The 2021 and 2022 HO LEUNG HO LEE Foundation (HLHL) Award Ceremony was held at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on February 17. Vice Premier of the State Council Liu He, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Ji Bingxuan, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology Wan Gang and others attended the conference and delivered addresses. At the meeting, two academicians from Wuhan University were awarded the HO LEUNG HO LEE Award. The Science and Technology Progress Award in the field of mathematical mechanisms was given to WHU President Zhang Pingwen, while Vice President Song Baoliang received the Science and Technology Progress Award in the field of life sciences.
Academician Zhang mainly works on the mathematical theory and calculating method of complex liquids, big data analysis and applications and other aspects. His research has laid the mathematical foundation for the Doi-Onsager model, which is crucial in the field of liquid crystals. He has researched and developed a unified model that can describe the behavior of complex phases and dynamics, developed an efficient numerical method for mining the complex structure of block polymer, which has now become a common simulation research tool in the field, and made many innovative contributions in moving grid methods, multi-scale algorithms and analysis.
Academician Zhang’s research results have yielded significant social benefits. He has built a model post-processing machine learning algorithm for large-scale data of structured spatiotemporal meteorological elements, which has been operationalized in business in Beijing. The A.I. algorithm MOML, developed to empower weather forecasting models, helped to provide accurate meteorological forecasts for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Based on his research of data elements, a digital ecological index was constructed to comprehensively measure the degree of digital transformation and development in various industries and sectors, providing a support tool for high-quality economic and social development.
Academician Zhang Pingwen is the editor-in-chief of CSIAM Transactions on Applied Mathematics and an editorial board member of more than ten international and domestic journals. He has published more than 100 papers in journals like J. Am. Math. Soc., Comm. Pure Appl. Math., SIAM J. Numer. Anal. and Phys. Rev. Lett.. In 2021, he was invited by the top international mathematical journal Acta Numerica to write and publish a review article. He also accepted invitations from the International Congress of Mathematicians and the International Congress of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, where he gave invited presentations.
HO LEUNG HO LEE Foundation Science and Technology Progress Award received by Academician Zhang Pingwen
Academician Song Baoliang has been engaged in research on the regulation of cholesterol metabolism and metabolic diseases. He has made a series of important original discoveries, such as elucidating the molecular pathway of intestinal cholesterol absorption, revealing the cholesterol synthesis regulatory pathway, discovering new ways and means of intracellular cholesterol transport, identifying new cholesterol-modifying proteins and the feedback regulatory mechanism of cholesterol efflux, to name but a few. These achievements have provided new inspiration and a theoretical basis for the development of lipid-lowering agents.
Academician Song has published more than 50 research papers in top journals like Nature, Science and Cell as the corresponding or a co-corresponding author. His research results have been selected for inclusion in classic textbooks and treatises such as Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Molecular Cell Biology, Williams Textbook of Endocrinology, while the results also been selected as one of the ‘Ten major advances in life science in China’ three times. He has been honored with access to a special government allowance from the State Council. The Chen Jiageng Youth Science and Technology Award, the Chinese Youth Science and Innovation Award, the first National Innovation Competition Award, the Xplorer Prize and some other honors all belong to him. Academician Song Baoliang won the HO LEUNG HO LEE Science and Technology Progress Award and was one of the two award-winning scientists in the field of life sciences in 2022.
The HO LEUNG HO LEE Foundation was set up in 1994 by several patriotic Hongkong financiers: He Shanheng, Liang Qiuju, He Tian and Li Guowei. It aims at rewarding outstanding Chinese scientists and serving the modernization of the country. For 29 years, the foundation has selected and awarded 1,526 outstanding scientists, becoming a successful model for creating science and technology awards by social forces. This has had a positive impact in spurring development of science and technology and in cultivating autonomously innovative intellectuals for our country.
The HO LEUNG HO LEE Foundation Science and Technology Progress Award was presented to 66 preeminent scientists who have made significant scientific discoveries or outstanding contributions in the fields of mathematics, mechanics, life sciences, engineering and technology.
Rewritten by Kang Jiayi
Edited by Wang Ziyan, Sylvia, Xi Bingqing
