World leading scientists were rewarded in Beijing on Monday for
their outstanding contributions to space science. Six awards in the
field of space science were presented to winners at the opening
ceremony of the 36th Assembly of the Committee on Space Research
(COSPAR) in Beijing on Monday night.
The COSPAR Space Science Award went to Prof. Atsuhiro Nishida
from the National Committee for Space Research of the Science
Council of Japan and Prof. Eberhard T. Grun from the University of
Heidelberg.
"Nishida has been one of the most innovative physicists in the
world space physics community," said Roger-Maurice Bonnet,
president of COSPAR. "Grun has been playing a leading role in the
exploration of interplanetary and interstellar dust and has
decisively shaped the concept of dust astronomy," he said.
Other awards including COSPAR International Cooperation Medal,
COSPAR Nordberg Medal, Royal Society/COSPAR Massey Award,
ISRO/COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal and the Zeldovich Medals went
respectively to Dr. Raymond A. Greenwald, Prof. John P. Burrows,
Dr. Charles Elachi, Prof. Rajagopal Sridharan and nine other
scientists.
The medals are awarded every two years to scientists who have
contributed significantly to the promotion of international
scientific cooperation.
The Chinese President sent a congratulatory letter to the
assembly. He said outer space was the shared resource of mankind
and exploration, peaceful utilization and the development of space
was the right of all nations around the world.
Society also shared the responsibility of maintaining a peaceful
and clean space, Hu said. In his letter, Hu said mankind had
traveled a long path in exploring space and had made fruitful
achievements.
In the past half century, mankind had grown to understand the
environment of space, studied planets in the solar system and more
precisely explained cosmic origins and the evolution of the galaxy,
Hu said. All those achievements had pushed forward society.
Society was expecting to witness new breakthroughs in space
science and technology in the 21st century, Hu said. Advancement of
space science would further improve mankind’s ability to
understand, utilize and explore the universe, he added.
As an important international scientific organization, Hu said,
the COSPAR had contributed to international cooperation in space
science. The Chinese government supported activities sponsored by
the group and was willing to enhance friendly cooperation with
them.
Hu said he believed with concerted efforts by people from around
the world and the scientific community space science was going to
have a bright future and benefit everyone.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2006)