On Nov. 14, 2016, at the 27th TWAS’s annual meeting in Rwanda Chinese materials scientist Zhao Dongyuan, member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (MCAS), the Chief Scientist of Collaborative Innovation Center for Chemistry of Energy Materials (iChEM) and a chemistry professor at Fudan University, was named winner of the 2016 TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize for his work discovering new materials that are now widely used. The award, one of the most prestigious honours given to scientists from the developing world, was announced in a special ceremony during the yearly General Meeting of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).
The 27th TWAS’s annual meeting convened some 500 science and policy leaders from Rwanda and 50 other countries around the world, and it celebrated a mission shared by both Rwanda and TWAS: to advance science and technology in support of sustainable human prosperity. TWAS President Bai Chunli expressed great respect for Rwanda's efforts to pursue development through science, engineering and education in his remarks at the opening ceremony, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Minister Papias Musafiri of Ministry of Education of Rwanda both attended this meeting.
Prof. Zhao’s work focuses on mesoporous materials – structures that feature tiny, microscopic holes. Across two decades, his research and nano-scale applications have been used to clean water for drinking and agriculture, improve the capacity and efficiency of batteries, and deliver drugs with pinpoint precision in human bodies. Because of his innovations, Prof. Zhao is now one of the most cited and highly researchers in Chemistry and Materials all over the world which was announced by Thomson Routers, and he is also regarded as one of the most influential Chinese scientists.
The 2016 TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize was awarded to Prof. Zhao which is exactly for his pioneering and outstanding research in the field of ordered mesoporous inorganic molecular sieves (FDU series) for diverse applications around the world. “Such innovative research is deserving of the Academy's highest honour.” said TWAS Executive Director Mohamed Hassan.
The TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize aims to give international recognition and visibility to individual scientists in the developing world for their outstanding scientific achievements. The prize will carry a monetary award of USD100,000 provided by Lenovo, and each year only one scientist will be named for this prize. In the first four-year cycle (2013-2016), the prize focused on the basic sciences, with the specific subject area changing each year: physics and astronomy (2013), biological sciences (2014), mathematics (2015) and chemical sciences (2016). The prize will continue for four more years, honoring work in geology in 2017, engineering in 2018, agricultural science in 2019 and social science in 2020.
Related information：http://twas.org/article/zhao-dongyuan-wins-twas-lenovo-prize#userconsent#
