Two Vietnamese scientists awarded with France’s Legion of Honor

They are Professor Jean Tran Thanh Van, Doctor of Physics, and Professor Le Kim Ngoc, Doctor of Biology, who are also senior researchers at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

On July 11, on the occasion of France's National Day (July 14), the French President signed a decree promoting the two professors to the Officer rank of the Legion of Honor. They are the only married couple to be promoted together in this round of honors.

The two professors, aged 91, established an Association in France to help Vietnamese children in 1970. They have returned home to organize many exchanges between Vietnamese and foreign scientists since 1993.

In 1970, the couple established the Support Association for Vietnamese Children in France and called for donations from the French government and various charity organizations in many countries to set up the SOS Children's Village in Viet Nam.

In 1993, an organization namely "Rencontres du Viet Nam" (Meeting Viet Nam), led by the two professors as its co-chairmen, made debut and started operation. "Meeting Viet Nam" is the organizer of the most prestigious particle physics conferences, International Physics Science Conference in the country.

Vietnamese-French professor spouses managed to persuade French Professor Odon Vallet of Sorbonne University to offer 25,000 Odon Vallet scholarships worth VND130 billion to best students and young researchers and built International Center of Interdisciplinary Science Education (ICISE) in Gia Lai Province.

They opened the Viet Nam School of Physics and School of Physics and Astronomy with classes taught in English in the country, called for donations from the French government and various charity organizations in many countries to set up the SOS Children's Villages Da Lat, Dong Hoi and Hue./.