Many of them are holding the most important positions in the state agencies and businesses. Others, though living and working in foreign countries, still keep their Vietnamese nationality and keep serving the Vietnamese science.

Professor Vu Ha Van (right) and his father 

In fact, there has been no state agency in Vietnam in charge of collecting information about the excellent university students, talented scientists and their achievements. Therefore, it is difficult to have an overview about where the scientists are living, where their work and how they live.

Thousands of mathematics majoring students from big universities, including the Hanoi General University, the Hanoi University of Education, have become PhDs, associate professors, while hundreds of students have become doctors of science and professors. 

If someone visits domestic scientific institutes, he would meet the officers, who were once the students of mathematics majoring classes. This means that the majority of the mathematics excellent students are now working in Vietnam.

These include Professor Dr of Science Dao Trong Thi, Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, the Youth and Children, Professor Dr of Science Tran Van Nhung, Secretary General of the State Professorship Council, Professor Dr of Science Nguyen Dinh Cong, Deputy President of the Vietnam Science and Technology Academy, Professor Dr of Science Ngo Viet Trung, Head of the Mathematics Institute, Professor Dr of Science Le Tuan Hoa, Chair of the Vietnam Mathematics Association, Professor Dr of Science Hoang Ngoc Ha, Assistant to the Minister of Education and Training.

The Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) – a Vietnamese powerful technology group – gathers a lot of mathematics talents, including Dr Nguyen Thanh Nam, who many years held the post of the Chief Executive Officer, and many other people, who finished mathematics majoring classes such as Le Truong Tung and Phan Phuong Dat.

The scientists live and work in Vietnam simply because they want to work and devote themselves to the homeland. Professor Dr Phung Ho Hai and Associate Professor Dr Phan Thi Ha Duong decided to return to Hanoi, even though they once had good jobs in Germany and France, because they do not want their children to become German or French.

Nevertheless, a lot of other scientists do not return to Vietnam after they become famous or defend the doctorate theses. Professor Ngo Bao Chau, who has won the Field Medal, is a typical example. Besides, there are also other well-known names in mathematics and theoretical physics such as Professor Dam Thanh Son of the Washington University in the US, Professor Vu Ha Van of the Yale University in the US, Professor Le Tu Quoc Thang of the Georgia Technology Institute, Professor Pham Huu Tiep of the Florida University, Professor Nguyen Tien Dung of Toulouse University… The scientists have published a lot of scientific research works on leading mathematics and physics journals in the world.

Analysts say a policy on developing talents needs to comprise three factors: discovering talents, training talents and behaving talents. The two first factors have been done well in Vietnam: a lot of competitions for excellent students have been organized; a lot of high schools for the gifted have been opened. At the university training level, high quality classes have also been set up.

However, scientists have not been treated well enough to work in Vietnam. A scientist, if working in Vietnam, can receive several million dong in pay a month, while he can earn tens of thousands of dollars if working abroad.

Several years ago, when Professor Ngo Bao Chau returned to Vietnam to give lectures at the Mathematics Institute, the institute could only pay Chau five million dong a month.

However, most of the Vietnamese excellent mathematicians and physicists, though working and living in foreign countries, still hold the Vietnamese citizenship. They fly to Vietnam every year with their own money to give lectures at domestic schools, guide postgraduates and visit the homeland.

Source: NLD/ VNN