The laureates are Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh from the Institute of Physics under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Manh Tri from the University of Science under the Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Thanh is the author of a research paper published on the Physical Review Letters, one of the world’s three leading physics journals. The research showed breakthrough findings important to the development of quantum computer technology.

She is the fourth female scientist to be granted the Ta Quang Buu Awards so far.

Meanwhile, Tri authored three works published on world leading scientific journals in the fields of environmental engineering, toxicology, health, and genetic mutation, helping resolve the globally urgent issue of environmental pollution caused by the spread of synthetic chemicals.

This year, the noble awards, named after famous scientist Prof. Ta Quang Buu (1910 - 1986), were presented on the occasion of the Vietnam Science and Technology Day (May 18) and the 65th founding anniversary of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST).

First granted in 2014, the awards aim to encourage and honour scientists with remarkable achievements in natural and technical science research, helping promote the integration and development of Vietnam’s science and technology.

In 2023, the MST Minister issued a circular expanding the awards’ coverage to those in social sciences and humanities.

As many as 97 entries were submitted to the 2024 awards, doubling the numbers recorded in previous years. They comprised 76 in the field of natural and technical science and 21 in social sciences and humanities. There were 71 nominations to the main award and 26 to the one for young scientists.

So far, the MST has presented the awards to 18 scientists who are authors of outstanding scientific research works and four young ones./. VNA