(VOVWORLD) - People's Teacher Phan Huy Le passed away at the age of 84 on June 23. The Professor dedicated his whole life to research and made a great contribution to Vietnamese history.
 Historian Phan Huy Le. (Photo: en.nhandan.org.vn) |
Born in the central province of Ha Tinh, Professor Phan Huy Le was a descendant of the great 19th century historians Phan Huy Ich and Phan Huy Chu. Le was a leading Vietnamese historian who trained generations of historians and left a huge body of research. People’s Teacher Vu Duong Ninh, said: “Mr. Le was a talented teacher. He had a profound knowledge and a great ability to explain an issue in a coherent and persuasive way”.
Many students trained by Professor Le became his colleagues and worked with him on a number of research projects. Professor Nguyen Quang Ngoc said he learned from his teacher a great love for history and a methodology.
“Mr. Le asked us to conduct thorough research on historical events and issues and put them in a specific and relevant context,” Ngoc added.
In 1959, Phan Huy Le published his first research, “Land Ownership and Agriculture during the Early Le Dynasty” when he was 25. That document still serves as valuable historical reference.
In 1996, Professsor Phan Huy Le became the first Vietnamese to receive the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Award. In 2011, he was elected a foreign correspondent of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles – Lettres in France. He was awarded the Academic Palms Medal by the French government in 2002 and received the Prize of Honor of Francophonie 2014 from the Group of French-Speaking Embassies, Delegations, and Institutions in Hanoi. Vu Minh Giang, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences, said: “Despite his age, Professor Le never stopped doing research. He left approximately 600 research papers and won many awards for his contributions”.
Professor Phan Huy Le served as chief editor of a new 25-volume national history book of Vietnam scheduled for completion in 2019.