Maw-Kuen Wu

Maw-Kuen Wu (Chinese: 吳茂昆; pinyin: Wú Màokūn; born December 6, 1949) is a Taiwanese physicist specializing in superconductivity, low-temperature physics, and high-pressure physics. He was a professor of physics at University of Alabama in Huntsville, Columbia University, and National Tsing Hua University, the Director of the Institute of Physics at Academia Sinica, the President of National Dong Hwa University, and is currently a distinguished research fellow of the Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, and international member of National Academy of Sciences.

Early life and education

Born in Yuli Township, Hualien County, Wu is an ethnic Hokkien on his paternal side and spent his childhood in Taiwan. After graduating with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in physics from Tamkang University, he earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Houston in 1981.

Career

Wu worked as a research scientist at his alma mater for two years, before being taken on as an assistant professor of physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and then subsequently promoted to professor in 1987. Along with Chu Ching-wu and Jim Ashburn, Wu made the historic discovery of superconductivity above 77 K in YBCO in 1987. According to the Science Citation Index by Web of Science, Wu's 1987 work "Superconductivity at 93 K in a new mixed-phase Y-Ba-Cu-O compound system at ambient pressure" in Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society) has been cited for more than five thousand times by journal articles and is considered influential in applied science and business. Wu was then invited to teach at the National Tsing Hua University, and conduct further research in high-temperature superconductivity.

Maw-Kuen Wu first entered the cabinet; served as minister of the National Science Council from 2004 to 2006. In 2018, he was named as the minister of the Ministry of Education and resigned after 41 days. Wu was subsequently impeached by the Control Yuan, which charged him with violating the Public Functionary Service Act and the Act on the Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflict of Interest.