Staff Writer, with CNA
Wang Fan-sen (王汎森), a distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica, has received this year’s Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany, Academia Sinica said yesterday.
Wang, an academician with the Institute of History and Philology, received the award in recognition of his achievements and their effect on historical scholarship, Taiwan’s top research institute said in a news release.
The Humboldt prize is one of the most prestigious honors in Germany for internationally renowned scientists and academics who work outside of the European country, to recognize their lifetime research achievements, Academia Sinica said.
Photo courtesy of the Academia Sinica
Wang is a historian specializing in the cultural-intellectual history of early modern and modern China (circa 1500 to 1930), it said.
He has written 12 books on the intellectual history of China from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty and the early Republican Era, including Fu Ssu-nien: A Life in Chinese History and Politics, The Rise of the Ku-shih-pien Movement, and The Historian and the Historiography in Modern China.
In addition to his work as a research fellow at Academia Sinica, Wang is also a chair professor at National Cheng Kung University, National Chengchi University, National Taiwan Normal University and National Sun Yat-sen University, the research institute said.
Wang was director general of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National Science Council from 2000 to 2002, director of Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology from 2003 to 2009 and vice president of Academia Sinica from 2010-2016, it said.
Established in 1860, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is one of the most important research foundations in Germany, Academia Sinica said.
The Humboldt prize includes a reward of 60,000 euros (US$65,251), and recipients are invited to conduct research projects of their choice in cooperation with specialist colleagues in Germany to promote international scientific cooperation, it added.
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