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Following the International Symposium commemorating the centenary of the birth of Albert Einstein, held in Jerusalem in March 1979, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities decided to sponsor a series of annual Einstein memorial lectures, to be delivered by distinguished scientists and scholars.
Since Einstein’s interests, activities and influence were not restricted to theoretical physics but embraced a spectrum of areas of profound significance to science, society and the welfare of humankind, the Einstein Memorial Lectures address a broad audience of scientists, scholars and intellectual laypersons.
The 2007 Einstein Memorial Lecture, on the subject of ‘Energy, Environment and the Responsibility of Scientists’ was delivered by Yuan T. Lee, Emeritus President of the Academia Sinica.
Professor Lee was co-recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes, particularly his development of the method of crossed molecular beams for the study of important reactions for relatively large molecules. His numerous awards and recognitions include the National Medal of Science (White House, USA, 1986), the Peter Debye Award (American Chemical Society, 1986), and the Faraday Medal (Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 1992). He has been a member of the (U.S.) National Academy of Sciences since 1979 and a member of Academia Sinica since 1980. He served as President of Academia Sinica from 1994 to 2006.