Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim has received the GDCh award for journalists and writers 2020. The prize, which is endowed with EUR 7,500, could not be awarded last year due to the pandemic and was presented at the GDCh Wissenschaftsforum 2021 on August 30, 2021. It recognizes outstanding journalistic or literary achievements that contribute to the dissemination of chemical science content in German-speaking countries.
Nguyen-Kim receives the award for her journalistic work in which she communicates scientific concepts with competence and humor. The GDCh particularly appreciates her skillful use of classic and new media formats. With specialist knowledge and enthusiasm, she manages to promote interest in chemistry and the natural sciences in people of all ages.
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim studied chemistry at the University of Mainz, Germany. During her doctoral thesis at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research, Potsdam, Germany, she dealt intensively with science communication and started her YouTube channel The Secret Life of Scientists. She received her Ph.D. in 2017.
Nguyen-Kim then created the award-winning science channel maiLab at funk, the online offering of the German public broadcast services ARD and ZDF. Her video Corona geht gerade erst los was the top trending YouTube video in Germany in 2020. On German television, she moderates the science magazine Quarks and appears on political talk shows and news broadcasts that cover scientific topics. Her books Komisch, alles chemisch! and Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit achieved top positions in the bestseller list of the German weekly news magazine Spiegel. Nguyen-Kim has received several awards for her work, including the German Federal Cross of Merit in 2020, the Journalist of the Year Award from Medium Magazin in 2020, and a Grimme Award for exceptional journalistic achievements in 2021.
Award ceremony: Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim receives the award certificate from the GDCh President Peter R. Schreiner
- maiLab Youtube channel (in German)
Selected Publications
- Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit: Wahr, falsch, plausibel – die größten Streitfragen wissenschaftlich geprüft (in German),
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim,
Droemer HC, 2021.
ISBN: 978-3426278222 - Chemistry for Breakfast: The Amazing Science of Everyday Life,
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim,
Greystone Books, 2021.
ISBN: 9781771647489 - Komisch, alles chemisch!: Handys, Kaffee, Emotionen – wie man mit Chemie wirklich alles erklären kann (in German),
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim,
Droemer HC, 2019.
ISBN: 9783426277676
Also of Interest
- Interview with Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim,
Christian Remenyi, Vera Koester, Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, (Photos: Jasmin Herr)
The chemist, YouTuber, and Germany’s best-known science communicator on her ambitions, responsibility, and the prevalence of hate speech - Video: Preisträgerinnen-Interview: Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim (in German with English subtitles),
Chemie ist GDCh, www.youtube.com, 2021.
(accessed August 29, 2021) - GDCh Prize for Authors and Journalists 2016,
ChemistryViews 2016.
Wikipedia’s chemistry editors honored for high-quality content - GDCh Prize for Authors and Journalists,
ChemistryViews, Jonathan Faiz,
ChemistryViews 2014.
Dr. Michael Gross, Oxford, UK, has been awarded by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) - Editor-in-Chief of ChemViews Awarded,
ChemistryViews 2012.
Vera Köster, Wiley-VCH, is awarded for the planning, development, and running of the ChemistryViews website
