The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 impacted political and economic situations worldwide, while also transforming the pace of scientific research. Thanks to concerted efforts by scientists across the globe, the process of discovering the virus and developing vaccines took just one year, illustrating the vital contributions science can make in solving unprecedented problems. In the future, humanity will face new challenges, such as irreversible climate change or revolutionary developments brought about by quantum science. With a long road ahead and time running out, modern science must immediately take the lead in tackling critical problems. Academia Sinica’s mission is to pursue breakthroughs in basic research, nurture talent, promote academic exchanges and collaboration throughout the world, and provide suggestions for national policy based on scientific expertise. At present, we are home to a total of 24 research institutes and 8 research centers with almost 1,000 researchers whose expertise spans our three divisions of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Humanities and Social Sciences. We have achieved an outstanding record of performance in biomedicine, basic biology, structural biology, astrophysics, history, Sinology, and the social sciences. This Introduction is intended to provide readers with an understanding of Academia Sinica’s fundamental mission as well as a glimpse of our major research achievements and objectives, including black hole observation, optical physics, cancer research, nanomaterials, synthetic biology, plant and animal evolution, climate change, quantum technology, and Taiwan humanities and social sciences research. In recent years, we have established specialized research centers to Taking the Lead with Science Message from the President
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