Trần Thanh Vân (physicist) on:
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Trần Thanh Vân, also known as Jean Trần Thanh Vân (born 4 July 1936,
Rencontres de Moriond
�, young scientists—both theorists and experimenters—at the post-doctoral level, meet senior researchers to discuss the results.
Rencontres de Blois
� have been organised in the city of
Rencontres du Vietnam
�started in 1993 when Vietnam first re-opened to foreign scientists. The meetings are based on the same principle as for Moriond and Blois.
Knight of the National Order of Merit, France (1993)
* 
Knight of the
Đồng Hới
Đồng Hới () is the capital city of Quảng Bình Province in the north central coast of Vietnam. The city's area is . Population as per the 2019 census was 133,672. It is served by National Highway 1A, the Đồng Hới Railway Station, a ...
, Quảng Bình Province
Quảng Bình was formerly a southern coastal Provinces of Vietnam, province in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Việt Nam, Vietnam. It borders Hà Tĩnh province, Hà Tĩnh to the north, Quảng Trị province, ...
), is a Vietnamese-French physicist.
Biography
Vân attended secondary school inHuế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
. In 1953, he left Vietnam for France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. He studied mathematics and physics at University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
and earned his undergraduate degrees in 1957. In his PhD work, Vân, still at the University of Paris, turned his studies toward particle physics
Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...
, focusing on the neutron
The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The Discovery of the neutron, neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nucle ...
as the natural partner of the proton
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...
in the structure of matter. He defended his thesis and obtained his doctoral degree in 1963.
After his PhD, Vân joined the French National Centre for Scientific Research
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...
(CNRS), where he spent his whole career. In 1991, he was given the title ''Directeur de Recherches'', the most senior research position in France. As of 2001 he is emeritus ''Directeur de Recherches.''
Vân's scientific work has focused on nucleon interactions at medium energy and the deuteron's relativistic wave function, the 2-body interactions at high energy, Regge poles and absorption models and the dual parton model. He has co-authored more than 300 scientific articles.
Vân is a promoter of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
in December 2021.
Rencontres
Trần Thanh Vân has become internationally renowned as the organizer of scientific meetings, in particular for the series Rencontres de Moriond, Rencontres de Blois and Rencontres du Vietnam.Rencontres de Moriond
The first meeting took place at Moriond in the French Alps in 1966. This was the very prototype of winter conferences, which has developed to be an essential moment in the high-energy physics year: the moment for which all experimental collaborations prepare a new release of data, and which theorists await with great expectations. At theRencontres de Moriond
�, young scientists—both theorists and experimenters—at the post-doctoral level, meet senior researchers to discuss the results.
Rencontres de Blois
Since 1989 theRencontres de Blois
� have been organised in the city of
Blois
Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...
, in France. While the Blois meetings have dealt with several topics, one of their great achievements has been to recognize (like Moriond) the cross-disciplinary field of astroparticle physics
Astroparticle physics, also called particle astrophysics, is a branch of particle physics that studies elementary particles of astrophysical origin and their relation to astrophysics and cosmology. It is a relatively new field of research emergi ...
. The meetings have covered topics ranging from particle physics to chaos theory, life and planetary science.
Rencontres du Vietnam
The seriesRencontres du Vietnam
�started in 1993 when Vietnam first re-opened to foreign scientists. The meetings are based on the same principle as for Moriond and Blois.
Private life
He is married to Lê Kim Ngoc since 1961. The couple has two adult children. In 1970 Vân and Ngoc established the association «Aide à l’Enfance du Vietnam», to set up theSOS Children's Village
SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental, nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria. The organization provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to families facing difficultie ...
in Vietnam.
Awards
* Knight of the National Order of Merit, France (1993)
* Knight of the Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...
, France (1999)
* Certificate of Appreciation, American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...
(June 2000)
* Docteur honoris causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
, Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
(May 2001)
* Order of Friendship
The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...
, Vietnam (2015)
* Tate Medal for International Leadership in Physics (2011)
* Docteur honoris causa, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research center for nuclear sciences, with 5,500 staff members including 1,200 researchers holding over 1,000 ...
(2016)
References