Shao Feng becomes first Chinese citizen to win World Laureates Foundation Prize

Shao Feng from the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing became the first scientist holding Chinese citizenship to win the World Laureates Foundation Prize on Thursday.

Shao won the 2026 life science or medicine prize together with Yuan Junying from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Wang Xiaodong also from the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing; and Vishva Dixit from Genentech in the United States.

The laureates were recognized for elucidating the molecular pathways of distinct forms of programmed cell death that govern various physiological functions and disease pathogenesis. They will share the 10 million yuan ($1.49 million) prize money.

Randy Schekman, chair of the prize selection committee, praised these pioneering scientists for their breakthroughs in transforming programmed cell death from observed biological phenomena into a well-defined molecular pathway system.

Ingrid Daubechies from Duke University received the computer science or mathematics prize in recognition of her contributions to applied harmonic analysis, wavelet theory, and image compression, as well as her leadership role in the international mathematics community.

Michael Jordan, chair of the prize selection committee, noted that Daubechies advanced some of the most profound developments in wavelet theory, particularly compactly supported continuous wavelets, which provided rigorous mathematical meaning to the notion of locality.

The inaugural young scientists award honored six scientists, five holding Chinese citizenship, each receiving 1 million yuan. The winners are: Raphaele Juliette Clement from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research for advances in solid-state systems for electrochemical energy storage and conversion; Chen Peining from Fudan University for contributions to flexible electronic materials and devices; Ding Shiqian from Tsinghua University for experimental achievements in nuclear quantum precision measurement; Wu Jiajun from Stanford University for work on embodied AI and world models; Xie Weidi from Shanghai Jiao Tong University for AI applications in rare disease diagnosis and treatment; and Zhuang Ziquan from Johns Hopkins University for fundamental contributions to K-stability and birational geometry.

Ten additional young scholars were honored as finalists for the 2026 WLF Prize for young scientists.

The WLA Prize, inaugurated in 2021, aims to recognize outstanding researchers and technology pioneers who have not yet received top-tier awards such as the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Wolf Prize, Abel Prize, Lasker Award, Canada Gairdner International Award or Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

"The WLF Prize has grown into an international scientific award with broad influence among the world's top scientists," Wu Xiaohua, chairman of WLF, said.

Wu said that both the quantity and quality of nominations for the 2026 prizes reached record highs. Nominees came from leading universities and research platforms across dozens of countries and regions, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, demonstrating the prize's global representation and academic prestige.

The 2026 prize is organized by the WLF, with exclusive prize funding from Hongshan and support from the Shanghai Lingang Science and Technology Innovation and Development Foundation. The formal award presentation will take place during the World Laureates Forum scheduled for Oct 30 to Nov 1 in Shanghai.