Professor Dinh Van Nha: Love for the homeland

(Baonghean) - Only in his free time, Associate Professor - Doctor Dinh Van Nha has time to wander with verses of poetry. The simple, rustic poems containing feelings about his mother, about the poor countryside of Quynh Loc (Quynh Luu), about his childhood days are another image of a leading scientific researcher of the country. Reading his poems, no one believes that this is one of the few scientists who won the Ho Chi Minh Prize for science and technology and the person who has made great contributions to bringing Vietnamese beer technology to keep up with and on par with many countries in the world...

At the age of over sixty, if we look at the positions he currently holds such as Director of the Institute

Professor Dinh Van Nha

Being a teacher is also a noble profession that he has pursued for many years as a senior lecturer of the Department of Automatic Control, Institute of Electricity, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Before that, in 1975, he was the first Vietnamese person to be awarded a doctorate in the field of Automatic Control in Construction, Moscow State University of Civil Engineering. For more than 40 years standing on the podium, teacher Dinh Van Nha has been respected by many generations of students for his simplicity and dedication to work. Therefore, when he continued to be appointed as a senior lecturer, he continued to teach at the University of Science and Technology and several other universities even though he had reached retirement age. With his achievements in science and technology, he was also awarded the title of honorary professor, "Honorable Prt. Dinh Van Nha HE" by the United States in 2012.

Professor Dinh Van Nha with students of University of Technology.

Professor, Dr. Dinh Van Nha was born in Quynh Loc, Quynh Luu. His family was poor and had many siblings, so his childhood memories were of "Hot summer afternoons with boiling sand/ Chewing pineapple shoots until his mouth was black"... Luckily, his father was a Confucian scholar, well-read, so even though he was poor and hungry, he still tried to send his children to school. He studied primary, secondary and high school in Quynh Luu, with many achievements in excellent student exams, so after passing the university entrance exam, he was sent by the state to study at the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering. Graduating with an excellent degree, he continued to stay at the school and completed his doctoral program. At that time, he was only 27 years old.

Recalling the days of studying hard in a foreign country, he said that “there were many difficulties”. However, those hardships were nothing compared to the worries that weighed heavily on his shoulders when at home he still had his parents and younger siblings who were still in school age. Therefore, while studying and working, he sent all the money he could save home for his parents to take care of his younger siblings. It was not until his second, third, fourth brothers and the others entered university and settled down that he thought about starting a family. Following the example of his older brother, his younger siblings followed the path of scientific research. Therefore, in the Dinh Van family, not only Professor Dinh Van Nha but also by the third generation, there were several people with doctoral degrees. That is also the greatest achievement that the eldest brother always feels proud of and he believes that "if the family is united, close-knit, the superiors listen to the subordinates, the superiors threaten and the subordinates fear, then there is no way the family will not develop, the train will just keep moving forward, not a single link can be missing".

Speaking of brotherhood, the story of the two brothers Dinh Van Nha and Dinh Van Thuan working together in science and business makes many people admire them. Both were lecturers at the University of Technology (later, Professor Dinh Van Thuan also spent many years as the Principal of the University of Technology in Da Nang), so their greatest passion is scientific research. In the field of beverage production alone, they have successfully created high-quality beer production lines, saving thousands of billions of VND for the country. In 2005, the project "Research on application and development of Mechanical - Automation technology in the agricultural and food processing industry" co-led by the two of them and their colleagues was evaluated as "A particularly outstanding project, making an important contribution to the development of science and technology and the protection of the socialist Vietnam", and was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize.

In which, the scientific and technological product "High-quality Beer Production Line" was voted as "Key Industrial Product of Hanoi City for 3 consecutive terms (2007-2009; 2009-2011; 2011-2013)". The project "Research, design, manufacture of yogurt production equipment with a capacity of 6,000 liters/hour" by him and his colleagues was also awarded a patent and an award, the WIPO Gold Medal of the United Nations (UN). In addition, Professor Dinh Van Nha has nearly 70 scientific works and reports at home and abroad, participated in 5 global conferences and 7 international conferences. Recently, he was appointed as a senior expert and elected to the leadership of the Asia-Pacific Global Leaders Association (April 2013). Einstein International Prize in Science and Technology 2013, Leona de Vinci Cup – Number One Cup awarded by Cambridge England IBC Academy.

The Ho Chi Minh Prize was also a memorable award for the two brothers. After receiving the prize, he went to General Vo Nguyen Giap's private home to report the results. At that time, the General also sincerely advised him, "Science in any era must be practical and must be associated with the people." Therefore, before starting to research a project or any project, the first thing he thought about was efficiency and applicability. Such as high-quality beer production lines. Previously, to operate a beer line with a capacity of 5 million liters using foreign technology, it cost hundreds of billions of VND. Thanks to the research of the brothers, not only did the capacity double, but the cost was less than 10 billion and was widely applied in companies, beer factories, and beverage factories across the country.

Having achieved success in his career and making great strides in scientific research, Professor Dinh Van Nha and his family members in the Dinh Van family have been urged to return to their homeland. That also explains why, despite being a businessman and knowing that building a school at this time was "backward" and "outdated", Professor Dinh Van Nha's family still determined to return to their hometown to "shoulder" the heavy work at Vinh University of Industry right when the school was in the most difficult situation. With a deep devotion to his homeland and knowing that no matter where he goes or what he does, he is still a Nghe An native, a native of Quynh village, he and his family have donated hundreds of millions of Dong to build the Truong Bon Historical Site, support the Education Promotion Movement in Quynh Luu district and many other meaningful activities... For Professor Dinh Van Nha, forever, even though he is far from home and his hometown's accent is still a source of "a thousand loves to guide us", as he once confided in a poem!

Article and photos:My Ha