of Orleans in France. Prof. Endo is believed to be a Nobel Prize candidate for a method to mass produce carbon nanotubes.

Prof. Endo received a PhD in Engineering from Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan and a Docteur D'Universite, U.E.R. De Science Fondamental et Appliquees, L'Universite D'Orleans (France).  He also has B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Shinshu University.

Prof. Endo graduated from Shinshu University in 1971 with a Masters in Electrical Engineering and then spent a year in industry before pursuing his PhD.  Inspired by S. Mrozowski and by M. S. Dresselhaus of MIT, he took an interest in carbon systems because of activity in carbon fibers based on Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers for the aerospace industry.  He demonstrated carbon fibers can be grown by gas pyrolysis and traveled to Orléans, France in 1974 to work with Madame Agnès Oberlin at the CNRS in her laboratory.

Prof. Endo has authored and co-authored several books on carbon and is currently Chairman, of the Japan Carbon Societies and is also the Director of the Carbon Science and Technology Research Institute, Shinshu University Japan.

Professor Jackie Ying - MIT, USA

Prof. Jackie Ying is Head of the Nanostructured Materials Research Laboratory.  She is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.  Professor Ying has Ph.D. and M.A. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University where she was an AT&T Bell Laboratories Ph.D. Scholar and a B.E. summa cum laude in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union.  She is a leader in her research field of nanocatalysts.  She is editor of numerous scientific journals, holds numerous awards for innovative research, authored 130 papers, presented at over 110 invited lectures at international conferences, and holds 12 patents.  She is on the Advisory Board of U.S. Genomics and Altair Nanotechnologies where they are commercializing some of her catalyst discoveries.  She has previously worked at AT&T She is also Executive Director of the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Agency for Science, Singapore.

She pursued research in nanocrystalline materials with Prof. Herbert Gleiter at the Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, Germany as NSF-NATO Post-doctoral Fellow and Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow.  Prof. Ying has been on the Chemical Engineering faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1992, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1996 and to Professor in 2001.  She is currently the Executive Director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. 

Prof. Ying’s research is interdisciplinary in nature, with a theme in synthesis of advanced inorganic structures for catalytic, membrane, ceramic and biomaterial applications.  Her laboratory has been responsible for several novel wet chemical and physical vapor synthesis approaches that create nanostructured materials with exceptional size-dependent characteristics.  In particular, the engineering of surface reactivity, microstructure and thermal stability for nanocrystalline and nanoporous systems has been the focus to target towards the materials needs in the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, the efficient use of energy and resources, and the control and prevention of environmental pollution. 

Prof. Ying was most recently admitted in May 2005 to Germany's Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina.  She distinguishes herself as being the youngest member elected member of the world's oldest natural sciences academy.

Prof. Ying has been recognized with a number of research awards, including the American Ceramic Society Ross C. Purdy Award for the most valuable contribution to the ceramic technical literature during 1993, David and Lucile Packard Fellowship, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, Royal Academy of Engineering ICI Faculty Fellowship, American Chemical Society Faculty Fellowship Award in Solid-State Chemistry, TR100 Innovator Award, and American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Allan P. Colburn Award for excellence in publications.

Prof. Ying is Materials Engineering and Sciences Division Director of the AIChE, and organized a Topical Conference on Advanced Ceramics Processing at the 5th World Congress of Chemical Engineering.  She plays a leading role in the field of nanostructured materials, chaired the U.S. Department of Energy Workshop on Future Research Needs of Nanofabricated Materials in 1994, and organized the Third International Conference on Nanostructured Materials and the 2000 Engineering Foundation Conference on Processing and Properties of Nanostructured Materials.  She is Advisory Editor for Materials Today and Molecular and Supramolecular Science, Editor for Advances in Chemical Engineering, and was Associate Editor of Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia and Nanostructured Materials.  She serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Porous Materials, Journal of Electroceramics, Nanoparticle Science and Technology, Journal of Metastable and Nanostructured Materials, and Applied Catalysis A: General.  She was a Guest Editor for Materials Science & Engineering A, Nanostructured Materials, AIChE Journal, and Chemistry of Materials, and served on the Board of Directors of Alexander von Humboldt Association of America.  She is on the International Advisory Board of Leibniz-Institut für Festkörper- und Werkstoffforschung Dresden (Germany), University of Queensland Nanomaterials Centre (Australia), National Research Council Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences (Canada) and Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (Singapore), and is an Honorary Professor of Chemistry of Jilin University (China).

William R. Murray -  Colonel , U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)

Colonel Murray was recently the Deputy Director of Naval Expeditionary Warfare (Technology Division) for the Office Of Naval Research. His office was responsible for the planning of scientific research and technology spanning discovery to deployment.  He personally oversaw the planning, programing and budget execution of a $450 M annual budget. This budget funded a broad portfolio of science and technology initiatives through partnerships with universities, government laboratories ,industrial labs and not-for -profit research centers all contributing directly to our national security. He also led a team of 50 diverse and highly skilled workers comprised of military, government service and full time contractors.

Colonel Murray's 28 years as an assault support helicopter pilot, with both command and staff experience, allowed him to provided the military expertise to direct this investment in science and technology .  He has successfully led thousands of Marines and Sailors ,around the globe, and is dedicated to helping them fight and win the global war on terror. By focusing on  our technological edge and  partnering with industry, academia and government this dream can become a reality. 

Bill's staff positions include the Director of Strategic Communications for the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and the( J-7) War Plans Division on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon. As the Director Of Strategic Communications he was on the team that represented the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in the collaborative Department of Defense budget process for the acquisition of new capabilities.  He was also a member of the Defense Science Board for Seabasing , the top transformational priority for the Navy and the Marine Corp. As a war planner he represented the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Secretary of Defense policy reviews providing advice to senior military and civilian leaders to ensure plans were consistent with national security objectives.