After 30 years of researching nano technology, Dr. Nguyen Van Son has received more than 44 patents from the US Patent office, and has won 12 awards from the US Company IBM (International Business Machines) for his inventions, including a patent for computer memory systems that has earned IBM tens of millions of US dollars.
Keen on “Chips”
Moving to the US in 1974 to further his studies, the former student of Petrus Ky School (now Le Hong Phong High School, Ho Chi Minh City) fell in love with scientific research.
After graduating from the University of New York in 1978 and defending his chemistry doctoral dissertation in 1981 from Brown University, Dr. Nguyen Van Son began working at IBM’s development lab in 1981. He preformed research on materials that help increase the speed of computer chips.
As a result Dr. Nguyen van Son made more than 100 inventions. This is not a small number compared to other researchers in the US. At IBM alone, Dr. Nguyen Van Son received 44 US patents and won 12 awards for IBM for his inventions.
Dr. Nguyen Van Son has always been interested in chipsets and loves talking about them. He confided that making such a tiny chip cost him a great deal of effort and that his work focused on nano technology and highly conductive substances, to enable smarter and faster computer chips.
He has been working hard on an even smaller chipset to develop high competitive products.
As the head of the technical department, Dr. Nguyen Van Son is directly engaged in research, but his most important task is how to orient development towards creating the best products.
Currently, along with conducting scientific research for IBM, he also gives lectures at universities. To date, he has had more than 88 articles published in professional journals and has spoken at numerous international seminars. He has also taken part in many professional seminars around the world. This year he attented a seminar in San Francisco, with others scheduled in Hawaii and Japan soon, respectively.
Wishing to train more hi-tech engineers for Vietnam
Dr. Nguyen Van Son also works for the Vietnam-US Scientific Cooperation Agency which was established by US professors to help support Vietnam’s scientific community. It was one of the first agencies to establish ties with its Vietnamese counterpart and to give scholarships to Vietnamese students. It is an NGO, or non-profitable organization. Dr. Nguyen Van Son and his staff at the Vietnam-US Scientific Cooperation Agency have been working voluntarily without any salary or bonuses. He said it is a joy for him and all for overseas Vietnamese to make contributions to the development of their home country.
In 1982, Dr. Nguyen Van Son returned to Vietnam and cooperated with a scientific research institute in Nghia Do, Hanoi. He gave interviews and helped hundreds of Vietnamese students to go to the US for further study.
Dr. Nguyen Van Son’s to Vietnam paid off, as he was able to meet his ‘better half’, a professor at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. She herself had also helped many Vietnamese students go to study in Europe and the US.
At present Vietnam only has trainees, not skilled and experienced practicianers. This is why major projects in Vietnam are being implemented by foreigners not by Vietnamese. This concerns Dr. Nguyen Van Son a great deal. And this is also the reason why Dr. Nguyen Van Son has returned to Vietnam so often at the invitation of local partners with the hope of training hi-tech engineers who will be able work effectively for their home country.
Dr. Nguyen Van Son often returns to Vietnam two or three times a year. For the last three years, he has been invited to deliver speechs on nano technology at several Vietnamese universities. Lately, he has also been invited to work as an advisor for the University of Tra Vinh for 5 years.
Dr. Nguyen Van Son always carries with him his membership card of the Patriotic Overseas Vietnamese Association in the US. He is very proud of this membership. He says that the wounds of the war are big, but that time has gone by and that the war now belongs to the past. Thus, almost all overseas Vietnamese in the US now firmly believe in the future of Vietnam.
Source: TP
Translated by Mai Huong