REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SOLO -- The government has named Indonesia's third president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie as a national innovation figure during the commemoration of the 21st National Technology Awakening Day held in Solo, Central Java.

"This award is a recognition of Habibie's roles in advancing studies in the field of technology and innovation in the country," Research, Technology, and Higher Education Minister M. Nasir stated here on Wednesday night.

Habibie has been inspiring and motivating the nation to continue to develop science and technology. Meanwhile, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani remarked that the technology revolution in the country could not be separated from the role of Habibie.

"He had the driving spirit in the field of aeronautics," the minister remarked.

On behalf of the family of the country's first president, Sukarno, the minister thanked Habibie as he had followed the direction of Indonesia's first president to study in Germany.

Meanwhile, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology has bestowed an award on Habibie, who reopened the institute during the plenary session of the National Research Council. The session was held in Solo last Tuesday.

According to the book of infectious diseases, the Eijkman Institute is named after the Dutch scientist who discovered vitamin B as the cause and cure of beriberi, with work executed largely in Jakarta between 1886 and 1925. Christian Eijkman was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1929 for the discovery of the vitamin.

The institute formally closed in 1965. In 1990, Minister of Science and Technology Habibie devoted considerable government resources and the formidable force of his personality to reopen the institute as a nursery for biotechnological innovation.

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