Tae-Jeong Kim received his BSc in and MS in Chemistry from Korea University in 1976 and 1978, and his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of British Columbia in 1984, under the supervision of Professor W R Cullen. He then joined Dr R H Fish in the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory as a Postdoctoral fellow. After spending a year there, he began his independent career at Kyungpook National University (KNU) in 1986, where he now holds a full professorship. He is now a Professor Emeritus at KNU. His current research interests are materials and medicinal inorganic chemistry.