LSIPR 50 2017: Doochul Kim

Name: Doochul Kim

Organisation: Institute for Basic Science

Position: President

According to science journal Nature, South Korea’s spending on R&D has soared to more than 4% of its GDP—more than any other country in the world and double that of China and the EU.

Doochul Kim, president of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), a government-funded research body, says that his institute receives much government money.

“We have large funding and you can do whatever you want to,” Kim told Nature.

Kim is also professor emeritus at Seoul National University and a professor at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS).

Kim is a theoretical physicist who is well versed in statistical physics. He received a BS in electronic engineering from Seoul National University in 1970, and a ScD in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1974.

He was a professor at the College of Natural Sciences at Seoul National University from 1977 to 2010, and served as president, as well as professor, at the School of Computational Sciences at KIAS from 2010 to 2013.

Kim is a member of the board of directors for the Korean Physics Society, the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, and the Korea Academic Research Council, as well as a member of the scientific advisory board at the IBS.

His scientific achievements have been recognised through a number of awards, including the Korean Physical Society Best Paper Award, the Korean Physical Society Academic Award, the Seoul National University Education Award, the 58th Seoul City Cultural Award in natural sciences, the 52nd Samil Cultural Award in natural sciences, and the 20th Sudang Prize in basic science.