This year’s Presidential Science Prize winners were announced yesterday. One of the three winners has a close relationship with a Presidential Office official, while another has close ties to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
The three winners this year are Chien Shu (錢煦), a member of Academia Sinica and director of the Institute of Engineering in Medicine; Liao I Chiu (廖一久), a member of Academia Sinica and aquaculture professor at National Taiwan University; and Paul Lee (李壬癸), a member of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Linguistics.
Chien is an elder brother of former minister of foreign affairs Fredrick Chien (錢復), while Liao is the elder brother of Presidential Office Secretary-General Liao Liou-yi (廖了以).
PHOTO: CNA
Liao Liou-yi, who introduced the winners to the media yesterday, said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would present the awards to them at the Presidential Office on Friday.
The biennial award was created by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2001. Each winner will receive a trophy and a cash prize of NT$2 million (US$62,000).
Chien Shu said he never thought he would win an award when he began his research 30 years ago and that he felt “embarrassed by this undeserved praise.”
He joined Academia Sinica in 1976 and began conducting research at the Department of Bioengineering and Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, in 1988.
Liao I Chiu began his research in aquaculture when he returned to Taiwan in July 1968 after obtaining a doctorate in agriculture in Japan.
His long career at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute has helped Taiwan gain a reputation as “the kingdom of breeding,” while Liao has been dubbed “the father of black tiger prawn breeding.”
He was selected as a member of the Academia Sinica in 1992 and has published many papers in national and international publications.
Liao I Chiu thanked his co-workers and family for their assistance and support.
While he once stayed up for seven days and nights observing the activities of shrimps, his wife said this luckily did not happen after they got married.
Lee was the first Taiwanese researcher to profile the migration of Austronesian peoples and make written records of 15 of the Austronesian languages.
He began his research while pursuing his doctoral degree in linguistics at the University of Hawaii from 1967 to 1970.
He has been studying Taiwan’s Austronesian languages and dialects since he joined Academia Sinica in 1970.
Describing his long research career as “forlorn,” Lee said what kept him going was his interest and strong sense of calling.
“If I don’t do it, who will?” he said. “Besides, it is a meaningful job.”
Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Saturday that she would not be intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), following reports that Chinese agents planned to ram her car during a visit to the Czech Republic last year. "I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety," Hsiao said on social media platform X. "The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community," she wrote. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic on March 18 last year as vice president-elect and met with Czech Senate leadership, including
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
There have been clear signs of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to interfere in the nationwide recall vote on July 26 in support of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators facing recall, an unnamed government official said, warning about possible further actions. The CCP is actively involved in Taiwanese politics, and interference in the recall vote is to be expected, with multiple Chinese state media and TAO attempts to discredit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and undermine public support of their recall movement, the official said. This interference includes a smear campaign initiated this month by a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet against
A week-long exhibition on modern Tibetan history and the Dalai Lama’s global advocacy opened yesterday in Taipei, featuring quotes and artworks highlighting human rights and China’s ongoing repression of Tibetans, Hong Kongers and Uighurs. The exhibition, the first organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT), is titled “From the Snowy Ridges to the Ocean of Wisdom.” “It would be impossible for Tibetans inside Tibet to hold an exhibition like this — we can do it. because we live in a free and democratic country,” HRNTT secretary-general Tashi Tsering said. Tashi Tsering, a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never
RSS