BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) honored three foreign scientists on Wednesday for their outstanding contributions to facilitating cooperation in science and technology.

    CAS president Lu Yongxiang conferred the CAS Award for International Scientific Cooperation on Arima Akito, president of the Japan Science Foundation, Yuen-Ron Shen, professor of physics with the University of California at Berkeley, and Michel Che, chair professor of Universite Pierre et Marie Curie.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President Lu Yongxiang (2nd R) takes group photo with the CAS Award for International Scientific Cooperation winners Arima Akito (2nd L), president of the Japan Science Foundation, Yuen-Ron Shen (1st L), professor of physics with the University of California at Berkeley, and Michel Che, chair professor of Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Beijing, Jan. 14, 2009. CAS honored three foreign scientists on Wednesday for their outstanding contributions to facilitating cooperation in science and technology.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Arima, a leading theoretical physicist and influential public figure, was nominated as a Nobel Prize candidate for physics in 1984 and 1995.

    Since the 1980s, Arima had helped promote academic exchanges between Japan and China, which had strengthened the ability of young Chinese scientists in major scientific initiatives.

    Yuen-Ron Shen is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Academia Sinica in Taipei. He is also a foreign member of the CAS.

    Shen initiated the annual National Laser Physics Workshop in Qingdao in 1980. His efforts had helped push forward Chinese research in optical physics and related disciplines.

    Michel Che, a former president of the International Association of Catalysis Societies, had been dedicated to promoting exchanges between France and China since the early 1980s.

    Che was the first foreign scientist to be appointed director of the Academic Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Catalysis in the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in 2006.

    The CAS award was first introduced in 2007.

    Last week, Lothar Reh, professor of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Scott Douglas Rozelle, professor of Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, received the Friendship Award and the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award of China. The government conferred the awards at the nomination of the CAS.