The International Astronomical Union(IAU) honored a Chinese high school boy by naming an asteroid after him, according to Beijing Morning Post Thursday.

Zhu Ruochen, who graduated in 2006 from the high school attached to Tsinghua University, took part in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May and his paper on gene cloning won second prize in the microbiology contest and obtained first grade scholarship from the American Phytopathological Society.

The asteroid which was known as 217311 was also named of Zhu Ruochen.

Zhu's bibliography for his paper included more than 200 English books and files and experts say it was at the master's thesis level.

Zhu's school teacher Pan Feng says Zhu was a humble student who seldom expressed his views. His English composition revealed he wished to pursue his study at Stanford University in California.

Asteroid naming is decided by a panel of professional astronomers across the world organized by IAU.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2006)