Born on January 8, 1934, in Hiroshima, Japan, Dr. Chung Wook Kim graduated from Seoul National University in 1958 with a B.S. in Physics, receiving the Presidential Award for graduating at the top of his class. He earned his Ph.D. in 1963 from Indiana University and subsequently worked as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1966 to 2002, he served as a professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University. As the first and second president of the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (1996–2004), he consistently emphasized the importance of basic science to the government, universities, and the general public, playing a pivotal role in advancing Korea’s basic science. Dr. Kim passed away on November 29, 2024, at the age of 90.

Dr. Kim’s pioneering work in the grand unified theory—which seeks to unify three fundamental forces: the electromagnetic interaction, the weak interaction responsible for radioactivity, and the strong interaction binding nucleons within atomic nuclei—was the first to demonstrate that supersymmetry is necessary for the unification of these forces at high energies. This landmark contribution, presented in 1991, provided the first indirect evidence of supersymmetry, a cornerstone in modern string theory and contemporary particle physics

Additionally, Dr. Kim proposed a novel methodology by treating atomic nuclei as elementary particles to investigate the fundamental properties of electromagnetism and weak interactions, a pioneering contribution that established him as a revered figure in the advancement of weak interaction research. His groundbreaking discoveries regarding the fundamental properties of neutrino oscillations solidified his position as a global authority in the field. Furthermore, his books on neutrinos are widely regarded as definitive references in neutrino physics.

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