Vivian_Yam

Vivian Yam
Professor Vivian Yam Wing-wah (born 10 February

1963)[2] CSci, CChem, FRSC,[1] is a Hong Kong Vivian Yam
chemist. Yam is the youngest female member ever to Born 10 February 1963
be elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She Hong Kong
was a 2011 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Alma mater University of Hong Kong
Science laureate[3] "for her work on light-emitting Spouse Patrick Shing-Tat Mak
materials and innovative ways of capturing solar (Chinese: 麥成達)
energy."[4]
Children 2 daughters
Awards L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards
Early years and education for Women in Science

(2011)
Vivian Wing-Wah Yam was born in British Hong Royal Society of
Kong. Her father was a civil engineer, although Yam Chemistry's Ludwig Mond
says that neither he nor her mother steered her toward Award (2015)
her career. Yam cites being intrigued by the sight of Scientific career
mercury and a workaholic and pregnant biology Fields chemistry
teacher who taught her up to the very last minute.[3]
Institutions University of Hong Kong
(HKU)
Yam attended an Anglican grammar school. She
received her B.Sc. in chemistry (1985) and PhD (1988) Doctoral advisor Che Chi-ming[1]
degrees[5] at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Chinese name
where she was on the badminton team, studying under
Traditional Chinese 任詠華
Chi-Ming Che.
Simplified Chinese 任咏华
Hanyu Pinyin Rén Yǒnghuá
Career Yale Romanization Yahm Wihng-wàah
Jyutping Jam4 Wing6-waa4
In 1988, she became a junior faculty member at the
Department of Applied Science, City Polytechnic of
Hong Kong; at the time, there were no facilities at all for teaching chemistry. She helped with
establishing the first chemistry books in the library as well as ordering the first beakers and chemicals.[3]
Yam's work took her to Caltech in the late 1980s, where she investigated excited state spectrocsopy under
Harry B. Gray. After a spell at the University of Rochester (with David G. Whitten) in 1990 she went to
study at the Imperial College London in 1991 (with the Nobel laureate Geoffrey Wilkinson) and stayed
until 1992.[6] Her research turned to organometallic synthesis "studying the luminescence of complexes
with metal–metal interactions". She worked with tetraethyllead which at the time was not a banned
additives for petrol. This work was on the border between organic and inorganic chemicals.[3]
Yam has been associated particularly with the elements osmium, platinum and ruthenium.[3] She joined
the HKU faculty in 2001 where she is the Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professor of Chemistry and Energy.
Yam became a Fulbright Scholar in 2007.[7]
Yam was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001, aged 38,
becoming the youngest female member.[3] The previous holder of this "My research team
record was, Che, Yam's earlier mentor.[3] She was elected a Fellow of the focuses on new classes
Academy of Sciences for the Developing World in 2006 and a member of of photoactive
the Foreign Associate of National Academy of Sciences in 2012.[5] materials based on
organometallics with
new properties by
Application combining
components
Yam's research deals with organic light emitting diodes which are brighter associating metal
and more efficient that the older light emitting diodes; her chemistry has atoms and organic
enabled much more efficient displays to be created for mobile phones and molecules that absorb
laptops. These OLEDs can be deposited on clear plastic, glass or more or emit light."[8]
unusual materials to also create improved car headlamps and larger flat
television screens. Yam quotes that nearly a fifth of the world's power is used to create lighting. Creating
more efficient lighting will significantly affect the world's power consumption. She believes internal
quantum theory indicates that we may develop lamps based on metal containing chemicals that are 100%
efficient.[3]
Awards and honors

Her awards include the HKU Outstanding Researcher Award (1999–2000), Croucher Foundation Senior
Research Fellow (2000–01), Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong in 2002, Outstanding Women
Professionals and Entrepreneurs Awards (2005), State Natural Science Award (Second Class, 2005), the
Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Lectureship & Medal (2005/06), and the Japanese Photochemistry
Association Lectureship Award for Asian and Oceanian Photochemist Eikohsha Award, (2006), HKU
Distinguished Research Achievement Award (2006/07), Hong Kong Outstanding Women Professionals
and Entrepreneurs Award (2008), Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress
(2011), the L'OREAL-UNESCO for Women in Science Award (2011), the 13th World Outstanding
Chinese Award (2013).[5][7] and the Royal Society of Chemistry's Ludwig Mond Award (2015).[9]
Asteroid 83363 Yamwingwah, discovered by Bill Yeung in 2001, was named in her honor.[10] The official
naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 17 May 2011 (M.P.C. 75104).[11]
Personal life
In 1990, she married Patrick Shing-Tat Mak (Chinese: 麥成達) whom she met in Che's laboratory, where
they conducted research together.[12] They have two daughters.
References
1. "Prof. Vivian Wing-Wah YAM" (https://chemistry.hku.hk/wwyam/about.html). Vivian YAM Lab.
The University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
2. "Vivian Wing-Wah Yam". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 53 (24): 6034–6035. 10
June 2014. doi:10.1002/anie.201400644 (https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fanie.201400644).
3. Ahmed, Farooq (14 May 2013). "Profile of Vivian W.-W. Yam" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pmc/articles/PMC3657806). PNAS. 110 (20): 7964–7966. Bibcode:2013PNAS..110.7964A
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013PNAS..110.7964A). doi:10.1073/pnas.1307201110
(https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.1307201110). PMC 3657806 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go
v/pmc/articles/PMC3657806). PMID 23650373 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23650373).
4. "Natural Sciences" (http://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/index.php?s=films_details&p
g=33&id=2161). UNESCO. November 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
5. "Prof. Vivian Wing-Wah Yam visited Lehn Institute and gave Lecture on Jan 8, 2014" (http://
ce.sysu.edu.cn/Item/20036.aspx). Lehn Institute of Functional Materials. Retrieved 8 March
2014.
6. Shamakov, Sergey (22 November 2021). "Q&A with Professor Vivian Yam". Energy Fuels.
35 (23): 18845–18847. doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.1c03289 (https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fac
s.energyfuels.1c03289).
7. "Professor Vivian YAM Wing Wah" (http://www.croucher.org.hk/professor-vivian-yam-wing-w
ah). Croucher Foundation. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
8. "Vivian Wing-Wah Yam" (http://spie.org/x87693.xml). SPIE. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
9. "RSC Ludwig Mond Award 2015 Winner" (http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Award
s/LudwigMondAward/2015-Winner.asp). Royal Society of Chemistry. 5 May 2015. Retrieved
26 May 2015.
10. "(83363) Yamwingwah = 2001 SU1" (https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?
object_id=83363). Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
11. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive" (https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCAr
chive_TBL.html). Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
12. "沒科研我會病任詠華 - 名人薈 - 名人專訪" (https://eastweek.my-magazine.me/main/11331).
External links
Hong Kong University page (http://hub.hku.hk/cris/rp/rp00822)
Curriculum Vitae (http://www.cas.ac.cn/hy/hyyg/201211/W020121127374708379725.pdf) at
Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Vivian Yam

Professor Vivian Yam Wing-wah (born 10 February

Early years and education for Women in Science

Awards and honors

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Yam&oldid=1267529179"

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