TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The crossed molecular beam instrument which helped former Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1986 has now become Taiwan’s first scientific national treasure, reports said Tuesday (Aug. 29).

The machine was the centerpiece of a new exhibition opening Tuesday titled “Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Lee Yuan-tseh and his Hope,” the Liberty Times reported. The event was hosted by the National Science and Technology Museum (NSTM) in Kaohsiung City, where the instrument has been on view for 23 years.

Lee worked on the design of the apparatus in 1967 at a Harvard University laboratory to study the mechanism of chemical reactions. When he served as president of the Academia Sinica in 2000, he reportedly spent US$25,000 (NT$797,000) to buy the machine and have it shipped to Taiwan for the museum.

The country’s existing national treasures are mostly related to art and history and are kept at 13 museums and institutions, including the National Palace Museum. Lee’s machine was the 373rd object to be designated a national treasure, but was the first one to have a scientific background, according to the NSTM.

Lee was present at the launch of the exhibition in Kaohsiung City on Tuesday with Education Minister Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠). Visitors will be able to view the Nobel laureate’s invention until late February.