China’s top quantum physicist Pan Jianwei named Royal Society fellow, days after US sanctions target Chinese sector

Pan Jianwei is among ‘over 90 exceptional researchers’ worldwide elected as fellows this year by Britain’s national academy of sciences

Honour for scientist who built the world’s first quantum satellite comes shortly after US ‘Entities List’ targets ‘core’ of China’s quantum sector

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Pan Jianwei has been recognised by the Royal Society of London for his pioneering work in areas including “quantum experiments in space” and achievements in quantum computing technology. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 7:01pm, 17 May 2024Updated: 7:14pm, 17 May 2024

China’s “father of quantum” has been elected as a fellow of London’s Royal Society, days after the latest US sanctions list targeted the “core” of Chinese quantum technology.

Pan Jianwei, a leading physicist who built the world’s first quantum satellite, is among “over 90 exceptional researchers from across the world” to be named this year by the society, or Britain’s national academy of sciences.

Announcing the list on Thursday, the Royal Society said “the elected fellows are leaders in their fields” and “recognised for their invaluable contributions to science”.

Pan, a professor of modern physics and executive vice-president at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), has done pioneering work “in multi-article interferometry and quantum experiments in space”, the society’s Fellows Directory says.

It also praises his team for having “closed major loopholes for secure quantum communication associated with imperfect devices, making it a viable technology under realistic conditions”.

Pan also featured on the 2017 “Nature’s 10”, the premier magazine’s annual list of the people who matter most in science. He had “lit a fire” under China’s quantum technology efforts since returning full-time in 2008 after training in Europe, Nature said, labelling Pan as “a physicist who took quantum communication to space and back”.