He currently holds the title of University Professor at the University of Chicago - the institution's highest academic rank. He is affiliated with the Department of Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, the James Franck Institute, and the Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics.

According to the University of Chicago, Professor Dam Thanh Son's research spans a wide range of fields, including nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, atomic physics, and quantum field theory.

He has co-authored numerous influential papers in modern physics. Among the most notable is a 2005 study with Pavel Kovtun and Andrei Starinets on strongly interacting quantum systems, known within the scientific community as the "KSS bound." He has also made significant contributions to research on heavy-ion collisions, strongly interacting Fermi gases, and quantum matter systems.

In recent years, he has continued investigating exotic quantum states associated with the fractional quantum Hall effect.

From an International Mathematical Olympiad gold medal

Born in Hanoi in 1969, Professor Dam Thanh Son grew up in a family with a strong scientific tradition. His father was Professor of Pharmacology Dam Trung Bao, while his mother was Associate Professor and biochemist Nguyen Thi Hao. He displayed exceptional mathematical talent from an early age.

According to multiple sources, by the time he was in second grade, he was already solving mathematics problems designed for tenth-grade students. Recognizing his extraordinary ability, Hanoi's education authorities allowed him to advance ahead of his peers in mathematics.

Before leaving for studies in the Soviet Union, he attended the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences, then part of Hanoi General University.

In 1984, at just 15 years old, Dam Thanh Son won a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Prague, then part of Czechoslovakia, achieving a perfect score of 42 out of 42. He became one of the Vietnamese students who left a lasting impression on the international mathematics stage during that period.

Although he excelled in mathematics, he chose to pursue physics at Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia. After graduating in 1991, he continued his studies and earned a PhD in Physics from the Moscow Institute for Nuclear Research in 1995.

Following the completion of his doctorate, Dam Thanh Son worked at several of the world's leading research institutions and universities. Between 1995 and 1997, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington. From 1997 to 1999, he worked at the Center for Theoretical Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

From 1999 to 2002, he taught and conducted research at Columbia University while also serving as a scholar in the RIKEN-BNL program. In 2002, he moved to Seattle, becoming a senior researcher at the Institute for Nuclear Theory and a professor at the University of Washington.

In 2012, he was appointed University Professor at the University of Chicago, the institution's highest academic distinction.

A lasting impact on modern theoretical physics

Professor Dam Thanh Son currently holds the title of University Professor at the University of Chicago, the institution's highest academic rank. Photo: University of Chicago

Professor Dam Thanh Son's research interests range from particle physics and nuclear physics to condensed matter physics. He is widely recognized for using quantum field theory as a unifying framework to study phenomena that emerge across vastly different energy scales and physical environments.

One of his most frequently cited achievements is the work he conducted with Pavel Kovtun and Andrei Starinets on the lower bound of the ratio between viscosity and entropy density in strongly interacting quantum systems, commonly referred to as the KSS bound. The result established a remarkable connection between string theory, black hole physics, and strongly interacting matter, and has had a broad influence across modern theoretical physics.

In recognition of his scientific contributions, he was elected in 2014 to both the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018, he received the Dirac Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in theoretical physics. A year later, he was honored with the Bogolyubov Prize.

When asked about the most important tool for a theoretical physicist, he once replied with characteristic humor: "A pen, scrap paper, and a trash bin." According to him, the trash bin is the most important of the three because scientific research is inseparable from the process of discarding ideas and hypotheses that turn out to be incorrect.

Alongside his international research activities, Professor Dam Thanh Son has maintained close ties with Vietnam's scientific community. He regularly participates in scientific conferences in Vietnam, supports academic initiatives, and engages with students and young researchers.

With hundreds of scientific papers published in leading international journals, he remains one of the most influential Vietnamese-born scientists working in theoretical physics today.

Hoang Linh