Scientific research helps public good

THREE SCIENTISTS won $1 million each for their research in basic sciences and their applications at the 2017 Future Science Prize award ceremony in Beijing on Saturday. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

The Future Science Prize, instituted by a group of entrepreneurs and scientists last year, reflects the increasing public awareness about the value of science and scientists. This year, Tsinghua University scientist Shi Yigong won the Life Science Prize for his research in the structure of spliceosome, a substance crucial to gene expression.

The Physical Science Prize went to Pan Jianwei, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist who oversaw the launch of the world's first quantum satellite in China last year. And the Mathematic and Computer Science Prize was awarded to Peking University professor Xu Chenyang for his contribution to birational algebraic geometry.