Professor Tae Ryu, born February 24, 1934 is awarded the ICPE medal because her remarkable contribution to physics education has been outstanding and international in scope and influence, and has extended over a considerable period of time.

She graduated from Ochanomizu University in 1957 and started her career in education as a science teacher in a secondary school. In 1961 she became an assistant in the Physics Department of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo. Then she moved to the Physics Department of Sophia University and served as lecturer and later associate professor.

She served as member of the board of directors of the Physics Education Society of Japan and as member of the Physics Committee on the Science Council of Japan, as well. In the international arena, she was a regular member of the IUPAP Commission 14, i.e. the International Commission on Physics Education (ICPE) in 1993-1999, and a member of the Working Group on Physics Education of the UNESCO Physics Action Council from 1994-1997.

Her international involvement in activities in physics education started when she participated in the Summer Institute of the Harvard Project Physics in 1972 in the USA. On returning to Japan, she organized a workshop based on this experience. The college and high school teachers who participated in this workshop continued meeting periodically and published a Japanese version of "Project Physics". This group of physics teachers grew into the Association for Physics Education in Japan, which has been one of the most active and creative groups of physics teachers in Japan. In 1980, she attended Nuffield Physics & Science in Society at Worcester College and Chelsea College in the UK, obtained certification for the teaching of Physics in UK, and introduced the Nuffield physics curriculum to Japan. Continuing to keep abreast with curricular developments, recently she was instrumental in introducing the new "IOP Advancing Physics" program to physics teachers in Japan.

Since her first ICPE conference in Edinburgh in 1975 she has attended many ICPE, GIREP, and other meetings on physics education and facilitated exchange of information between Japan and other countries.

Professor Ryu was also an active member of organizing committees of many international conferences and workshops on physics education. The first of these was the 1986 ICPE Tokyo meeting on "Trends in Physics Education" held in Sophia University. Many well-known physics education researchers from many countries attended this conference. It gave a big impact on physics education in Japan. The most remarkable effect was that after this conference many high school teachers started to attend ICPE, GIREP, ASE(UK), NSTA(US) meetings ,etc.. It also led to three US-Japan-China Con-

ferences organized by Professors T. Ryu, L. Jossem, K. Zhao, and Y. Yun. She also organized conferences and workshops in collaboration with colleagues from the UK, Hungary, Poland, and China. Furthermore she made associations with Asian countries as Philippines and Korea, and promoted exchange of ideas on physics education between these countries.

She was chief editor of the ICEC Newsletter of the Physics Education Society in Japan which publishes papers on physics education written in Japanese translated into English.

In summarizing Tae Ryu's activities, she may be characterized as the link for physics education between the East and the West. Her long-time activities have had a remarkable influence on the development of physics education and friendships among the peoples concerned.

August 2002 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Juergen A. Sahm,
Chairman of ICPE