Han Ximin

1824295095@qq.com

XUE QIKUN, president of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen and a distinguished condensed matter physicist, won the 2023 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, China’s top scientific honor, yesterday for his outstanding contributions to scientific and technological innovation. This made the 61-year-old the youngest winner of the award in the country so far.

Xue has achieved multiple scientific breakthroughs. His team made the first experimental observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect. This major research achievement was praised by Nobel laureate Chen Ning Yang for being “the first Nobel Prize-level physics paper published by a Chinese laboratory.”

The team also discovered interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity in the heterostructure system, which opened up a new research direction in the field of high-temperature superconductivity.

Xue also won the 2024 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize, becoming the first Chinese physicist to win the award since its inception in 1953. The prize is recognized as the highest award in condensed matter physics.

“I am excited and feel greatly honored. I deeply appreciate the high regard that the Party and the country place on scientific innovation, as well as the care and strong support provided to scientists. Winning this award, I also feel the responsibility and mission it carries, which will further inspire me to continue working hard on the path of scientific research in the future,” said Xue during an interview after winning the award.

Xue obtained a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOPCAS) in 1994 and then worked at the Institute of Metal Materials at Tohoku University in Japan. In August 1999, Xue was selected for the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Hundred Talents Program and returned to work at IOPCAS.

After serving as vice president of Tsinghua University for many years, Xue became the president of SUSTech in 2020. During his time at Tsinghua University, Xue was known as the “7-11 professor” because he always entered the lab at 7 a.m. and left at 11 p.m.

(Continued on P3)