The Famous “Who’s Who” You Probably Didn’t Know

Science – Eugene H. Trinh

The American Astronaut

Over a decade a ago, Eugene H. Trinh made his mark as the first Vietnamese-American to travel into outer space. Trinh was born in Saigon, Vietnam but immigrated to Paris, France  at the age of two and has lived in the United States since 1968. In 1972, He received a Bachelor of Science degree in  Mechanical Engineering-Applied Physics from Columbia University, and two years later earned a Masters of Science in 1974 and Doctorate of Philosophy in Applied Physics in 1977 from Yale University. Trinh conducted  experimental and theoretical research in Fluid Dynamics, Fundamental Materials Science, and Levitation Technology for 20 years [1].

In 1992, Trinh was elected to travel to outer space as a Payload Specialist crew member aboard the STS-50/United States Microgravity Lab-1 Space Shuttle flight. His list of special honors include; Sheffield Fellowship (Yale University), Group Achievement award NASA for flight experiments, Science Achievement award for Principal Investigator team NASA, NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and NASA Flight Medal.

In May of 2004, Eugene H. Trinh was awarded a Golden Torch Award, by the Vietnamese American National Gala in Washington D.C. and in 2009, was a keynote speaker at the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Washington.

Food – Hung Huynh
The Chef & Winner of Top Chef Season 3

Hung Huynh is a Vietnamese-American chef and winner of reality television series Top Chef’s third season  in 2007.  Huyhn was born in Vietnam, but raised in Pittsfield,  Massachusetts and as young child he never realized that he would one day be the executive sous chef at Las Vegas one and only Guy Savoy Restaurant. As a young boy he began his culinary training at his parent’s Vietnamese restaurant and continued on to study culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America.

Here’s what Huynh had to say during an Interview:

Q: It was really interesting when you were asked of why you were so passionate about being in the competition. You talked a lot about your family and growing up around food … can you talk a little bit about your background and your family?

“Yeah, well,  after the war in Vietnam everyone was starving to death and my dad was in the army, so he had to escape a re-education camp or be locked up for life. So he had to escape when I was a couple months old, along with two of my brothers and my uncles and all that stuff. One of my other brothers had escaped with my other cousins and they went to Australia, so that leaves one of my other brothers and I and my mom back in Vietnam. We were left behind, and my whole family was separated the whole time … for like nine or ten years. I didn’t meet my other brothers and my dad until I was 9 years old, like 8 or 9 years old.

My dad and my brothers came to America with nothing, nothing. Not even welfare. And now I’m given this opportunity to live in this country and I’m going to take full advantage of the opportunity that it has to offer, that’s what really drives me. Really, you only get a total of one hour of me with all the shows combined total and they think they know me, they think they know my life, they don’t! They don’t know what drives me and I’m glad I have a chance to talk about it now [2].”

As of August 2009, Hung is currently cooking at Anja Bar (formerly Buddha Bar) in Manhattan.

Media – Betty Nguyen
The American News Anchor of CBS

Betty Nguyen is a Scottish-descent Vietnamese-American news anchor for  “CBS Morning News, and “The Early Show.” Her story is very similar to Eugene Trinh and Hung Huynh’s. On April 1975, Nguyen along with her family left Vietnam for America. She grew up in Forth Worth,Texas and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from University of Texas at Austin. Prior to becoming a CBS network anchor, Nguyen was covering headline news for CNN. For six years Nguyen covered major events from the earthquake in Haiti, presidential elections in Africa, hurricane Katrina, the death of Pope John Paul II, and went on an undercover assignment in Myanmar [3].

When covering a story “Operation Baby Lift,” for CNN, Nguyen shared her story about fleeing Vietnam:

“He was an American serviceman who fell in love with a Vietnamese college student. They married and had me, a child who was given life, when so many were losing theirs in the war.

On April 19, 1975, we fled Vietnam, crammed into a packed C-130 cargo plane. It was stepping into the unknown. Nothing was guaranteed except that turning back was not an option. And that meant leaving behind my grandparents…As hard as it was, fleeing not only saved my life, it gave me a new one, in a place called America [4].”