2023 S.-T. Yau High School Science Award encourages creativity, imagination

Young winners of the 2023 S.-T. Yau High School Science Award were announced this week. A total of 61 awards were given, including gold, silver, bronze and honorable mentions in six disciplines: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and economic-financial modeling, as well as the interdisciplinary top honor – the Science Gold Award.

Initiated in 2008 by world-renowned mathematician Shing-Tung Yau, the S.-T. Yau High School Science Award is open to middle school students around the world and advocates innovative thinking and teamwork. The competition abandons test papers and standard answers, allowing students to participate by submitting research reports.

The award has been selected into the Chinese Ministry of Education's competition whitelist for the 2022-2025 school session.

The 2023 recipient of the Mathematics Gold Award, Yu Hanzhang, from Raffles Institution in Singapore, and the Biology Gold Award recipient Chao Chuyan from Shanghai High School, jointly received the 2023 Science Gold Award. Additionally, teams from Shanghai Soong Ching Ling School, Shanghai Pinghe School and Beijing National Day School secured the chemistry, computer science and economic-financial modeling gold awards, respectively.

Yu, recipient of the Mathematics Gold Award and Science Gold Award, displayed a keen interest in projective geometry. Her research explored new applications of Desargues' Involution Theorem in problem-solving, offered fresh proofs for existing theorems, and enhanced Casey's solution to Apollonius' problem by using involutions.

Chao, recipient of the Biology Gold Award and Science Gold Award, focused on the mechanisms behind the climbing morphology of ivy and the discovery of the phenomenon of stem tips' gravitropism in plants. His research revealed the climbing mechanism of ivy on walls and identified the gravitropism in stem tips along with its potential mechanism, offering a fresh perspective on understanding plant adaptations and evolutionary mechanisms.

Shing-Tung Yau, chairman of the competition and a distinguished professor at Tsinghua University, congratulated the young talents, praising the participating students both from domestic schools and from Singapore, India and Thailand for their creativity and imagination.

He advocated a shift from the traditional drill-and-practice method in basic education to nurturing curiosity and safeguarding creativity and imagination. Emphasizing the importance of not studying solely for examinations, he said, "We must not only learn various tools but also enhance our curiosity and interest in academia."

Yau said he hoped that the cultivation model of the Award could integrate with university education, encouraging more students to remain in China and become part of the country's talent pool.

"Our expectation is to achieve world-class academia in China, and we are confident in achieving this," said Yau.