TKU Department of Physics alumnus and previous Golden Eagle Award recipient, Dr. Wu Maw-Kuen, recently received the 2011 Nikkei Asia Prize in the category ‘science, technology, and innovation’. He will be presented with a prize at an awards ceremony, to be held in Tokyo on May 25th.

Dr. Wu said that he was surprised and delighted to have received the award. He was delighted, he explained, because it will help the “Taiwanese Technology Industry gain greater overseas exposure”. He said that his interest in superconductivity was piqued during his time at Tamkang University. He offered advice to current Tamkang students: “university provides the perfect environment for growth and maturity. Students should try to make the most of their time at university”

Dr. Wu has served as the Director of the Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, the Vice Chairman of the National Science Council, the Director of the Material Science Central Council at National Tsing Hwa University, and is now one of only five Taiwanese people to receive the Nikkei Asia Prize.

Dr. Wu is renowned internationally for his discoveries in the field of superconductivity. He gained initial acclaim for his discovery of a substance that has an electrical resistance of zero even at a high temperature of minus 200 degrees Celsius.