The 2020 National Science and Technology Award Conference was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 3.
Academician Wang Dazhong of Tsinghua University received the 2020 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, China's most prestigious science and technology award, for his outstanding contribution to scientific and technological innovation.
Former President of Tsinghua University, Wang Dazhong is one of the distinguished nuclear scientists in the world who has played a key role in China's nuclear energy development.
Wang, 86, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Science, has devoted decades of efforts to advancing innovation in advanced nuclear energy system featured with inherent safety.
Among his many outstanding accomplishments were the research, design, construction, and operation of the world's first Low Temperature Nuclear Heating Reactor (NHR-5) and the first modular High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR-10). High temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) together with its successor, the very high temperature reactor, is one of the six nuclear energy systems identified and selected by the Generation IV International Forum for further development.
As President of Tsinghua University from 1994 to 2003, he led the top-level design of reform and development strategies at Tsinghua and implemented them, strengthening Tsinghua’s position as one of the best universities in the world.
At the award ceremony, fifteen research achievements of Tsinghua University also won other prestigious national awards.
Of all the awards Tsinghua received, three were the State Natural Science Award, two were the State Technological Invention Award, and ten were the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award. Likewise, Tsinghua obtained six awards as the lead institution in research collaboration with other institutions.
The research “Industrial Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Synergia Control Technologies” led by Li Junhua, professor at the School of Environment, obtained the first prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award. The research project had achieved a great reduction in industrial emission of flue gas, and its findings were subsequently widely applied across the world to make advancements in technology and industry.
Similarly, Prof. Fang Hongwei from the Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Prof. Jiang Peixue from the Department of Energy and Power Engineering won the second prize of the State Natural Science Award and the State Technological Invention Award, respectively, for their great contributions to sediment regulation and thermal protection on aircraft. In addition, both Prof. Fan Jiansheng from the Department of Civil Engineering and Prof. Tang Jie from the Department of Computer Science and Technology won the State Scientific and Technological Progress Awards for their great contributions to high performance structure and smart knowledge service.
By the end of 2020, Tsinghua had won a total of 607 State Science and Technology Awards, including two State Preeminent Science and Technology Awards, 84 State Natural Science Awards, 159 State Technological Invention Awards, and 362 State Scientific and Technological Progress Awards.
Writer: Xu Jianchao
Editors: Guo Lili, Sangeet
