Hong Kong University of Science and Technology physicist wins major prize

A physicist from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is among seven scientists who have won this year’s Future Science Prize, China’s first privately funded award for the subject, for discoveries that could aid the development of quantum computing and energy technology.

Dai Xi, chair professor of physics at HKUST, shared the prize in physical science – one of three categories – with fellow physicists Fang Zhong from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ding Hong from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

According to the prize’s committee, Dai and Zhong were credited for pioneering computational methods that enabled the prediction of several topological materials. Ding was credited with using experiments to verify one such substance predicted by Dai and Zhong.

“Topological electronic materials, due to their stable topological structure, would lead to these materials being able to do things that other materials are not able to do, where they can be used in spintronics, quantum computing and energy technologies,” said Chen Xie, a member of the science committee.

“The prediction and verification method developed by Fang Zhong, Dai Xi and Ding Hong is the start of the potential application in these areas for these substances.”

Inaugurated as the country’s first privately funded science award in 2016, the Future Science Prize recognises scientists who have made groundbreaking scientific and technological achievements in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.

The annual award has three categories: life science; physical science; and mathematics and computer science. Each prize comes with a US$1 million cash award.