Top scientists give up US citizenship to join Chinese academy

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Two award-winning Chinese scientists, Professor Chen Ning Yang and Professor Yao Qizhi, were formally named as members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) after renouncing US citizenship, the academy's faculty office said on Tuesday.

Both scientists were born in China, but later became American citizens. It is the first time overseas Chinese scientists have given up their citizenship to sign on as Chinese members of CAS. Both men have won multiple high-profile international awards in the past, including the Nobel Prize and Turing Award.

File picture of professors Chen Ning Yang and Yao Qizhi. /CFP Photo

Professor Yang joined the Division of Mathematics and Physics, while Professor Yao acceded to that of Information Technical Science. The total number of listed Chinese CAS members now stands at 754, along with 78 foreign members.

Yang and Tsung-dao Lee received the 1957 Nobel Prize in physics for their work on parity nonconservation of weak interaction, a major breakthrough in the world of physics. They were the first people of Chinese origin to win a Nobel Prize.

File picture of Professor Chen Ning Yang. /CFP Photo

While widely recognized as a venerable figure in physics, Yang also hit headlines after marrying 28-year-old Weng Fan at the age of 82 in 2004.

In 2000, Yao became the first person of Chinese origin to receive the Turing Award, the most distinguished award in the field of computer science. He resigned from Princeton University in 2004 and returned to China to be a professor.

File picture of Professor Yao Qizhi. /CFP Photo

Yang, now 94, obtained American citizenship in 1964, which he described in his autobiography as “a painful choice.” He said he felt “grateful” for his contribution to the Sino-US relationship.