Yuan Tseh Lee, Ph.D., the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

Yuan Tseh Lee, President of Academia Sinica, was born on November 19, 1936, in Hsinchu, Taiwan. His father was an accomplished artist, and his mother was a schoolteacher.

He started his early education during the Japanese occupation, which lasted from 1895 to 1945. His elementary education was interrupted during World War II, when the population of Hsinchu was relocated to the mountains to avoid Allied bombing. It was not until after the war that he was able to return to school in the third grade. 

In high school, he was an avid and serious reader of books on science, literature, and social science. The biography of Madame Curie made a strong impression, and her dedication, selflessness, and idealism encouraged him to become a scientist.

In 1955, Lee was admitted to the National Taiwan University without having to take the entrance examination, a practice used to admit the best students. By the end of his freshman year he had decided to major in chemistry. The dedication of his professors and the camaraderie among fellow students compensated for the university's inadequate facilities. He studied under Professor Hua-sheng Cheng for his B.S. thesis on the separation of strontium and barium using paper electrophoresis.

After graduation in 1959, he began graduate study at National Tsing Hua University, where he received his master's degree under the guidance of Professor H. Hamaguchi on the natural radioisotopes in Hukutolite, a mineral contained in hot springs sediment. After receiving his M.S., he became a research assistant for Professor C. H. Wong at National Tsing Hua University and conducted research on the x-ray structure determination of tricyclopentadienyl samarium. 

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

After receiving his Ph.D. in 1965, he remained with Mahan's group and began research on ion molecule reactive scattering experiments with Ron Gentry, using ion beam techniques to measure energy and angular distributions. Within a year, he designed and constructed a very powerful scattering apparatus and conducted 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 R. Herschbach 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 completed in late 1967.

He joined the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor and the James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago in October 1968. His further development and construction of a new generation's state-of-the-art crossed molecular beams apparatus enabled him to conduct numerous pioneering experiments. 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. Subsequently, he expanded the scope of scientific investigation develop seven very sophisticated molecular beams apparatuses, which were specially designed to investigate problems associated with reaction dynamics, photochemical processes, and molecular spectroscopy. 

His laboratory has always attracted brilliant scientists from all over the world, and more than twenty of his former associates are serving as professors in major universities, while many others are making important contributions in national laboratories and the private sector.

In 1986, he received the National Medal of Science (White House, USA), Peter Debye Award (American Chemical Society), and Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his scientific accomplishments. 

In 1994, he retired from his position of University Professor and Principal Investigator for the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University of California and became the president of Academia Sinica in Taipei. He concentrated his efforts on the development of science, technology, and educational reform. 

Dr. Lee has received numerous awards and honors, including the 1986 Nobel Prize in chemistry, the U.S. National Medal of Science, and the Faraday Medal from the Royal Chemical Society of Great Britain. He also received the U.S. Department of Energy's Ernest O. Lawrence Award, the Harrison Howe Award, the American Chemical Society's Peter Debye Award of Physical Chemistry, and the Clark Kerr Medal from the University of California.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Gottingen Academy of Sciences, Indian Academy of Sciences, Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences.

Twenty-three institutions have awarded him honorary doctorates, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Rome, the University of Maryland, University of Waterloo, National Sun Yat-Sen University, National Chiao Tung University, Hong Kong University, Louis Pasteur University, National Tsing Hua University, Washington University, University of New South Wales, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and National Central University.

Dr. Lee and his wife Bernice Wu, whom he first met in elementary school, have three children: Ted (born in 1963), Sidney (born in 1966), and Charlotte (born in 1969). 

Over the years, he has received such awards and recognitions as follows:

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, Taipei, 1980.
Ernest O. Lawrence Award, U.S. Department of Energy, 1981.
Miller Professorship, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA, 1981-1982.
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, White House, USA, 1986.
Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, University of Waterloo, Canada, 1986.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1986.
Faraday Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry, London, Great Britain, 1992.
Fellow, The Third World Academy of Sciences, 1994.
The Honorary Member, International Academy of Sciences, 1994.
Distinguished Accomplishment Award, Chinese Chemical Society, Taipei, 1995.
The Honorary Foreign Member, The Korean Academy of Science and Technology, 1995.
Distinguished Anniversary Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 1996.
The Honorary Foreign Member, Indian National Science Academy, 1997.
The Clark Kerr Award, University of California at Berkeley, USA, 1999. 
Le Grand Prix Scientifique Franco-Taiwanais, Paris, 2001.