Only 3 scientists in the world! Chinese scientists won this international award

Recently, at the Eurokarst2022 conference at the University of Malaga in Spain, Yuan Daoxian, a professor at the School of Geographical Sciences of Southwest University, was awarded the 50-Year Lifetime Achievement Award of the Karst Commission of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, becoming one of the three scientists in the world to receive this honor.

The picture shows Yuan Daoxian. Photo provided by Southwest University

Yuan Daoxian, 89 years old this year, is a famous geologist, hydrogeologist and karstologist. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in November 1991 and is the first academician in the field of karst geology in my country.

Although he has already reached the age of retirement, Yuan Daoxian, with a head full of silver hair, starts his scientific research every morning and has been thinking about karst issues for 70 years.

Yuan Daoxian attaches great importance to international cooperation in karst research, and has used his advantages in English and geology to travel abroad to 45 countries with karst phenomena. Since the 1990s, he has successively presided over a number of international projects in the field of karstology, making my country's karstology at the forefront of world academic research and promoting global karst research.

The picture shows Yuan Daoxian taking samples in the wild in Spain in 2002. Source: China Natural Resources News Agency

In 1980, Yuan Daoxian first went to Yugoslavia for an investigation, which became the starting point for China's karst research to go global. In addition, he has successively presided over a number of Sino-US cooperative research projects, National Natural Science Foundation projects, Ministry of Education doctoral programs, Ministry of Land and Resources geological survey projects and Chongqing Science and Technology Commission key projects.

"my country is one of the few 'natural karst archives' in the world. With such a huge treasure house, we should make greater contributions to the world's karstology." Yuan Daoxian proposed the "Geology, Climate, Hydrology and Karst Formation" International Geological Correlation Program to UNESCO in 1990. After strict review by experts from many countries, the project was approved and he was elected as the chairman of the international working group. At Yuan Daoxian's suggestion, after unremitting efforts from all parties, the International Karst Research Center was established in Guilin in 2008. This is the first geoscience research center in my country authorized by the United Nations.

The picture shows Yuan Daoxian attending the unveiling ceremony of the International Karst Center in 2008. Source: China Natural Resources News Agency

Moreover, since 2005, Yuan Daoxian has actively promoted the application of Chongqing Wulong Karst, Yunnan Shilin, and Guizhou Libo Karst for the "Southern Karst of China" World Natural Heritage together with karstologists at home and abroad, and the application was successful in June 2007. Since 2012, he has also made every effort to promote the application of Chongqing Jinfoshan, Guizhou Shibing, Guangxi Guilin, and Guangxi Huanjiang for the second batch of "Southern Karst of China" World Natural Heritage projects. In June 2014, as an expansion of the "Southern Karst of China" project, the "Southern Karst of China Phase II" project was successfully selected as a World Natural Heritage at the 38th World Heritage Conference.

Professor Yuan Daoxian personally takes students to the geological base for inspection every year. For decades, the karst environmental research led by Professor Yuan Daoxian has been working on many major domestic and international topics in the process of solving various engineering geology, hydrogeology, ecological environment and regional development problems in karst areas, and has formed a unique research feature. It has made significant achievements in the fields of theory and application, greatly enriched the theory of karst disciplines, and provided useful ideas and methods for solving the most urgent karst resource and environmental problems faced by all parts of the world.

Source: People's Daily Client