In 1986 Yuan Tseh Lee received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the understanding of the rates of chemical reactions on a molecular level. He developed instrumentation that set the standard for studies using lasers and focused beams of molecules, which he subsequently used to carry out ground-breaking experiments on simple chemical reactions. This led to a breakthrough in chemists' understanding of the dynamics of chemical processes. Lee shared the prize with Dudley R. Herschbach and John C. Polanyi, who also made significant contributions to this area of basic chemical research.

Yuan Lee was born on November 29, 1936 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. His mother was a school teacher and his father an accomplished artist. His elementary education was disrupted by events during World War II. At a young age he was inspired to become a scientist after reading a biography of Marie Curie. Because of his excellent academic record in high school, he was accepted into the National Taiwan University in 1955 without the usual entrance examination. During his first year there he decided to major in chemistry, and he received a bachelor's degree in 1959. Two years later, he earned an M.S. degree at the National Tsinghua University.

In 1962 Yuan Tseh Lee attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for Bruce H. Mahan and received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1965. As a postdoctoral fellow in Mahan's group, Lee learned how to design and construct molecular beam instrumentation. In 1968, he accepted a position as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago; he became full professor in 1973. The next year Lee became a professor of chemistry at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University of California. Here he established himself as an outstanding leader in molecular beam research. That same year, 1974, he became a U.S. citizen.

Among his many awards and honors is the 1986 National Medal of Science. When Lee received the Nobel Prize in 1986, Dudley R. Herschbach described him as "The Mozart of physical chemistry...not only because Dr. Lee was a prodigy but also because in the laboratory he has 'a precise touch.'" (James Gleick, New York Times,October, 16, 1986). Yuan Tseh Lee and his wife Bernice Chinli Wu have three children.

1. 1986 Nobel Prize for Chemistry--Yuan T. Lee

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