Happy 90
Professor Nguyen Trong Yem was born in Hanoi on 20 February 1935 in a family of rich cultural and revolutionary traditions. His father, revolutioner Xuan Thuy, held important positions, such as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of the negotiating delegation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam at the Paris Conference (1968-1972) on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam.
Professor Nguyen Trong Yem graduated from Hanoi University of Science and Technology in 1961 and became a lecturer at this University until 1966. He was a Doctorate at Lomonosov Moscow State University (1966-1969).
After Vietnam was reunified in 1975, Dr. Nguyen Trong Yem was assigned to build the Institute of Earth Sciences, one of the first natural research institutes of the Vietnam Institute of Science (now the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology). Given the country's challenging historical circumstances, his task was cumbersome.
With his excellent organizational talent, the Institute of Earth Sciences developed rapidly. By the end of the 1980s, it had developed into some research institutes, such as the Institute of Geological Sciences, the Institute of Geography, and the Institute of Geophysics. He was the head of the Institute of Earth Sciences and then the Institute of Geological Sciences. He has continuously made outstanding contributions for over twenty years to developing the Institute of Geological Sciences into a prestigious research address unit today.
Professor Nguyen Trong Yem has focused early on and successfully trained high-quality human resources. Through many official channels of the government and cooperative exchanges, he has sent hundreds of young scientists to intern and conduct research in countries with developed science, such as the Soviet Union and Europe, of which over 50 have achieved doctoral degrees and become qualified people to activate scientific research. He not only undertakes the scientific development tasks of the Institute of Geological Sciences but also has experts participating in consulting research, implementing national scientific programs, international cooperation, and training at universities in the country. His institute has always been an attractive address for graduate students from universities abroad and in Vietnam. He has also been the scientific supervisor of 8 graduate students who defended their doctorate theses successfully.
Professor Nguyen Trong Yem actively applies his scientific knowledge to solve practical tasks for the country's socioeconomic development. A typical contribution that he has chaired is the state program "Research on the causes and mechanisms of modern fracture formation and propose prevention solutions". The successful implementation of this program and many subsequent state-level themes have produced the first product in Vietnam, a series of comprehensive risk zoning maps of natural disasters at a scale of 1:1,000,000, along with the published Atlas of Natural Disasters of Vietnam, a scientific product of great practical value. During the next half century, Professor Nguyen Trong Yem and his colleagues at the Institute of Geological Sciences were a group of highly reputable experts in solving problems of potential risks and hazards of geological disasters in the territory, regions, and construction sites in the fields of Construction Planning, Transportation, Energy, Environmental Protection, etc.
Professor Nguyen Trong Yem is a prestigious geologist who has contributed much knowledge in basic research directions: Neotectonics, Cenozoic geodynamics, Recent tectonic stress fields, Present tectonic movements, etc. He is the co-director of the Cenozoic Geodynamics Research Program of Northern Vietnam, implemented by the cooperation between the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) from 1990 to 2010. The scientific products of this program are articles published in prestigious international journals and a published monograph, "Cenozoic Geodynamics of Northern Vietnam" by Science and Technology Publishing House, 2009, and Special Issue "Geodynamics of Vietnam" - Journal Geodynamics, vol. 69, 2013 by Elsevier, which are valuable scientific contributions.
Professor Nguyen Trong Yem has contributed exceptionally to expanding international cooperation, improving staff qualifications, and integrating with the world.
In cooperation with the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (now Institute of Geology and Mineralogy), Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Geological Sciences has successfully established the high-level Magma Department (now Petrology and Metallogenesis) in Vietnam. One of the outstanding works of this cooperation is the monograph “Intraplate Magmatism and Metallogenesis in Northern Vietnam”, published by Springer. In this cooperation, 7 Ph.D. and Doctors of Science have been trained.
Through cooperation with France and Canada, the first in Vietnam, our country's Remote Sensing and Geomatic Center was established at the Institute of Geological Sciences. Many remote sensing courses were trained, and remote sensing technology was soon deployed to serve geological, natural resources, and environmental sciences. Three scientists from the institute were sent to Canada to study for their Ph.D.
Prof. Nguyen Trong Yem represented VAST in the geological cooperation program of the Academies of the former socialist countries and is the co-director of the IGCP-430 Program "Mantle Dynamics and Tethyan Natural Mitigations" funded by UNESCO-IUGS and US NSF.
Through his scientific activities, Professor Nguyen Trong Yem has always been loved and trusted by domestic and foreign scientists for his professional capacity and talent in scientific management and organization and his noble and friendly personality.
The Vietnam Government awarded Professor Nguyen Trong Yem the First Class Labor Medal.
On his 90th birthday, we wish him health, longevity, and happiness!
