Awarding scientists for their work not titles

PRESIDENT XI JINPING presented the Preeminent Science and Technology Award to Tu Youyou, co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, and Zhao Zhongxian, a physicist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who has spent four decades working on superconductors. China Youth Daily commented on Tuesday:

Winning the Preeminent Science and Technology Award speaks volumes about these two scientists' notable contributions to science and their country. It means a great deal especially to Tu, the first woman to ever receive the national award and China's first Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine. She is best known for discovering artemisinin as a treatment for malaria.

Many expected she would receive the top award in January 2016 given her unprecedented success the year before, but nominations already closed several months before Tu won the Nobel Prize and she was not recommended as a candidate.