By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Professor Paik Myung-hyun of Seoul National University became the first female winner of South Korea's top science award.
The Ministry of Science and Technology announced Monday that Paik and three other professors had been selected as the co-winners of this year's Korea Science Award.
The Korea Science Award was introduced in 1987, and is given to four Korean scientists biennially in recognition of their world-class outstanding contributions in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and life sciences. It is paired with the Korea Engineering Award that started in 1994.
Paik, born in 1948 in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, is a professor at the School of Chemistry at Seoul National University. She specializes in producing nano molecular materials that have microscopic holes. Such porous solids can be utilized in many industrial products such as batteries, chemical catalyst and carbon dioxide filters, the award organizers said.
She was also the first winner of the Award of Woman Scientist and Engineers in 2001. She earned her bachelor's degree at Seoul National University, and her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1976. She also worked as a visiting scholar at Northwestern University and the Florida State University at Tallahasse.
The three other winners were professor Keum Jong-hae of the Korea Institute for Advanced Study, professor Rey Soo-jong of Seoul National University and Oh Byung-ha of POSTECH.
Each of the awardees will receive 50 million won from the ministry, as well as a presidential plaque. The award had 16 candidates this year. It has produced 41 winners so far: eight in mathematics, 11 in physics, 12 in chemistry and 10 in bioscience.
The ceremony will be held at Seoul Renaissance Hotel in southern Seoul next Monday, hosted by Deputy Prime Minister and Science and Technology Minister Kim Woo-shik.
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