Renowned Physicist Professor Qi-Kun Xue Receives China's State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award

Newswise — Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) of City University of Hong Kong congratulates Professor Qi-Kun Xue, a distinguished physicist and Senior Fellow at HKIAS, who has been honored with China's State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award for his outstanding contribution to scientific and technological innovation. The award was presented by President Xi Jinping in Beijing on 24 June 2024.

Professor Xue has achieved several significant scientific breakthroughs. His team's experimental observation of the quantum anomalous Hall effect, followed by the discovery of interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity in the heterostructure system, has made a profound impact on scientific knowledge. The later discovery has opened up a new direction in the field of high-temperature superconductivity.

"We are in the golden age of scientific research," expressed Professor Xue. "As the country has created such good conditions for us to carry out our work, we should cherish it and strive to achieve more breakthroughs."

Professor Xue is a leading scientist in the field of condensed matter physics. He became a professor at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999 and, since 2005, has been appointed as a professor in the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University. In 2020, he became the third President of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China and Chair Professor in the Department of Physics of SUSTech. He won the TWAS Prize in Physics in 2010, the Future Science Prize for Physical Science in 2016, China’s Natural Science Award (the First Prize) in 2018, The Fritz London Memorial Prize in 2020, and the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize in 2024, among others.

The State Science and Technology Awards aim to recognize outstanding contributions to the advancement of science and technology, as well as to stimulate the enthusiasm and creativity of persons working in the fields of science and technology, and to build an innovative and world-leading scientific and technological country. The awards have five categories, and the State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award is the most prestigious among them.

Read more at Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.