Profiles

Top scientists win national award

By Liu Weifeng and Guan Xiaofeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-10 06:07

China established the National Supreme Scientific and Technological Award in 1999, to acknowledge Chinese scientists who make breakthroughs in leading scientific fields, technological innovation and application, and high-tech development.

Ye Duzheng (left), 90, an atmospheric physicist, and Wu Mengchao, 84, a liver and gall specialist, attend the national conference on science and technology in Beijing yesterday. They were awarded 5 million yuan (US$600,000) each for their contributions. (Xinhua)

The top honour is bestowed on no more than two individuals each year. Each winner is given a prize of 5 million yuan (US$617,283).

The 2005 prize winners are Wu Mengchao and Ye Duzheng.

Wu Mengchao

Thousands of liver cancer patients in China have overcome the disease to enjoy a prolonged life span in the past decade, thanks to Wu's advanced studies.

How to minimize blood staunching in surgery and restrain the development of advanced cancers are two key problems in hepatology the science which treats the liver.

Devoting his career to studying liver-related diseases and clinical research, Wu's extraordinary contribution won him the great laurel yesterday.

Wu, 84, graduated from the medical school in Tongji University in 1949. As the pioneer in liver and gallbladder surgery in China, he worked out the anatony of the Chinese liver in the 1950s. He performed the first surgery to help treat liver disease in 1968.

Based on the theory and his working experience, his mature technique in liver surgical practice has led to a systematic liver disease treating method, guiding the field.

Previously high death rates after operations had been very common.