Question: What is the name of China’s first Nobel laureate scientist?
(a) Tu Youyou
(b) Zheng Zhemin
(c) Zhang Cunhao
(d) Xie Jialin
Ans (a)
Related facts:
- On 4 January 2016, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong participated in ceremony of naming the five minor planet after the name of scientist in Beijing.
- A total of five minor planets have been named after top Chinese scientists.
- The naming was suggested by the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center (MPC).
- Chinese vice premier Liu Yandong awarded certificates to the scientists at the ceremony.
- Minor Planet No. 31230 was named after Tu Youyou who won 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering artemisinin to treat malaria and saved millions of lives.
- Minor Planet No. 12935 was named after Zheng Zhemin, a prominent dynamicist and one of the founders of the field of explosion mechanics.
- Minor Planet No. 19282 was named after Zhang Cunhao, who is the founder of the field of high-energy chemical lasers in China and one of the pioneers in the field of molecular reaction dynamics.
- Minor Planet No. 32928 was named after Xie Jialin, a renowned physical scientist and the founder of particle accelerators in China.
- Minor Planet No. 9221 was named after Wu Liangyong, an architect, city planner and educator.
- The four scientists, except Tu, previously won the State Top Scientific and Technological Award, the country’s top science prize, for their outstanding contributions to scientific and technological innovation.
- The five minor planets were discovered between 1995 and 1999 by the Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program at the Xinglong observation station in north China.
Reference:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-01/05/c_134979383_2.htm