Promising nano scientist at KAIST dead in car accident

Shin Jung-hoon

By Park Si-soo

Renowned nanoscience professor Shin Jung-hoon died in a car accident on Friday at age 47. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) professor was in 2014 touted as the “leading young scientist of the year.”

The deadly accident took place when Shin’s motorcycle collided head-on with a taxi known to have been driving over the centerline while on his way back home from a seminar in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Friday 4 p.m. He was taken to a hospital but declared dead.

He graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in physics and earned a doctorate in applied physics from California Institute of Technology. He secured a professorship at KAIST -- Korea’s leading science and technology university -- in 1996 when he was only 27.

He has since excelled in nanoscience, winning various awards from prestigious institutes at home and abroad. In 2006, Shin attended a meeting with then President Roh Moo-hyun as a representative of Korean scientists.

Many scientists paid condolences to the loss of a promising scientist. KAIST professor Lee Hee-chul said his death is a “big and irrecoverable” loss for Korea’s science community.

He is survived by his wife and two children. His funeral will be held at Yuseong Sun Hospital in Daejeon on Monday 7 a.m. For more information, contact 042-825-9494.