Ri Sung-gi, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Ri Sung-gi

North Korean chemist.

Date of Birth: 01-Oct-1905

Place of Birth: South Jeolla Province, South Korea

Date of Death: 08-Feb-1996

Profession: chemist

Nationality: North Korea

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Ri Sung-gi, also often spelled Lee Sung-ki or Yi Sung-gi (1905–1996) was a North Korean chemist.
He is best remembered as the inventor of Vinalon.
He has also been accused of involvement in North Korea's chemical and nuclear weapons programs. Ri was born in Damyang, Jeollanam-do, in 1905.
He graduated from the local pot'ong hakkyo and received his degree in chemistry from Kyoto University in 1931.
He developed Vinalon in 1939.
In 1946, after Korean independence from Japanese occupation, he participated in the development of Kyongsong University, but strongly opposed the university's official conversion to Seoul National University under the American military government.
Following the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, he defected to the North. Ri received the Lenin Prize in 1962, and was made head of the North Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute in June 1965.
He became chief of the Hamhung branch of the Academy of Sciences in 1984.