On January 8, 2018, Chinese president Jinping Xi presided over the 2017 State Natural Science Awards in the Great Hall of China. He personally presented the certificate for international scientific cooperation to Plummer (figure). Plummer was one of seven people to receive this award for his contribution to the development of science and technology in China.

Created in 1994 by the State Council, this award is presented to foreign experts or organizations that have made important contributions to China’s science and technology undertaking and development. The award is presented to no more than 10 individuals or organizations each year.

“I am honored to have received this award for international collaboration. In my mind, what is most significant is that in some small way, I may have played a role in the history of science and the emergence of China as a world leader in science and technology.”

Plummer has mentored many young Chinese physicists and has actively encouraged them to return to China. In 2000, with Enge Wang and Zhenyu Zhang, he founded the International Center of Quantum Structures, or ICQS, in the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and served as the chief scientific advisor. ICQS has produced many top Chinese physicists and fostered scientific collaborations, which has led to numerous influential research achievements. ICQS has played a critical role in promoting Chinese physicists on the international stage. Many founding members of ICQS have become leaders in the fields of science and technology in China. Other universities and institutions in China have adopted this innovative model of international collaboration.

In addition to Plummer, the other recipients of the 2017 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award of the People’s Republic of China were Salikhov Shavkat, a biochemist from Uzbekistan; Shoucheng Zhang, a theoretical condensed matter physicist from the U.S. (Stanford); Philip David Coates, a polymer processing scientist from the U.K.; Delian Chen, a climate scientist from Sweden; Yang Shi, an epigenetic and chromatin biologist from the U.S. (Harvard); and Polichronis-Thomas Spanos, a stochastic dynamics.