Taiwan hopes to have at least three more Nobel Prize laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine within the next 30 years, President William Lai (賴清德) said today while awarding the Presidential Science Prize.
The prize this year was awarded to Liang Keng-yi (梁賡義) and Yeh Chun-wei (葉均蔚), researchers at Academia Sinica’s Division of Live Sciences and Division of Engineering Sciences respectively.
In his speech, Lai congratulated the two awardees and thanked them for their contributions to the global development of science.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Their stories show that “as long as we maintain curiosity and enthusiasm toward the unknown, start from basic research and work hard until the end, success will eventually be ours,” Lai said.
Established in 2001, the Presidential Science Prize marks its 13th award ceremony this year.
Lai praised Liang’s perseverance and dedication, from starting out with a passion for mathematics in childhood, to later distinguishing himself in biostatistics.
The generalized estimating equations he proposed not only marked a groundbreaking advance in statistical methodology, but also influenced countless clinical and public-health decisions, Lai said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Liang helped develop rapid tests, medicine and vaccines, making outstanding contributions to Taiwan’s science education, public health and social stability, he said.
Lai also remarked on Yeh’s achievements, which have earned him recognition as the “father of high-entropy alloys” and the distinction of being one of the world’s top scientists.
Even though others dismissed Yeh’s concept of high-entropy alloys as flawed 30 years ago, he continued to devote himself to his research, conducting experiments step by step, Lai said.
Yeh’s perseverance established an entirely new principle in materials science and sparked a wave of high-entropy alloy research, he said.
High-entropy alloys are now used in smart machinery, green energy, biomedicine, national defense and space technology, he added.
Meanwhile, the president noted that Taiwan ranked sixth among 69 countries in this year’s World Competitiveness Ranking released by Switzerland’s International Institute for Management Development.
Taiwan also ranked fifth in scientific infrastructure and second in research-and-development personnel per 1,000 people, showing its strong scientific research and innovation capabilities, Lai said.
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