(Yicai Global) Sept.11 -- The winners for the 2017 Future Science Prize are announced in Beijing on September 9, 2017.

Jianwei Pan won the Future Science Prize in physical sciences for his innovative contributions to quantum optical technology, enabling practical implementation of secure communication through quantum key distribution.

Jianwei Pan, was born in 1970 in Zhejiang, China. He obtained a PhD from the Institute of Physics, University of Vienna, Austria in 1999, and currently serves as a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China.

Jianwei Pan

Yigong Shi won the Prize in life sciences for his elucidation of high-resolution structures of the eukaryotic spliceosome, revealing the active-site and the molecular-level mechanism of this key complex in mRNA maturation.

Shi, was born in 1967 in Henan, China. He earned a PhD 1995 from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, US. He is a professor and vice president at Tsinghua University.

Yigong Shi

Chenyang Xu won the prize in mathematics and computer science -- introduced this year -- for his fundamental contributions to birational algebraic geometry.

Xu, was born 1981 in Chongqing, China. He was awarded a PhD by Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, US in 2008. He is a Boya Chair Professor of Beijing International Center of Mathematics Research.

Chenyang Xu

Future Science Prize is the first privately-funded scientific award in China. It was established in 2015 to award scientists whose original research work -- mostly completed in the Greater China region -- has exerted a significant impact on the international science community and passed the test of time, regardless of nationality, gender or age. By promoting basic research and scientific talents in the region, the hope is to inspire its society's love for science, respect for scientists, and attention to scientific and technological developments, and to improve the scientific literacy of Chinese citizens. The nomination and selection process of the Prize was established in accordance with the Nobel Prize system.

The cash award for the Future Science Prize in each category is USD1 million (CNY6.8 million), donated by four individuals. The donors for the category of physical sciences are Feng Deng, Yajun Wu, Ying Wu and Bob Xu. The sponsors for life sciences are James Ding, Robin Li, Neil Shen and Lei Zhang. The donors for mathematics and computer science are William Ding, Jason Jiang, Pony Ma and Victor Wang.

The award ceremony of the 2017 Future Science Prize will be held in Beijing on Oct. 29, the last day of the two-day Future Forum Annual Conference. More than 40 world renowned scientists will attend and witness this ceremony.