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New | Mainland scientist wins prestigious space science award

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Professor Wu Meirong is the first woman to win the Von Karman Award.
Stephen Chenin Beijing

A mainland researcher received the Von Karman Award, one of the most prestigious awards in space science, in Washington, the United States last Friday.

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Professor Wu Meirong, former director of the China Resources Satellite Application Centre, was also the first woman to win the top prize awarded by the space community.

The annual award was established in 1982 by the International Academy of Astronautics, the world’s largest space research community, to honour the memory of Theodore von Karman, a founding father of human space flight.

The academy has mostly given the award to Western scientists as recognition for outstanding lifetime achievement.

After Liu Jiyuan, a mainland rocket scientist, became the first winner from China in 2011, few expected another Chinese would win again so soon.

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Cao Jinbin, space physicist at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said he was surprised.

“To a space scientist, the Von Karman Award is as high a recognition as you can get from your peers,” Cao said.

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