Part 2: Close Up Radio Welcomes Back Renowned Physicist Dr. Young Suh Kim

Beltsville, MD – Dr. Young Suh Kim was born in a farming-and-fishing village known as Sorae in Korea. Dr. Kim spent his teenage years in Seoul and completed his high school education in 1954.

In September of 1954, Dr. Kim came to the United States to become a freshman at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, which is now Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While studying physics there, he heard about many famous people in the United States including Albert Einstein, who was based at Princeton University.

"I went to Princeton University in 1958 to pursue graduate work in physics, and to also meet Albert Einstein,” recalls Dr. Kim, “even though Einstein died in 1955.”

In 1962, Dr. Kim became an assistant professor of physics at the University of Maryland.

However, the reaction from American physicists was "Dashen is a genius, but Kim is only a Korean. Send him back to Korea." Dr. Kim thus went to his old Princeton professor for help, but his reaction was even worse. "Never come to Princeton again."  However, the University of Maryland looked at Dr. Kim's case carefully, and he was promoted to an associate professor with permanent tenure in 1968.

After retiring from teaching duties in 2007, Dr. Kim became a Professor of Physics Emeritus at the University of Maryland. As a result, he retired from teaching, and he has been focusing full-time on research.

Other physicists that Dr. Kim has respected include Murray Gelman, Richard Feynman, and Paul Dirac.

“I believe in what I believe in,” concludes Dr. Kim. “I endured a lot of hardship in delays in promotion and I succeeded. That is what I am proud of.”

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