[2][3] Thiệp was born in Yên Hồ ward, Đức Thọ district, Hà Tĩnh province, with seven other siblings.
[2] After graduating with a Master of Science in 1977, Thiệp was invited to be an assistant at the Sofia University's physics department.
In this time, Vietnam was under a central planned economy, with multiple U.S. sanctions and in a state of general poverty.
[2] On 17 November 1992 Thiệp was employed as the director of the Vietnam National Centre for Scientific Research in Hanoi.
Thiệp lost the fourth and fifth fingers on his left hand, which subsequently suffered chronic stiffness and radiation-induced fibrosis.