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Dannie Peng

A lithium battery pioneer and a trailblazer in military radar technology are this year’s winners of China’s most prestigious annual science prize.
Chen Liquan received his 2025 State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award for developing the country’s first lithium battery and helping to launch the industrialisation of the technology in China.
And Ben De, who led the development of China’s first airborne pulse-Doppler fire-control radar – a core sensor for fighter aircraft – also won for his contributions to national defence and security.
President Xi Jinping presented the pair with the awards at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday.
Addressing the ceremony, Xi said that China’s 15th five-year plan period would be critical for “building a powerhouse in science and technology”, and the country must “seize historical opportunities”.
He also said that China must “accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance” and “solidly support and lead Chinese modernisation through scientific and technological innovation”.
Chen, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and a researcher at the Institute of Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was recognised for “making an outstanding contribution to China’s position as a global leader in the lithium battery industry”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Now 86, Chen graduated from the physics department of the University of Science and Technology of China in 1964, before joining the institute in Beijing.
In 1976, he went to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Germany as a visiting scientist, where he began his research into solid-state lithium batteries.
At the time, China’s understanding of lithium batteries was still extremely limited, according to an article published on Wednesday by Capital News, a social media account affiliated with the official Beijing Daily newspaper.


During his stay in Europe, a German scientist told Chen that lithium nitride was an extraordinary material, the article said. “In the future, it could be used to make batteries and even cars,” Chen recalled the German scientist saying.
Inspired, Chen immediately shifted his research focus to this field and, in 1980, two years after returning to China, he established the country’s first solid-state ionics laboratory at the institute.
Since then, solid-state ionics and lithium batteries have been key projects in three of CAS’ five-year plans, reflecting the technology’s importance as a funding priority.
The work yielded a series of advances, including China’s first solid-state lithium battery, the country’s first pilot production line for lithium-ion batteries, and cathode materials such as lithium iron phosphate, which helped to break through patent barriers, according to the article.
Speaking at a seminar in 2009, Chen said the three key factors behind the success of China’s battery industry were “the emphasis on basic research, corporate and government capital investment, and the right national strategy”.
Ben De is a researcher at the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) as well as a CAE member.
He was honoured for laying the foundations of China’s advanced radar technologies and for “leading the development of China’s air, sea, land and space early-warning and surveillance radar system”, Xinhua reported.
Born in 1938 into a rural family in Jilin province in northeast China, Ben was admitted to the electrical engineering department of the Harbin Institute of Technology at the age of 19.
After graduating, he was assigned to CETC’s 14th Research Institute in Nanjing, the birthplace of China’s radar industry.
Ben soon started working on phased-array radar technology – an advanced system that steers its radar beam electronically rather than physically rotating an antenna.
In 1978, after eight years of research, China became the third country in the world to develop the technology.
Ben then led research into a new type of airborne pulse-Doppler fire-control radar, a big technological challenge at the time. The technology uses differences in the frequency of electromagnetic waves reflected by moving objects to detect and track aircraft, distinguishing them from ground clutter.
Ten years later, the team had realised its goal of equipping Chinese fighter jets with over-the-horizon eyes.
The honours received by Chen and Ben were part of China’s annual National Science and Technology Awards, which also include categories for natural science, technological invention, scientific and technological progress, and international scientific and technological cooperation.
The awards, overseen by the Ministry of Science and Technology, were established in 1999 by the State Council, China’s cabinet, to promote scientific development.
The State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award is the most prestigious of the honours and given to a maximum of two recipients each year. Each receives 5 million yuan (about US$700,000) in prize money.
In 2024, the 2023 prize went to satellite-imaging expert Li Deren from Wuhan University, and quantum physicist Xue Qikun, president of Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, for his work on superconducting materials.
More than 250 projects were also recognised on Wednesday for work in areas such as chemistry, physics, advanced materials, mineral exploration and agriculture.
Among the winners was a project led by the Chinese mathematics prodigy Wei Dongyi, an associate professor at Peking University’s maths department, which won second prize in the natural science category.


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Chen Liquan (left) and Ben De are the recipients of the 2025 State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award. Photo: Xinhua

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News

China

Chen Liquan and Ben De recognised for advances in solid-state energy storage and military aviation defence


Chen Liquan and Ben De recognised for advances in solid-state energy storage and military aviation defence.


Xi Jinping

China Electronics Technology Group Corporation

Chinese Academy of Engineering

Why lithium battery and radar pioneers won China’s top science award

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chen Liquan and Ben De recognised for advances in solid-state energy storage and military aviation defence

Chen Liquan and Ben De recognised for advances in solid-state energy storage and military aviation defence