Singapore-based Asian Scientist magazine has published its list of Asia’s 100 most outstanding researchers, which included five Vietnamese scientists.

Featured in the list is Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha from Thai Nguyen University for her works in the field of agriculture. She was the winner of the Kovalevskaia Award 2019 for her research on propagation and intensive cultivation of medicinal plants, and development of local medicinal plants.

Another scientist, Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan from Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy also made the list. The doctor is one of three recipients of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu Awards - Vietnam's most prestigious award in fields of natural sciences and engineering - for research that compared the transfer of fresh and frozen embryos in vitro fertilisation.

Five Vietnamese honored in the list of 100 Asian scientists for their outstanding achievements in research. Photo: Hung Nam

The list included Le Thi Quynh Mai from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology who leads a team of female scientists that won the 2019 Vietnamese Kovalevskaia Award 2019 for their successful isolation of a new strain of coronavirus, thereby making Vietnam one of the first four countries in the world to successfully isolate the virus back in 2020. Her team has spent the last two decades in the ongoing fight against a range of deadly diseases, most notably SARS, A/H5N1 bird flu, and H1N1.

Dr. Pham Tien Son of Da Lat University was honored in the field of Mathematics. He was renowned for being one of three recipients of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu Awards for his studies on the generic properties for semi-algebraic programs.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen Truong Thanh Hieu of Ton Duc Thang University became another recipient of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu awards and makes the Asian Scientist list for his project which aimed to determine the electron inelastic mean free path in various materials.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Asian Scientist magazine has honored the best researchers in Asia across a range of scientific researches that help solve the world's urgent issues, including the Covid-19 pandemic prevention.

In order to be named in this list, scholars must have a national or international award in 2020. Candidates are also required to have a significant record in scientific discovery or be leading scholars in their respective fields.