Former Academia Sinica President Yuan-Tseh Lee and his two colleagues Professors Dudley Herschbach and Professor John C. Polanyi who together received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 have come together today (11/7) at the Dr. Poe Lecture Hall at the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences for the 16th International Conference on Stereodynamics. This year is the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Stereodynamics and also the awarding of the Nobel Prize.
　　The conference kicked off with opening remarks by Academia Sinica President James. C. Liao. “It is not easy to gather the three together after thirty years,” he said, “I hope that the next generation of young scholars will be inspired.” Following the remarks, Professor Herschbach played a DVD showing a dialogue among the Laureates in 1986. Professor Herschbach, Professor Lee and Professor Polanyi were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 “for their contributions to the dynamics of chemical elementary processes.” Their work on molecular beams to analyze chemical reactions enabled a detailed molecular-level understanding of many elementary reaction processes.
　　In order to honor the three scholars for their contributions to molecular sciences and stereodynamics, a one-day session on November 10 will be dedicated to the “reaction dynamics in the gas phase”. On that day, Professor Herschbach will talk about the never-told stories behind chemical stereodynamics. And Professor Lee will deliver a lecture entitled “Deep Decarbonization and Sustainable Development”. He will address the sudden transition from “an unlimited earth” to “a limited earth”.
　　The Stereodynamics Conference is an international gathering of stereodynamics experts that has been held every other year since 1986 in various countries around the world including Germany and the USA. This year the conference is being held in Taiwan and is hosted by the Department of Chemistry at National Taiwan University, and the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences at Academia Sinica. The conference seeks to unravel the most fundamental, directional aspects of chemical reaction, energy transfer, and photochemical processes at the molecular level by bringing together researchers performing cutting-edge experimental/theoretical studies in stereodynamics-related research areas. During this five-day conference, in addition to the Nobel Laureates, an international lineup of over 30 stereodynamics experts will lecture at the conference including Professor Richard Neil Zare, a Wolf Prize winner and Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. Professor Zare is noted for his pioneering work in laser chemistry.
　　Stereochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies  the spatial arrangement of atoms in molecules and  how the special arrangement affects the physical and chemical properties of these molecules. Stereodynamics is a subfield, which aims at a detailed understanding of the stereo-specific behavior of chemical processes by manipulating/controlling the directional structure of the systems.