Two Nobel laureates, theoretical physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft and economist Finn Kydland, will visit Vietnam to attend a conference on science and development scheduled for May 9-10 in the central city of Quy Nhon.

The International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education, where the conference is scheduled to take place.

The conference is part of the annual Rencontres du Vietnam programme held at the International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education.

According to Professor Tran Thanh Van, an organiser, the conference will discuss the status of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its future perspectives as seen from the world of science, technology, and innovation.

At the conference, there will be roundtable discussions on the social and economic impacts of science, their relation to policy-making, and possible links with the industrial revolution 4.0.

Professor Van said that five Nobel Prize-winning professors had originally agreed to attend the conference but at the time of the event, three were unable to attend due to health reasons.

Gerard ‘t Hooft is a Dutch theoretical physicist and professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with his thesis advisor Martinus J. G. Veltman "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions".

Finn Kydland is a Norwegian economist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2014 along with Edward C. Prescott “for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles.”

As part of their visit to Vietnam, the two professors will also engage in conversations with students in Da Lat and Ho Chi Minh City.

Nhan Dan