Mathematician and deputy defence minister who signed the Geneva ceasefire on behalf of the commander of the Vietnam People's Army
From Nghệ An, he went to France in 1929, studied mathematics at Paris and Bordeaux and quantum physics at Oxford, and taught in Huế from 1934. He joined the August 1945 uprising in Hanoi and handled relations with the United States and Britain for the provisional government's foreign ministry. Deputy defence minister from 1946 and a member of the Fontainebleau delegation, he joined the Indochinese Communist Party in 1947, was Minister of Defence in 1947–1948 and deputy minister until 1961. At Geneva in 1954 he signed the Vietnam ceasefire on behalf of the commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Army. He was rector of the Hanoi University of Technology, the first Minister of Higher and Secondary Vocational Education (1965–1976), and in 1972 directed the development of mine-clearing equipment against the American mining of Haiphong.
Also known as: Ta Quang Buu
Activities and affiliations
-
1946–1961
Vietnam state institutionsMinister and Deputy Minister of DefenceMain
Government and administration -
1946–1981
Vietnam state institutionsNational Assembly deputy
Legislature and state representation -
1947–1986
Communist Party of Vietnam / Workers' Party of Vietnam
Government and administration -
1965–1976
Vietnam state institutionsMinister of Higher and Vocational Education
Education
Career Timeline
- 1930–1934Studies mathematics and physics in Paris, Bordeaux and Oxford
- 1945–1946Chief counsellor, foreign ministry of the provisional government
- 1946Deputy Minister of Defence; Fontainebleau delegation
- 1947–1948Minister of Defence
- 1954Signs the Vietnam ceasefire at Geneva
- 1956–1961Rector, Hanoi University of Technology
- 1965–1976Minister of Higher and Secondary Vocational Education