Yuan Tseh Lee was born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on November 29, 1936. Lee's father was an artist and art teacher; his mother taught elementary school. Lee graduated from Hsinchu High School in 1955. His academic standing was so high that he won admission to the National Taiwan University without taking an entrance examination. Lee majored in chemistry at the University. Lee received his B.S. in 1959. Two years later he earned a M.S. degree from the National Tsinghua University. In 1962 Lee attended the University of California at Berkeley. He married Bernice Chinli Wu, a childhood acquaintance, in 1963. They have three children. In 1968 Lee moved to the University of Chicago as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor in 1971, and a full professor in 1973. The next year he returned to the University of California at Berkeley as a professor of chemistry. He continued his research at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory...