On December 13, the fifth Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award ceremony and 2020 Fudan Science and Innovation Forum were held in Shanghai. The event gathered over 200 top scientists and young scholars from all over the world to exchange views on cutting-edge technologies and innovation trends.
This year’s Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award was jointly awarded to Sir Michael V. Berry, Charles L. Kane and Xue Qikun.
Sir Michael V. Berry, a professor of physics at Bristol University and fellow of the Royal Society, made a breakthrough in basic quantum mechanics with his proposal of the Berry phase, which serves as a basic concept to understand a number of the most important systems in condensed matter physics such as topological insulator, quantum Hall effect, which are characterized by quantized Berry phase.
Charles Kane, a professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, is responsible for most of the key theoretical concepts that have generated the field of topological insulators, and the ensuing broader investigation into topological features of electronic structure. Due to his pioneering theoretical works, many topological insulator materials and its derivatives such as Weyl semimetals have been proposed in theories and discovered in experiments, and they now form an active and important sub-field in condensed matter physics.
Xue Qikun, President of Southern University of Science and Technology and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is best known for the experimental discovery of the quantum anomalous Hall effect. The precise quantization of the Hall conductance in the absence of external magnetic field makes the quantum anomalous Hall effect one of the most remarkable discoveries in condensed matter physics since the discoveries of quantum Hall effect and the fractional quantum Hall effect.
Xu Ningsheng
Liu Fuhua
Samuel Chao Chung Ting
Xu Ningsheng, President of Fudan University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered opening remarks at the main forum. Liu Fuhua, Chief Compliance Officer of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, brought congratulatory speech. Samuel Chao Chung Ting, chair of the Award Committee and laureate of Nobel Prize in Physics, announced the winners and award citations.
Sir Michael V. Berry
Charles Kane
Xue Qikun
Sir Michael V. Berry and Charles Kane, attended the ceremony by video recording and gave award acceptance speeches. Xue Qikun attended the ceremony in person and gave a report themed Experiments and Experiences of Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect.
Lu Chunfang
Cai Ronggen
Lu Chunfang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and railway engineering technology and management expert, made a speech entitled Research on the Development of High-speed Rail Technology, which was followed by the report General Relativity, Black Holes and Gravitational Waves given by Cai Ronggen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In addition to the main forum, the two-day event also incorporates four sub-forums respectively centering on physics science, mathematics, human phenome and data science & artificial intelligence.
The sub-forums brought together more than thirty experts and scholars who delivered keynote speeches on the prospects of spin physics, information technology, nonlinear mathematics, applied mathematics, the Human Phenome Project, the Belt and Road Initiative, big data modeling, smart driving and etc.
The Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award was jointly founded by Fudan University and Zhongzhi Enterprise Group in 2015, to give unrivalled recognition to global scientists who have made fundamental and distinguished achievements in the fields of Physics, Mathematics and Biomedicine.
The award is announced every year in these three fields on rotation. The purpose of this award is to promote global scientific research, along with advancement in science and technology, and thus providing an internationally-shared platform for research communication, discussion and sharing. By gathering global talents in technology innovation, the award is aimed at boosting technology competitiveness of China and reserving candidates for world class awards.
