Yale mathematician, Iranian physicist gain Korean citizenship under special program
The Justice Ministry approved 16 dual-nationality cases, including a Yale professor and an IBS laser scientist, under rules for people with outstanding achievements.
From left, Abraham Robinson Professor of Mathematics at the University of Yale Hee Oh and Mirzaie Mohammad, a research fellow at the Institute for Basic Science's Center for Relativistic Laser Science.
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An Iranian physicist who put a laser experiment on the cover of Nature Photonics and a Yale University mathematician who was the first woman tenured by its math department are now Korean nationals.
The two scientists are among the 16 people approved by the Justice Ministry on Thursday for Korean citizenship without giving up their original nationalities. Eight received special naturalization and eight had their Korean nationality restored.
Normally, anyone who acquires Korean nationality has one year to give up the nationality they already hold, and anyone who misses the deadline loses the nationality they just received. People naturalized for outstanding ability in fields such as science, economy, culture and sport, and people whose Korean nationality is restored on the same grounds, may sign a pledge not to exercise their foreign nationality inside Korea rather than giving up.
The Nationality Deliberation Committee has now allowed 458 people to receive Korean citizenship under the program since 2011.
Mirzaie, a research fellow at the Institute for Basic Science's Center for Relativistic Laser Science, was one of the eight naturalized. Mirzaie was the first author of a 2024 paper in Nature Photonics on nonlinear Compton scattering.
Compton scattering describes what happens when light strikes an electron and loses energy in the collision.
"[Mirzaie's] research achievement will help immensely in the competitiveness of Korea's fundamental physics and photonics," the ministry said Friday.
Mirzaie arrived in Korea in 2019 with an E-3 research visa and obtained permanent residency in 2023.
Oh Hee, the Abraham Robinson Professor of Mathematics at Yale, recovered her nationality. Born in Korea in 1969, she naturalized in the United States and lost her Korean citizenship.
Oh is the first female to be tenured in the department. The professor sat on the Fields Medal selection committee from 2015 to 2018 and served as vice president of the American Mathematical Society from 2021 to 2024.
"I hope the talented people who have become our citizens through this committee will be a powerful force driving the development and innovation of Korean society," Vice Justice Minister Lee Jin-soo, who chairs the Nationality Deliberation Committee, said.
BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
