"Especially in the area of Carbon nano tube and hydrogen storage equipments: JI-Soon ihm
Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University"

Professor Ji-Soon Ihm made amazing scientific achievements during his nearly three decades of research in the field of electronic structure computation for solid state physics. His unique studies on carbon nanotubes and hydrogen storage nanomaterials have been particularly outstanding and brought him international recognition.

One of his representative papers published in 1979 presented a theory called 'Momentum-space Formalism for the Total Energy of Solids', which was later adopted as a mainstream theory in the field of condensed matter theory. It is now valued as a potent theoretical model that is useful for understanding the properties of various kinds of matter such as metals, semiconductors or nonconductors, and for making predictions about their structures and functions.

In 1998, Professor Ihm conducted a study on the electronic structures of the carbon nanotubes that were emerging as a next generation high-tech material for semiconductors. He also showed interest in the characteristics of the electronic structures of biomolecules such as hemoglobin. As a result of his studies in this field, he became the first scientist in the world to prove that carbon nanotubes act as semiconductors when they are bound together. In 2000, he conducted a joint research project with a research team at the University of California at Berkeley. His development of a carbon nano element that functioned as a transistor, which was the first of its kind, through this joint research has made him one of the leading pioneers in this field of research.

Since 2003, professor Ihm's research has been focusing on hydrogen storage equipment for which many advanced countries are fiercely competing. As one of his successes, he discovered a structural map of a new hydrogen storage material in August 2006, which was published in 'Physical Review Letter”, the most prominent physics journals in the world. His discovery has enabled the commercial use of hydrogen energy. His papers that were published in well known science journals have been quoted in other papers more than 4,000 times, and have been broadly recognized for their significance and excellence.

Professor lhm has also been actively involved in many other activities, such as giving lectures at international academic conventions and serving as a major member of numerous international advisory committees. Through media outlets in both Korea and internationally, his research achievements has become well-known to the public and has helped to significantly heighten the public's interest in science. Also as a passionate teacher, he is just as enthusiastic about nurturing young scholars as he is about his research.