Award-winning scientists give up US nationality to become Chinese citizens, state media reports
State TV report says men were born in China and include a joint winner of the Nobel Prize for physics
Two eminent scientists have given up their US nationality to become Chinese citizens, according to a state media report.
The men are Yang Chen-ning, 94, a Nobel Prize for physics laureate in 1957, and Andrew Yao Chi-chih, 70, who won the prestigious Turing prize for computer science in 2000, state television said on Tuesday.
The report cited a spokesperson from the Chinese Academy of Sciences as confirming the move, but gave no details about why the men had made the decision. Both were born in China, but later become US citizens.
Yang and Yao were previously foreign members of the academy, but are now listed as domestic members on its website.
The academy said it was the first time any of its foreign members had dropped their overseas citizenship, according to the TV report.