‘Seize the high ground’: China’s top science prize goes to geospatial expert, physicist

In a speech to mark the occasion, Xi underlined the need for a greater sense of urgency to drive forward scientific technology innovation so that China can “seize the high ground”.

“There are still some shortcomings [and] weaknesses,” Xi said, calling for boosting “national strategic science and technology forces” to support “basic research by encouraging free exploration.”

Li, 85, received the award “for his expert knowledge of core technologies of high-precision global positioning and remote sensing satellite mapping,” according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

One of Li’s major achievements was the design of ZY-3, China’s first civilian high-resolution mapping satellite, which produced 1:50,000 orthophotos. An orthophoto is an aerial image in which distortions caused by terrain relief and camera tilt have been removed so that it can be read in the same way as a map.

Xue was honored for “opening up a new research direction in high-temperature superconductivity,” Xinhua said. The 61-year-old is a world-leading researcher in condensed matter physics, in particular topological insulators, a type of material that exists in a recently discovered state of quantum matter.

Because its interior insulates while its surface conducts electricity without heat loss, a topological insulator is ideal for the efficient electronics of the future. In 2013, Xue’s team was the first to report an experimental observation of topological isolation, beating out competitors in Japan, Germany and the United States.

The honor received by Li and Xue was part of China’s annual National Science and Technology Awards. There are four other categories: for natural sciences, technological inventions, scientific and technological progress and international cooperation of science and technology.

The State Distinguished Science and Technology Award is the most prestigious of the five, with no more than two winners recognized for outstanding achievements and major contributions to society. Each receives 5 million yuan (about US$700,000) in prize money.

Tu Youyou, a co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and agronomist Yuan Longping, known as the “father of hybrid rice”, are previous recipients of the top prize.

Li graduated in 1963 from the Wuhan Institute of Surveying and Mapping, which later became the School of Surveying and Geomatics at Wuhan University. After graduating with a master’s degree later, he left for Germany for further studies in 1982 and started his doctorate in 1983 at the University of Stuttgart. Two years later and armed with a doctorate, he returned to China.

In 2022, Li became the first Chinese scientist to receive the Brock Gold Medal. Established in 1952 by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the Brock Gold Medal is one of the most influential awards in the community and is presented to a scientist every four years.

For Xue, born into a rural family in Shandong province, life as a student was full of obstacles in the early days. He failed the postgraduate entrance examination twice before being admitted to the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1987.

His PhD was a joint Sino-Japanese program and, while studying in Japan at Tohoku University, he had to learn Japanese while working 16 hours a day, six days a week in the laboratory.

“It was really challenging, but I was able to complete a very important experiment the following year, which became a turning point in my career,” Xue told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in 2018.

After working as a research associate at Tohoku University for five years, including a year as a visiting scholar at North Carolina State University in the US, Xue returned to China in 1999 and joined the Institute of Physics, CAS. He has been a distinguished professor at Tsinghua University since 2005.

The other National Science and Technology Awards were also announced today, with a total of 250 projects among the award winners.

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Underwater robots carrying China’s first home-made semi-submersible oil rig

Underwater robots carrying China’s first home-made semi-submersible oil rig

First prize in the State Natural Sciences Award category went to topological research. A group of physicists at CAS won the top prize for innovations in calculating and predicting the topological properties of materials, a breakthrough that could make the search for such materials much easier.

Eight projects received first prize at the State Technological Invention Award. These included one related to a key technology in the semiconductor industry – a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) machine for integrated circuits developed by a team from Tsinghua University.

Another winner in the category was an invention to prevent and control groundwater pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.

The progress award also recognizes technological advances in areas such as energy, communications and the environment, including the development of offshore wind power and a high-performance membrane for lithium-ion batteries.