Pope names two Nobel laureates to Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Published: 2007-10-09

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI named as members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences two Nobel laureates, including a Taiwanese-American professor and researcher. Yuan Tseh Lee, 70, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1986 while he was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. The other new member, Klaus von Klitzing, 64, is currently a professor of physics at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany. The Vatican announced the appointments Oct. 9. Born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Lee moved to the United States in 1962 after receiving university degrees in Taiwan. In addition to teaching and conducting research at Berkeley, he also taught at the James Franck Institute of the University of Chicago. He became a U.S. citizen in 1974. Lee's work developing a "crossed-molecular beams" laboratory technique aided scientists in understanding elementary chemical reactions and led to his winning the Nobel Prize. Von Klitzing, a native of Germany, received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1985 for his discovery of the integer quantum Hall effect, which helped scientists make extremely accurate measurements of electrical resistance.

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