Photogrammetry and remote sensing expert Li Deren and condensed matter physicist Xue Qikun, won China’s top sci-tech award for year 2023 Monday.

Li has dedicated his career to advancing China’s capabilities in surveying and remote sensing for Earth observation. He is celebrated for his expert knowledge of the core technologies of high-precision global positioning and mapping via satellite remote sensing.

He solved the high-precision processing problems of remote sensing satellite images, and has led his team to develop a fully automatic high-precision airborne and ground measurement system, making outstanding contributions to the building of China’s high-precision and high-resolution Earth observation system.

Xue is a distinguished scientist of condensed matter physics, who has achieved multiple scientific breakthroughs.

His team made the first experimental observation of the quantum anomalous Hall effect. They also discovered interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity in the heterostructure system, which opened up a new direction of research in the field of high-temperature superconductivity.