Lê Văn Thiêm

Lê Văn Thiêm (29 March 1918 – 3 June 1991) was one of the most prominent scientists of Vietnam in the 20th century. Together with Hoàng Tụy, he is considered the father of Vietnam Mathematics society. He was the first director of the Vietnam Institute of Mathematics, and the first Headmaster of Hanoi National University of Education and Hanoi University of Science.

Lê Văn Thiêm was born in 1918 at Trung Lễ Commune, Đức Thọ District, Hà Tĩnh Province, to an intellectual family. After the death of his parents in 1930, he moved to live with his older brother in Quy Nhơn and attended the Collège de Quy Nhơn, where Thiêm stood out in science and mathematics. Within four years, he had completed the 9-year education (equivalent to K-12 system of the US) and went to University of Indochina for his higher education. Because of the humble scale of the university at that moment, no Math course was offered. Therefore, he enrolled in the PCB (Physics-Chemistry-Biology) class.

In 1939, after passing the final term examination excellently, Thiêm was offered a scholarship to study at École Normale Supérieure. His education was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and only continues in 1941. He graduated with bachelor's degree of Mathematics within a year, rather than the conventional 3-year time. Under the direction of Professor Georges Valiron, he defended his Ph.D. dissertation successfully in Germany at 1945 and then moved to the University of Zurich where he met and worked with Rolf Herman Nevanlinna for some years.

In 1949, following the call of Hồ Chí Minh, Thiêm returned to Vietnam to support the war of decolonizing Vietnam. Moving through many positions in North Vietnam's science institutions and government, in the mid-1950s he was appointed headmaster of the National University of Advanced Education and School of Basic Science (now the Hanoi National University of Education and the Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi).

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