Professor Hyun Taek-hwan, Who Missed the Nobel Chemistry Prize, Says "I Am a Blessed Person"

Meaningful to be listed as a Nobel Chemistry Prize candidate
Professors Yuryong and Park Namgyu are also future Nobel laureates
This year, the 'gene scissors' award goes to female scientists from France and the US

▲Professor Hyun Taek-hwan

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] "The very fact that a Korean has been named among the candidates is meaningful. From now on, the Nobel Committee and the global scientific community will pay more attention to us."

Hyun Taek-hwan, Chair Professor at Seoul National University and Director of the Nano Particle Research Group at the Institute for Basic Science, said this in a phone interview with Asia Economy immediately after the announcement of the laureates around 7 p.m. on the 7th, adding, "I am not disappointed."

The Possibility of a Korean Nobel Prize Has Increased

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier, who is affiliated with the Department of Pathology at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and developed the foundational technology of the 'CRISPR gene-editing scissors,' and Jennifer Doudna, a professor at UC Berkeley in the United States.

Professor Hyun, who was a strong candidate, said, "What is important is that an atmosphere has been created where we can receive the Nobel Prize at any time," and confessed, "In that sense, just being nominated makes me a blessed person." He also hinted that before the announcement of the laureates, he started his university lecture by playing BTS's 'Not Today.' He explained that he was calming himself down, telling himself not to get excited about the award and to wait for the results calmly and humbly.

Although not now, he did not hide his hope that the possibility of winning the prize will increase in the future. He said, "It is becoming established that one is selected as a strong candidate and then receives the Nobel Prize after several years," adding, "People like me, including Professor Yuryong from KAIST and Professor Park Nam-gyu from Sungkyunkwan University, who have been named as candidates in the past, are people who can receive the Nobel Prize at any time." He also mentioned his colleague, Professor Kim Bit-naeri of Seoul National University, saying, "Even outside the nano field, Korea has many excellent scholars." Professor Hyun highly praised Professor Kim, saying, "It is hard to find a biologist of the same generation worldwide with better achievements than Professor Kim." Professor Kim was one of the '17 Korean scientists close to the Nobel Prize' announced by the National Research Foundation of Korea last year. Recently, she completed the genetic map of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Guaranteeing Researchers' Autonomy Is Essential for Korean Nobel Prize

Professor Hyun also emphasized that 'research freedom' is important for the Korean scientific community to get one step closer to the Nobel Prize. He explained, "Winning a Nobel Prize is not like the Olympics, where athletes are trained to win gold medals," adding, "A research environment must be created where researchers can freely try out emerging ideas and consistently support them." He said that if scientists are constrained by regulations or laws, their creativity may decrease, so an environment where they can research freely should be established to allow scientific creativity to flourish. He added, "I tell the researchers in my lab, 'If you have an idea, try it all,' and 'Challenge new fields,' because research freedom leads to good research results."

Professor Hyun majored in sonochemistry and became a professor at Seoul National University, but after his appointment, he challenged nanoscience and rose to a world-renowned scholar position in 20 years. He said, "It was a risky decision and I had hardships, but I don't think of it as suffering," and added, "I am grateful that I could continue my research despite taking on new challenges."

Meanwhile, Professor Hyun will deliver the keynote speech at the '2020 9th Asia Women Leaders Forum' held at the Crystal Ballroom of Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong on the 28th of this month. At this event, he is scheduled to lecture on leadership for the development of the Korean scientific community.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.