Academia Sinica yesterday hailed the election of three Taiwanese scientists, including its president, James Liao (廖俊智), to The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), but said it would require the academy to correct its documents, which refer to the nation as “Taiwan, China.”
A global science academy based in Trieste, Italy, TWAS has more than 1,200 members. On Tuesday last week, it announced a list of 36 newly elected fellows, which is to take effect next month.
Liao was recognized for using metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and systems biology to construct microorganisms to produce next-generation biofuels and to study the obesity problem in humans, TWAS said.
Photo courtesy of Academia Sinica
Also an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering, Liao on Dec. 3 received the Novozymes Award for Excellence in Biochemical and Chemical Engineering in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Chung Bon-chu (鍾邦柱), a distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Molecular Biology, was honored for her elucidation of the regulation of steroids and delineation of steroidogenic pathways in zebrafish, TWAS said, adding that her work helped “opened new research directions.”
Lu Chih-yuan (盧志遠), president of Macronix (旺宏電子) and chairman of Ardentec Corp (欣銓科技), is a distinguished chair professor for research at National Taiwan University’s Department of Physics and was elected an academician of Academia Sinica last year.
Lu has made outstanding technical contributions in semiconductor device physics, silicon integrated circuit processes development and integration technologies, and is described as “an innovative high-tech entrepreneur and outstanding industrial leader in [the] semiconductor industry” by TWAS.
Being elected into the academy not only demonstrates the personal achievements of academics, but also reflects their home countries’ efforts in promoting science, Academia Sinica said.
However, the three scientists are listed as being from “Taiwan, China” on the TWAS Web site.
Academia Sinica quoted Liao as saying that it would write to the academy to ask it to correct the name of the country.
The three scientists are to be awarded new memberships at TWAS’ general meeting in November next year, Academia Sinica added.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS