The Ministry of Justice on the 23rd held a Nationality Deliberation Committee meeting and granted South Korean nationality to 16 outstanding talents with exceptional abilities in various fields, including science, economy, culture, and sports. Of these, eight received special naturalization and eight regained their nationality.
Iranian-born physicist Miljai Mohammad, a research fellow at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) (Relativistic Laser Science Research Center), received approval for special naturalization that day.
Research fellow Mohammad was the first in the world to implement nonlinear Compton scattering using an ultraintense laser in the laboratory. The paper was published in 2024 as a cover article (first author) in Nature Photonics, a leading international journal in optics.
Compton scattering refers to a scattering process in which electromagnetic waves (light) interact with electrons, reducing their energy. Nobel Prize in physics laureate Arthur Compton described it theoretically in 1923.
Research fellow Mohammad entered Korea in 2019 on an E-3 research visa and obtained permanent residency (F-5) in 2023. In September last year, Mohammad applied for special naturalization for outstanding talent.
A Ministry of Justice official said, "Research fellow Mohammad's achievements are expected to significantly contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of Korea's basic physics and optical science fields going forward."
Oh Hee, a world-renowned scholar in mathematics and a chaired professor in the Department of Mathematics at Yale University in the United States, regained South Korean nationality. Oh became the first woman to be appointed to a tenured position in Yale's Department of Mathematics in 2013 and has served as a Fields Medal selection committee member and a vice president of the American Mathematical Society.
Since 2011, the Ministry of Justice has granted South Korean nationality to a total of 458 people, including 203 through special naturalization and 255 through nationality recovery.