U.S. college appoints Vietnamese to highest professorship

A Vietnamese academic was appointed last week as University Professor, a title higher than Professor, at the U.S.-based University of Chicago, the institution said on its news website.

Dam Thanh Son, a 43-year-old Hanoian, will work as University Professor of Physics at the university from September 1 this year.

The professorship represents the highest scholarly aspirations of the University of Chicago, which already has an ambitious plan to recruit outstanding theoretical physicists from around the world.

The college selects University Professors from outside institutions because of their internationally recognized eminence and for their potential for broad impact.

Son is the school’s 19th University Professor, and the seventh active faculty member holding that title. He is the second appointment this year, and the fourth in the last two years.

The Vietnamese academic currently serves as a professor of physics and a senior fellow at the University of Washington Institute for Nuclear Theory.

Son gained international prominence for his application of ideas from string theory to the understanding of nuclear matter under high temperature and high density.

With interests ranging across atomic, condensed matter, and particle physics, his research has demonstrated links between such seemingly unrelated areas of physics as nuclear physics and black holes.

“Son is one of the top few theoretical physicists of his generation, and of that elite handful of people, he’s probably the broadest in terms of the impact of his research,” said Emil Martinec, professor in physics and director of the University of Chicago Enrico Fermi Institute.

The physicist has a rare ability to explore physics as a universal, undivided discipline, according to Paul Wiegmann, the Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in Physics at UChicago.

“[Son] will provide tremendous intellectual leadership that will mark the opening of a new era in the University’s storied tradition of physics research,” said Robert Fefferman, dean of UChicago’s Physical Sciences Division.

The scientist said he felt extremely honored to join the university, which he called “a world-renowned institution with a long tradition in physics.”

Son earned his master’s degree in physics from Moscow State University in 1991, and his doctorate in physics from Moscow’s Institute for Nuclear Research four years later.

He then held postdoctoral appointments at the University of Washington and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.