Yoon Nung-min

Who was Yoon Nung-min?

Yoon Nung-min is a South Korean chemist, known for his research in organic chemistry, specializing in metal hydrides.

He received his B.A at Seoul National University in chemistry in 1951 and went on to complete his Ph.D at Purdue University, under Herbert Charles Brown. He was a postdoc at Purdue, then a researcher for the Ministry of National Defence. He then became an associate professor at the Catholic University of Korea. He later took up full professorship at Sogang University, a position he would hold until his retirement. He served as the president of the Korean Chemical Society in 1989, and was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea in 2005. He was Professor Emeritus at Sogang University until his death in 2009.

He was a proficient researcher; he published 110 papers and developed reagents which became widely used in both organic and inorganic chemistry. He also discovered new methods of generating free radicals and found new applications. He surprised the Korean chemistry community by publishing a substantial portion of his research as the sole author shortly before his retirement.

He has also been active as an educator. He taught 14 doctorate students, and 56 masters students.