Chinese scientist Shen Shuzhong has won the ICS Medal, becoming the first Asian to win the world's highest award in stratigraphy.

Shen, a professor at Nanjing University and also an academician at the China Academy of Sciences, was presented the medal and certificate by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) on Thursday at the third International Congress on Stratigraphy in Milan.

The ICS Award, established in 2004 and awarded to only one person every four years, is to honor high-quality research in stratigraphy by recognizing a single major achievement in advancing stratigraphical knowledge.

Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the relationships in time and space of rocks and the varied processes that have formed and affected them.

Shen is the fifth recipient of the medal. He has made important contributions to the establishment of global chronological stratigraphic boundaries, the ICS said.

"It's an honor, but more of an encouragement," the Chinese geologist said, adding that it shows acknowledgement of his research work, especially that the accolade is awarded by the highest level of international academic organization in the field.

At the awarding ceremony, David Harper, chairman of the ICS, said Shen is a world-renowned stratigrapher, paleontologist, and an expert on brachiopod fossils.

For nearly eight years as chairman of the Permian Branch of the ICS, Shen has made outstanding contributions to the development of the Permian biostratigraphy, the establishment of stratigraphic sequences, and the study of the Permian extinction, he added.

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