Hong Kong scientists were conferred three awards under the 2002 State Science and Technology Awards (SSTAs), said a government release Friday.
Among the three second-class awards, one was for the category of State Technological Invention Award (STIA) while the other two were for the category of State Natural Science Award (SNSA).
This is the first time that local scientists have been conferred the STIA award based on significant technological achievements obtained in a project entitled "Piezoelectric and pyroelectric materials for sensor and mechatronic device applications."
The project was carried out by Professor Helen Chan and Professor Choy Chung-loong of the Department of Applied Physics ofthe Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
One SNSA second-class awardee was Professor Huang Jing-song of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for his research project on "Noncommutative Harmonic Analysis on Semisimple Lie Groups," which bears significance for today's technological development in data compression.
His project on "Nucleation and growth of diamond and new carbon materials" has removed a major obstacle to further advances in diamond science and technology.
Besides STIA and SNSA, there are three other categories under SSTAs organized by the State Council of the People's Republic of China State, namely, the Scientific and Technological Progress Award (SSTPA); State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award; and International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award of the People's Republic of China.