Science prizes put technological innovation at the heart of China’s progress
Prestigious Hong Kong science foundation rewards the brightest and the best
A chemist from mainland China has won a major Hong Kong science prize for his leading global research in the field of bio-inspired nano-materials, highlighting China’s pledge to become an innovation hub in its own right.
Jiang Lei received a grant of one million yuan (US$150,000) as winner of the Qiu Shi outstanding scientist award at a ceremony on Saturday night at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province.
Jiang, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a pioneer in bio-inspired materials. He has developed self-cleaning fabrics and oil-repelling plastics from his observations of the natural characteristics of phenomena such as lotus leaves and fish scales.
Jiang’s work has filled in the blanks of previous studies on how properties in nature can be replicated by science – such as the water-repellent properties of a lotus leaf – first described by British polymath and scientist Thomas Young in the early 19th century.
Jiang’s research has so far yielded 70 patents in industrial applications such as anti-fogging glass and DNA chips in gene analysis.